Introduction
While view counts provide one metric for measuring distribution success, they should be considered within the broader context of our development strategy. Our initial focus has been on building essential infrastructure and fostering a committed community of builders and governance leaders who can effectively utilize and improve these tools.
This strategy has proven successful - attracting dedicated developers, creating multiple governance tools, and establishing welcoming community events. Our viewership metrics are comparable to other impactful governance-focused content that has received collective funding, as documented in our comparables analysis.
With core infrastructure now established, we're implementing a comprehensive content distribution strategy to expand reach while maintaining the high quality of engagement that has characterized our community's growth so far.
Context
The following two sections respond to comments from Jack and Michael regarding viewership of Eden Creators videos. Their original messages and previous versions of the Eden Creators videos mission, proposal, or related links are available upon request.
Response to Jack Anorack
Views vs Holistic Impact
While I agree that there’s a lot of value that’s downstream of views and we plan to greatly increase our viewership, a statement like "getting videos actually viewed is the primary metric" fundamentally misunderstands both the mission request and the project's value. This isn't just about video views - it's about building essential infrastructure for Optimism's governance ecosystem, providing an interactive platform for governance leaders, and documenting the journey of builders who are creating the future of collective decision-making on the Superchain.
As the creator of the original mission request that was approved by the Token House, I can confirm that video views were in just one of seven key metric categories we proposed to measure impact. These categories include community engagement, governance impact, onchain transactions, delegate involvement, and onboarding/participation metrics. Video views fall under only one category, and focusing solely on this metric overlooks the profound benefits this project creates for the Optimism ecosystem.
Many of these metrics are already being tracked and documented in four impact pages that I created for RetroFunding Round 6. These impact metrics are an early work in progress and we're planning to better curate our impact (as you can see in our milestone for an impact metrics dashboard), but they can give you a decent idea of our impact. As explained in the application, Eden Creators Videos play a crucial role in supporting the developers of the software and all the community members who join the three events that we produce.
It's important to look at this project holistically, as it's very different from other video missions. I encourage you to consider the full range of metrics that the Collective has voted to support by approving the Mission Request, rather than focusing solely on video views. This broader perspective aligns more closely with the intended goals and impact of the Mission Request. Distribution is only half of the intention, with creation being equally important. Some projects may focus more on content creation, while others concentrate on distribution.
Beyond views, we consider the quality of engagement, event participation, technical developments, governance innovations, and relationships fostered. The value of the content itself is crucial. For instance, a video about a groundbreaking concept could be immensely valuable even with limited viewership if it inspires key innovations. These are some measures of impact where our project really stands out and that we’re aiming to demonstrate in our impact pages.
Over the past year our communities have consistently built outstanding products and we’ve documented their progress at every step of the way, while also providing so many more benefits described in the application. The governance processes we document have the potential to greatly improve all aspects of Optimism Collective Governance. For more context on the importance of diverse impact metrics beyond just views, you can see this detailed message I shared with OP Michael last month.
Response to OP Michael
- Our project transcends simple video creation. We're pioneering a revolutionary platform for interactive, community-driven governance content creation on Optimism. This innovative approach allows for dynamic, engaging content that directly supports and enhances Optimism's governance processes (as explained here). Our events and videos feature real-time participation from key builders and governance leaders across the Superchain, providing unparalleled value that cannot be measured by view counts alone.
- The qualitative value of our content far exceeds typical metrics. While our overall view counts are currently modest due to resource constraints (as explained in the section above showing our current user base), we consistently attract governance leaders and top builders. Consider the impact of ten influential governance business leaders becoming deeply involved with Optimism after watching our content versus thousands of passive views. Our videos serve as a powerful onboarding and educational tool for Optimism, which has been proven and documented repeatedly in our recordings over the past year. For example, you can watch our two most recent two videos (OF 40 and OF 41) to see how our content has attracted top governance leaders from another ecosystem.
- Regarding production quality, our videos consistently demonstrate very high standards. We've refined our processes over 200+ videos, including 41 Optimism Fractal events. Our content features beautiful custom artwork, professional hosting by experienced community leaders, highly refined messaging, and comprehensive show notes with timestamps for easy navigation. Each video includes a unique combination of entertainment, education, and collaboration that can't be found elsewhere. The production value is evident in our polished presentations, engaging discussions, and the seamless integration of onchain elements like the Respect Game.
