We Are the (New) Media | Mely - ENS & Louie O'Connor - Ethereum Foundation

All right, so who's ready for our next speakers? We have a really interesting talk about new media and what that means for the ecosystem. So let's welcome Louis O'Connor to the stage and Milly from ENS. Round of applause.

[applause]

Hi everyone. Oh my god, you can't see anything up here.

[laughter]

Can't see anything. That's a good thing. But nobody's in the audience.

Right. I mean, our main audience is online.

That's true.

When we talk about new media. Louis, you've been with EF since

For about 6 months now.

6 months, yes. And you I I know you're pretty well now. I remember when you started picking up a camera and just starting creating content and exploring all kinds, all the formats, all the different medias.

Yeah.

Um How did you land here? How did this happen?

Um It's kind of the anniversary of when I first made a video. Um it was actually this time last year at E November. Um and a a big question that I ask myself frequently is why should I champion video making, film making? Um and I I really try to speak up for creators. I really try to show kind of what I went through before I got here and before I had a studio.

Um and I keep coming back to the same point and same feeling which was if I didn't create in this industry, I would have never have got here so fast. Um and that's not because I'm not good at my craft or that I don't like making videos. It's because other markets are so saturated and there's been this like renaissance of creators slowly emerging in tech in technology. Um and when you look at the landscape of tech um and kind of what's happening to the industry, like we just heard Austin and seen like his experience live coding, building these agents, the entry barriers of building has kind of become zero. Um so like a lot of people like what what does it now come down to and it ultimately does come down to distribution.

And when you look within distribution, like what are the most important parts and I think like we are all here to try and coordinate. I think ultimately that's the core of Ethereum's mission. Um and storytelling is the longest standing form of coordination.

Yes.

Um so when I kind of like look now in hindsight over my journey starting from like this this guy who had a very really big dream to make videos and decided that I would no longer make compromise all the way to where we are today. There was a lot of luck in the timing um and storytelling distribution has never been more important before. And if you look at this and you're like, "Okay, well if you want to tell or let's let's say Ethereum is one of the greatest stories ever told. If you look at this story in particular and you're like, "Well, how do we tell it? How do we ensure that it's consumed?"

You have to speak the language of the internet, which is video first.

Yeah. I think you can give yourself a bit more credit. You say it was luck, but I think a lot of skill and passion also runs uh into that into the success you live today and that's visible in the videos that you create. I mean, when we think about content creation in Ethereum, we all know Vitalik's blogs. Those are always bangers.

He's a great writer. That's definitely one of his strengths. What do you What is your best format or like your favorite and strongest format?

Um I'm not a great writer. Unfortunately, I grew up struggling to really write and read. So definitely not writing and hopefully V would never see any of my writings. Um but I think my my strongest format and this will sound cliche, and I don't know, it's kind of hard to say anything else, but I I think my strongest format is my ability to feel, and my ability to understand, and that is my medium. Um and it just so happens that my dream has always been to be a filmmaker.

Um but at the core of my taste and my point of view, it's really just a lot of love, and that is definitely for a future in this industry.

So, before you joined the EF, you were running your own media company in Web3. And what was that like compared to being at the EF as the new media lead?

I mean, I think ultimately as the studio founder runner, I was just a glorified creative trying to get paid for my craft. Um I spent like 6 years prior in crypto full-time building, working, and contributing. And when I first held a camera this time last year, um a lot a lot of my friends saw my passion and wanted to help me. Um and although for sure I definitely saw the growing pains of building a studio, building an agency, at the core of all of it was just somebody who wanted to try and tell the Ethereum story. Um and I think this is like maybe also some advice to any creators getting started.

Um the average lifespan of a creator is not very long. Um and like it is the attention economy, and it's also like an attention subcategory of work as well. Um and you have to you have to be diligent with who you work with and and and what strides you take, and I had a really good friend advise me to not die. And I think building a studio to me was just like ensuring that everything that I created, crafted, and executed kind of put me a further step forward to being alive and surviving and telling the story. And anything that took away from that, I just I I just didn't work with.

That's really good advice. So, what would you say was the biggest lesson concerning media since you joined the EF? I mean, I I assume like creating creating those narratives for a project like Ethereum is completely different than focusing on on your own company.

Um I think the the biggest difference is uh trying to tackle the communication problem that every industry which is somewhat complex struggles with. Um and I I think this is I I've got some filmmaker friends who are um actually working in tech and and we we often get together and discuss like what makes us different to web two creators. And I think it actually is our ability to abstract complex topics and communicate. Um and although like I am inherently a video person, I am actually also just a branding communication person. And at the core of every good story is just good communication.

Like you can go and speak to V, but if he's not willing to speak about something, like the story is it it won't be listened to. So, it's it's not always just about who you're speaking with. It's about how do you make them feel? How do you open them up? And how do you ensure that the right communication is being said?

And that's I think the the most unique thing to work work out at the EF.

