I have been using Channels for about 3 weeks now and felt that it was time for an update.
In my previous post I wrote about Channels and I positioned Channels as a site that more or less was in direct competition with sites like Steemit, Ong.Social and Patreon. However after using the site for some time now I have to admit that I have changed my mind.
Channels is a simple micro payment site for content. Which basically means that you can post content on the site and get paid for it. You can host a wide variety of content on the site like videos, photos, articles, apps, and games. Companies can even use the site for ads.
The payment system differs from other sites as the authors get paid by views. When you create an account on Channels you get 2.5 tokens (one token equals $1) to start out with. As you browse the site you will see price tags attached to the posts (called cards). the prices run from $0.05 to $0.25 and everytime you open a card to view the content a timer will appear. If the timer runs out the amount attached to the card will be deducted from your account. So if I decide to read a $0.10 card this amount will be taken out of my wallet and paid to the author.
On the upper left you can see the timer and the amount that will be paid to the content creator. On the upper right you can see your balance. In this case I was not logged in to imitate an user without a Channels account.
When you are drafting your post you can set the price for viewing your content (0.05-0.25). You can also decide to create a budget for promotion, you can set a fixed amount and/or a percentage of your earnings aside for the promotion. If you do this your card will also be visible to those people who have not subscribed to your channel.
Everytime someone takes the time to view your content long enough you will get paid for the amount that you set for that card.
Just as advertised, a simple user friendly micro payment site
There are some things to keep in mind. When you start out you get 2.5 tokens, when your account has more than 5 tokens you will not see promoted content (advertisement). So if you are not a fan of unwanted ads it is best to keep your balance above 5.00 tokens.
You can also buy and (more importantly) sell your tokens. At the time that I was writing my first post about Channels I was a little unclear about the process because you need to have at least $6 on your balance before you can sell your tokens. Fortunately since I now have more than 6 tokens in my account I was able to figure out how the selling and payout works. Both the buying and selling of the tokens is done through Paypal.me. If you want to buy tokens simply transfer dollars to the paypal.me/channelscc account and if you want to sell your tokens you have to provide your Paypal.me account to receive your payout in dollars (which you can exchange on Paypal to your own currency if you are not American).
Get paid by using your Paypal account
The Editor
There are a lot of things that I really like about Channels.cc. As I wrote in my first post about the site, I think that their editor is a great tool that really makes it easy for people to post their content on the site.
The Interface
Simple is the keyword here. The site is easy to navigate and getting up-and-running is a very uncomplicated affair. The how-to is very straightforward and you will have no problems presenting your first posts to the world.
The Payout
Using Paypal for payouts is a great touch. There is no need to transfer your tokens to an exchange. This makes it very appealing for people who are not familiar with cryptocurrency to get started on the site.
As long as your posts are up and getting views you will get paid for your content which is different than Steemit for example where you can only receive tokens for 7 days after you have submitted your post, after which you will get your payout based on the earnings for that period.
Another thing is that you can get tokens from people who don’t have a Channels account. Whenever someone visits the site they get an automatic balance of 1 token, when they decide to open a card and view the content, the author will be paid $0.01 in tokens. So it is in your best interest to share your content on other Social Media sites and get as many people to view your cards.
Channels also provides you with an option to easily share your content on Twitter and Facebook.
Growth
Channels has “just” started out and they are still “tweaking” their service. There are a lot of improvements being implemented and the best thing about that is that those improvements are based on community feedback. In my opinion this shows that the site takes its users seriously and the people behind Channels are willing to listen to the needs of the people using the site.
Because the site is still growing there are a lot of opportunities for content creators to make an impact.
3 guesses who is featured on Channels at the moment? Check out my channel and be sure to view some of my cards.
As I stated in the beginning I don’t consider Channels to be a competitor for sites like Steemit, Patreon and Ong.Social. The most import reason for that is that Channels states that the content on the site does not have to be exclusive but they won’t accept plagiarism (which is obvious!). So the takeaway of this is that as long as you are the original owner of the content you can post it on Channels.
This is opens a lot of possibilities for cross posting and reposting. Say for example that you have some great content on Steemit that is past the payout period, you will be able to repost it on Channels. If you decide on cross posting on Steemit and Channels for example your content will keep on earning even after the Steemit payout period has passed.
So Channels is more like an addition to your favorite get-paid-for blogging site (if you have one) where you can increase and extend the duration of earnings for the content you created.
Kryptonia
I also found that using Kryptonia and Channels is a match made in heaven. For those who don’t know, Kryptonia (home of the Superior coin) is a site where you can create tasks. You can pay people superior coins to (for example) visit your site. Since Channels’ earning model is based on views instead of upvotes this makes it a great tool for getting some extra cash for your content. With Steemit it is quite a chore to check if someone really completed the task you set if this includes an upvote for your post but with Channels it matters less because all the person who accepted the task has to do is view your content so that you can get paid.
Apparently I was being too smart for my own good. Channels' terms-of-service does not allow sites like Kryptonia to reward users to purchase your content. So take not of this.
Big thanks to Kingston Duffie one of the creators of Channels for bringing this to my attention.
The new features introduced by cards
Using Channels is a smooth user friendly experience. If you are a content creator and want to increase visibility for your content and earn something extra in the process, Channels certainly is the place to do it. Channels is also a great place for those new to blogging to start out and earn some money because of the low learning curve.
In short Channels is a great site to use even if you already have a favorite Blog site.
