Web2 social networks are built to keep you on the platform. We covered that in our last blog, but want to expand more on how Solcial is taking a new approach. If we’re being honest, by not focusing on keeping user attention at all costs, we are taking a risk. But the way social media should be designed is so users find value in the time they spend – not find their time being drained.
So the question is, what if social media gave you more value for less of your time?
How Solcial gives you more time
There are several differences between Solcial and current Web2 platforms. For starters, Solcial is building with the idea of being censorship resistant. This means giving users control through our DAO and furthermore via our IPFS solution. Next, we value users' privacy and don’t collect your data. This means no targeting of ads and no potential for leaks. But all of this leads to the overall user experience. We are building so creators can provide users with value in the most economical way possible. This is being done through their user token.
Web2 social media platforms are built to keep users on their platform for as long as possible. They want creators to use whatever means necessary to keep users' attention. In the case of Youtube, creators are incentivized to make videos longer so more ads can be shown, use clickbait titles to get more views, or simply not get to the point of their content in a timely manner. All of this leads to more profit for the platform and more of the small fraction that creators get, too.
Solcial makes this a feature of the past. By allowing creators to monetize with their audience directly, now the creator is incentivized to provide immediate value. There is no gain in wasting users' time or tricking them into viewing content. This in turn allows for users to not be trapped on the platform, but instead can visit, get rewarded, and live their life or find even more value from other creators.
By allowing creators to monetize with their audience directly, now the creator is incentivized to provide immediate value.
Why we’re not building an addictive machine
The cycle of addiction that we see on Web2 platforms means we as users have less control of our lives, less control of our data, and less of a chance at finding real value. It feels like Web2 platforms are running addictive machines that are fueled by algorithms and designed to take as much time from users as possible. At the end of the day, this business model is highly profitable for the platforms. They monetize off of our attention. Naturally, their incentives are based on how they can maximize this attention.
We at Solcial are taking a risk – we aren’t building a platform centred around taking your attention at all costs.
Instead, Solcial is modelled around the idea of giving you value. This might be value for 10 minutes or 10 hours. But core to our beliefs is that users should no longer be the product, but instead should be a partner.
What this looks like in practice is a social network where you get to decide what kind of content you want to see, how much you might want to pay for access to it (this depends on your favourite creators), and how much value you find from this content. Instead of trying to provoke emotion from you, we as a platform aim to provide opportunities for engagement and exploration but limit the harmful effects of addiction-based algorithms.
On Solcial creators are incentivized to provide value – not addiction.
Benefits
We believe the benefits of building off of value and not addiction will manifest themselves around the world. In a perfect scenario, we might see more people gaining valuable information they can use in their everyday lives. Or possibly limit the amount of propaganda and fearmongering that drives clicks on Web2 platforms.
The future we see once the world adopts a model of value over addiction will be largely shaped by creators and their audience, but we believe the current path we are on is not optimal for society.
Risks
Of course, there are risks in our approach. There is the possibility that people prefer addiction, maybe they just want to waste all their time endlessly scrolling their feeds. We can’t control that.
Next, there is the risk that by not making people the product we sell, we might not be as profitable as Web2 platforms. While this might be true, we must remember when these Web2 platforms first began, pundits criticized them for their lack of a business model. Oh, how times have changed.
Conclusion
Fundamentally we want to change the world. The key way to make this change is by altering how we spend our most valuable non-renewable resource – our time! Yes, we are taking a chance, and sure there is risk involved. At the end of the way, trying new things and solving big problems is risky. But we know it is important.
Web2 has become centred around addiction – Solcial is centred around value.
About Solcial
Solcial is a permissionless social network that gives users the power of web3 by allowing people to interact with each other without fearing censorship, and allowing content creators to be rewarded fairly at market value.
Get in Touch
Telegram: https://t.me/solcial
Discord: https://discord.gg/solcial
Twitter: https://twitter.com/solcialofficial
Blog: http://blog.solcial.io/
Website: https://solcial.io
Email: [email protected]
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/solcial