That's super interesting. So, you are wearing many different hats at the EF. Um even though your title is new media lead. So, I guess the main question would be what is new media? Right?

[laughter]

I think new media is a stance towards inherently understanding the creative economy. And understanding that um when you look at the ultimate goal of media, I think the ultimate goal at the core is to spread a message. Um and when you look at the history of media, which is still very important, but it is also very controlled. And what we've seen over the last decade is this rise of influencers, creators, and ultimately artists kind of build voices and build communities who are willing to listen to their narratives. Um and what we see from a new media perspective is an opportunity to kind of build distribution from scratch um using current channels and new channels where we inherently understand new ways of consumption, new ways of distribution, and we use those to try and tell this story and maybe kind of stand up against the people that haven't been willing to tell it in the right way.

Would you say legacy media is dead?

No, definitely not. I also wouldn't comment on that, but like definitely not. You need both. But I think like you you can you can either like wait at the door of legacy media for them to open it or just pay them and like I don't think we're willing to do that. So I think we can just like create the door ourselves and that's what new media starts with.

Yeah, legacy media does have the habit of gatekeeping the narrative power. Who do you think holds the most narrative power in new media?

You want me to give you a person or like a holistic answer?

It can be a person or it can be a community.

Yeah, I

you think is Where do you think lies the most um leverage?

I think trusted creators have the most leverage in new media. Um and I I think we've softly seen this rise now of new media, which is like these new ways of consumption, these new ways of storytelling. Um but like ultimately isn't that new. Like creators, influencers have been around forever and I think there's so many different formats of creation and like I want to make very clear that like if you don't want to make videos, you shouldn't make videos. I also don't have TikTok.

Like I I'm I don't really consume a lot either and I haven't always really been a big content junkie. I personally just want to make films. Um and like one of my biggest influences growing up was Casey Neistat and I I said this earlier today, but like I'm as inspired by some of the greats as what I am by people like Casey Neistat. Um so when Mhm. at people like who have really made a stance and kind of inherently have built a platform where they can carry new messages and new distribution, I look at this phase of a trusted creator.

Um and I think the opportunity of being a trusted creator, especially with the resurgence of AI, is getting smaller and smaller.

Mhm. Yeah. I agree and it's also kind of surprising that you don't uh don't use TikTok and don't consume content there. Um let's come back to Ethereum and the untold story of Ethereum. Who do you think are There are so many key people within the Ethereum ecosystem.

Who do you think are the unsung heroes of Ethereum that you want to talk more about and like show to the world?

That's such a great question. Um if I were to give you like specific names, I'd probably get in trouble or the opposite. I'll get a message saying, "Thanks." Um but we definitely are internally very aware that like there are all these like maybe there are some heroes who maybe haven't been given like uh as many opportunities that have really gone and spread these messages.

Mhm.

Um and I think that we're we're consciously making an effort to try to give a voice a platform to numerous people at the Ethereum Foundation and I I hope that the answer to your question will be really apparent in the next year or so.

Mhm. Um another question that I had is so Mr. Beast, the biggest creator we know, decided to create his financial structure on Ethereum. What does that mean to you as the new media lead of Ethereum?

I think like we have for some reason neglected the alignment between the creator economy and Ethereum. And uh this is something that I've kind of obsessed over and when I was when I was younger, one of the reasons that I kind of became a little bit entrepreneurial and found Ethereum was because I tried to make money from e-commerce. And like when I think about I also think in many ways e-commerce is like the beginning of new media and so is NFTs. Um, but when I think about like what YouTubers, what Mr. Beast, what like these people who were like trying to champion e-commerce were really saying was like there were new ways and new economies of making money that that can kind of set you free and set you um, apart from the more traditional ways of uh, of earning.

Um, and when I look at people like Mr. Beast and like wherever I am or I'm not a fan of him doesn't really matter. Like what he's done is incredible. But what he has done is he has like fought against the great vine of media and like built all entire new ways of consumption which is like incredible and I mean I'm not surprised that people like him are aligned to the values of Ethereum.

Yeah, same. I agree. And considering your story within the Ethereum ecosystem and how you have risen from zero to 100, what's your piece of advice for other content creators in the Ethereum ecosystem and how can they stand out compared to creators from other ecosystems?

I think my first piece of advice is stay consistent. Um, consistency will forever win. My second piece of advice is like it's okay to to give up. Like you I think content creation is something that everyone can experiment with and you might start the experiment and be like you know what, this isn't for me. If for some reason it is, if for some reason you're crazy enough to spend the rest of your life sitting in editing suites and on shoots, then like do not stop.

And the biggest opportunity I think for any creator right now is in tech and specifically in the Ethereum ecosystem. There's so much opportunity here for storytellers.

Thank you, Louie. Thanks for the conversation. I wish we had more time, but that's it from Louie today. You can follow him on all social media and especially on Twitter, right? Where you see all his work.

And yes, thanks for today and

Thank you so much. Thanks everyone. Thanks Millie.

[applause]

Thank you, sir.

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