Lowering Barriers to Creative Participation Everywhere

There’s an old rule in internet culture sometimes referred to as the 1–10–100 principle. It goes like this: 1% of users create original content, 10% might engage — comment, like, share — and the remaining 100% view. It’s not a rigid law, but it’s been a helpful reference point over the past couple of decades. What it reflects, more than anything else, is how unevenly participation tends to spread across digital platforms.

But what happens when more people want to move from viewers to creators — and can’t?

Recently, I was struck by an offhand comment from someone talking about their experience with video creation. For them, producing video was expensive. Not just in terms of resources, but time, coordination, editing… the whole chain. It’s not a small lift. And it made me think: maybe that 1% hasn’t stayed so small because the other 99% lack ideas or desire. Maybe they’re just waiting for the tools to catch up, for the process to become easier, more accessible.

At the same time, we’re hearing stories of individuals — often power users — creating hundreds of videos a day. It’s astonishing. The contrast between that extreme fluency and the steep barrier that others face is a gap worth paying attention to. And as product builders, that’s our job: pay attention to the gaps.

When people say video is expensive, they don’t mean it casually. They often mean it’s expensive in ways that aren’t immediately visible. You might need to script, shoot, cut, re-shoot, drop a soundtrack, reframe for mobile — and yes, if you're running a business, there's likely a production team involved. Even short videos can eat up hours. The result is that enthusiasm can stall before it gets momentum. You might have something to say. You might even press record. But at some point, friction wins.

And yet, despite all this, we’re in a very “cool” place. That’s worth slowing down to appreciate. More and more people want to say something. They have ideas, humor, knowledge, emotions. A generation ago, these lived inside conversations or journals, beneath the surface. Today, they surface as reels, streams, shorts, clips.

The tools are improving, and not just in performative ways. Yes, filters are getting better. Yes, captioning is easier. But more importantly, interfaces are becoming more humane. Templates, guidance, AI assistance — these are steps toward levelling the field, letting more people find their voice in formats that used to be the domain of professionals.

We’re still early. The 1–10–100 pattern hasn’t disappeared, and maybe it won’t. But the 1%? It’s swelling. Slowly, and not evenly, but steadily. Not because everyone wants a big audience, but because people are starting to believe they can express something and be understood. That’s not about vanity — it’s about participation.

At Dellecod, we spend a lot of time thinking about systems, but also about people. We’re curious about what unlocks expression, what removes hesitation, what flow actually feels like when you’re making something meaningful. Those moments where someone goes from “I could never…” to “Why not?” — those are the moments we care the most about.

There’s still friction. There’s still cost. But the edges are softening. And that’s very cool.