Short-term rental hosts are launching their own direct-booking websites in an effort to diversify their business after years of mounting frustrations with companies like Airbnb
Source: Airbnb hosts are building their own direct booking websites in revolt
This happens as more and more become disenchanted with “big business” hassles.
Locally, during the pandemic quarantine, restaurants can offer only take-out and delivery services. Several web services manage online orders for restaurants – and are funded by exorbitant fees charged to the restaurants. Literally, up to 30% of the online price goes to the software company, not the restaurant.
Because our local restaurants are hurting, many of us are placing orders – but doing it the old fashioned way by calling the restaurant directly on the phone. Don’t use the third-party run restaurant order system! Call the restaurant directly – they need all they help they can get right now! And make sure you call the restaurant’s actual phone number and not a proxy phone number run by Grubhub or similar that intercepts calls and still takes a huge cut.
Social media companies are also driving content producers away.
Last night, I watched a medical video, part of a long running series on medicine, produced by physicians at well known medical centers. They noted many of their videos have now been taken down by Youtube for merely mentioning science issues about Covid-19.
These are practicing M.D.s, discussing the peer reviewed literature and day-to-day medical practice. None of their videos were promoting misinformation.
However, Youtube’s thought crime systems erroneously flagged their videos. As a consequence, they have now set up their own web site with their own video hosting so that all of their content remains accessible.
Other Youtube content creators have begun migrating to off-Youtube platforms such as Nebula, which charges less than US $20/year for an annual subscription.
I have given up on most social media. I deleted all of my content on Twitter and Facebook. While I had not been censored (except for the time that FB erroneously flagged my blog posts on my group page at FB and shadow banned them for months before I discovered what they were doing) – I see this problem affecting others.
Social media businesses, in particular, in their race to out do each other with their automated content control systems are driving users back to the original web of personal web sites and blogs.