- In terms of traction, while our subscriber count is modest, our engagement is significant and growing. Over the past years, we’ve cultivated a dedicated community who consistently attend our events and watch our videos, which demonstrates organic growth as we haven't yet promoted most of our content outside of our immediate network. Our viewership milestone of 5,000 was conservatively set to ensure that our team will have the resources we need even if there are many unexpected obstacles, and based on your feedback I’ve now increased the critical milestone metric to 7,500. With proper resources for promotion and our established community connections, we expect to far exceed this number and rapidly expand our reach.
- In terms of traction, while our subscriber count is modest, our engagement is significant and growing. Over the past years, we’ve cultivated a dedicated community who consistently attend our events and watch our videos, which demonstrates organic growth as we haven't yet promoted most of our content outside of our immediate network. Our viewership milestone of 5,000 was conservatively set to ensure that our team will have the resources we need even if there are many unexpected obstacles, and based on your feedback I’ve now increased the critical milestone metric to 7,500. With proper resources for promotion and our established community connections, we expect to far exceed this number and rapidly expand our reach.
- We've invested over two years in developing essential infrastructure for fractal communities and the collaborative video creation processes described in this proposal. This groundwork combined with the immense potential of our protocols positions us for exponential growth. The Optimism Fractal software, educational materials, and operational procedures for promoting our products have reached a level of maturity to enable rapid growth in the coming months. We've refined our processes, built strong relationships within the ecosystem, and established a solid foundation for scaling. The requested funding will enable us to leverage this infrastructure and scale our video related operations during this critical stage, maximizing impact on the Superchain.
- We envision a future where thousands of governance leaders join our events, video editors produce hundreds of high quality videos at each event, and marketers distribute the content to millions of viewers. Imagine a massive collaborative gameshow where audiences get to hear the perspectives and stories from each leader interacting together on the Superchain. This all happens in a highly organized manner that’s only made possible by our onchain technical infrastructure, which operates entirely on the OP Mainnet. This vision could be further catalyzed by the Respect Game fund distribution system and coordinated with our governance protocols (such as the Council and OREC/ORDAO). This mission provides a crucial next step towards realizing this vision and establishing the Optimism Collective as the preeminent leader in community-driven content creation and governance.
- This Mission is truly one-of-a-kind and stands apart from all others who create videos about Optimism Governance. As such, it's crucial to view this proposal holistically. To help demonstrate our holistic impact, we've outlined eight milestones and multiple metrics beyond view count. One of our milestones also includes the design a dashboard where you can see details about 10 metrics that we plan to measure and publicly display to show our impact on Optimism Collective governance, which will provide accountability as we continue to build on Optimism over the long term. These comprehensive goals reflect the multifaceted value we're bringing to the ecosystem and our steadfast commitment towards actualizing the Optimistic Vision.
We believe there's immense potential benefit for Optimism in approving this Mission and it would also be in the best interest of the Collective to fund Eden Creators at a much larger budget, as this could allow us to expand our team and accomplish larger milestones that create more impact for Optimism Collective. The disconnect in how we see the value created by this grant request leads me to seek a better understanding of your perspective.
We'd appreciate more detailed feedback to understand the disconnect. Your insights would help us refine our approach and better communicate our value proposition. For instance, how do you view the qualitative value of our video views (and all the other deliverables described in the milestones)? What specific criteria are you using for "proven quality traction" and "extremely high production value"? How do you think that our current videos fall short of these standards?
I also strongly encourage a closer review of our full proposal and supporting materials, including our videos. If it would be helpful, I'd be happy to prepare a more detailed response addressing your specific points and providing additional context on our value propositions in the coming days. Of course, you (and others reading this) are very welcome to join our weekly events and experience what it’s like to participate in our videos, as well as ask community members what they think about our content.
We're eager to engage in a constructive dialogue to ensure this project aligns with the Optimism Collective's goals and vision for the future. I hope this response helps alleviate your concerns and illuminate the benefits of this grant request. We are curious to hear your thoughts and would greatly appreciate your willingness to reevaluate the proposal in light of these points. Thank you for your time and consideration.