Web User - UK (2019-12-27)

WHATEVERHAPPENEDTOELLO?

27 Dec 2019-7Jan 2020 39

WT.Social

Discuss WT.Socialat http://www.facebook.com/webusermagazine

appearing first. Whilethis could mean

havingtowade through lots of

uninteresting content (thereisalready

talk ofadding an ‘upvote’button),it

meansposts arelessprone tooutside

interference,whilethecommunityis

asked topolicepotentialabuses.

AccordingtoWales,the goalisto

provide meaningfulcontent rather than

pursuing clicks. In apostannouncing

the rebootof WikiTribune (bit.ly/wiki491),

he saidthatothersocialnetworks had

prioritisedadvertisingand user

engagement overquality,and thatthese

werefactors hewanted tochange.“We

will fosteranenvironment wherebad

actors areremovedbecause itis right,

not because it suddenly affects our

bottom line,”he toldtheFinancial Times.

Buthowwill itmakeany money?

Mostsocialnetworksmaketheirmoney

through paid-for content, advertisingand

the selling of userdata. Wales sayshis

network will do noneoft hese things.

Instead, likeWikipedia,itrelies on users

donating some oftheir own hard-earned

cash. You canopt topay£10 amonth or

£80 for the year.Wecouldn’t find any

details ofhowtocancel your

subscription, but weassumethatthe

moneywon’tbe takenon arollingbasis.

DoIhavetopayto use it?

No.Thereiscurrently awaiting listfor

anyone whowishestojoin the social

network for free–atthetimeof writing,

wewerenumber 2 63 ,261inthe queue.

Stumpingupfor asubscription gets you

immediateaccesstothe website,and

youcan also find your wayin bysending

invitations towork colleagues, family

membersor friends using oneof three

different links. In ourcase,weonly

neededasingle acceptancetogain

access,and therewerenorestrictions

on whatwecould do oncewewerein.

Aremanypeopleusing it?

Wales saidthe servicehad 160 ,0 00

memberswithin daysof launching,and

thatthe numbernowstands atmorethan

300 ,0 00 ,butthat’sstillsmall fry

compared with other social networks.

Facebook has2.45billion monthly active

users, while Twitterhas321 million, so

WT.Social hasalongwaytogotocatch

up with thesegiants. Wales hassaid

he would behappytogainbetween

40 and 50million usersovertime.

HowhaveFacebookandTwitter

reacted?

Neither ofthesocialnetworkgiantsare

cowering infear overthispotential

threattotheir dominance.Infact, there

has been nodirectresponsefrom

Facebook or Twitter,and thereisn’tlikely

tobe for sometime.

Whatwe’reseeing is areactiontothe

growing concernthatFacebookand

Twitter arepackedwithclickbait, fake

newsstories and false accounts, andthat

socialmediaplatforms arebeingused to

spread political disinformation. Twitter

has been themostproactiveof late,

banning all political adverts (see Need

toKnow,Issue 4 89 ). Facebook,

meanwhile,saysitis trying toidentify

clickbait andpushitfurtherdown its

users’ feeds.

ShouldIsignup toWT.Social?

Thatdependsonyour expectations. At

the moment, thesitelooks alittle dated

and, untilyour friends signup,itcan feel

likestepping intoapartyfullof people

youdon’t know,whereeveryone has

already formed theirowncliques.

WT.Social’sheartisc ertainly in the

right place, but somepeopledon’tseem

to mindfake news as long as it suits

them, which meansthe newservicemay

neverattract the huge userbases of rival

socialnetworks. Butat leas tWT.Social is

travelling in the rightdirection and, if it

ends up offering amoreobjective

approachto stories, no matter what

they’reabout, itcould well be come a

popular newcommunity.

Adding asubwikito WT.S ocial doesn’t give

youany specialcontroloverit

InourFAQin Issue 35 7(bit.ly/

webuser3 57 ), welookedatEllo

(ello.co), asocial network that

promisedtobe an ad-free,privacy-

conscious alternativetoFacebook.

Integrating elements ofTwitter,the

platformwascreatedbyagroup of

American artists and designerswho

claimed itwouldn’tcollect or sell

personal data andwould be open and

transparent withits users. Andyet,

nearly sixyears on,fewtalk about it.

Even so,Ello hasaboutamillion

users and it is nowbilled asa“global

community of artists”. Rather than

goingtoe-to-toe withthesocial

network giants, ithasfound its

niche withcreatorsand writers,and

feels moreakintoPinterest, with

anemphasis on showcasing

creativeendeavours.

TheaimofWT.Socialis toprovidemeaningfulcontentthat’s
policed andeditedbyotherusers

Youdon’tneedtopaytouseWT.Socialbut,ifyou do,you’lljump

thequeueof peoplewaitingforfree access