Sports Are the Internet’s Secret Key

Who wins the internet: pros or amateurs?

One point that Ed made in our conversation is that Facebook has had a change of heart about the wisdom of veering into the lane of Netflix or Disney and paying top dollar to host professional entertainment such as the very popular N.F.L. games.

For Facebook, why pay billions a year for football or Martin Scorsese movies? The company is already getting us to spend hours surfing its news feed and Instagram, with posts and videos that we mostly make for free.

But I should mention that Facebook was eager to grab for live sports until relatively recently. Maybe the company will change its mind. Again.

This has been one of the original questions about leisure time on the internet: Will professionally made entertainment, including sports, win, or will the websites and apps filled with amateurs?

The reality is probably that a mix of both will rule the internet, but it’s a fun question to explore.

There are two basic paths for the online video hangouts that we love. Some of them are mostly drawing people with stuff that regular people make — think TikTok, Facebook and YouTube.

Others like Netflix and the streaming video services from the big television entertainment companies are offering the same as the manicured programming you see on TV.