Vanity: Let's Build a Bigger and Better Social Media Platform

6/11/2018 | Tenger

[tenger]

There's been a lot of talk lately about Twitter and Facebook being very unfriendly towards conservatives. What is to prevent a few people getting together and come up with a bigger and better platform for the masses?

I know GAB was created, but there are problems with that platform that many will not go on it. I was only on the site for about 2 minutes after my first log in because there was just a lot of unnecessary junk streaming by. Perhaps they've changed and adapted.

I realize this is probably a huuuuuge undertaking, but I am confident there is enough talent on this site to gather requirements, design, and implement a better platform, one that isn't offensive to half the population because of the lack of adequate filters. We bellyache about those two platforms in particular and lament that nothing else is out there. In reality there have been others that were started, but for whatever reason they never got off the ground.

As I stated on a related thread, there are already Twitter clone scripts out there that we can use as a baseline. Or we can start from the ground up.

And if you're reading this and thinking, "this can't work," instead tell us what you will do to help make it work. In other words, work with us and not against us.

A core team would develop:

• Functional requirements
• Hosting requirements
• User requirements/interface
• Realistic development timeline

at the very minimum. Go live soon with a stable platform and tweak on the fly. I think the time has come for a great social media platform that incorporates the best of the existing SM sites but doesn't compromise our values.

[z3n]

I can tell you from experience that once you get over a certain traffic/load threshold, you need multiple dedicated servers... at the time I did it, it was several million hits per day. When that gets too big for it’s britches, you need to pay for mega-bandwidth and load balancing. And when that gets untenable, you need traffic distribution balanced to regional data centers so that the whole internet isn’t rushing billions of requests to a single data center.

... but then, I’m sure that would be a good problem to have.

I still say, even though facebook unseated myspace, I don’t think anything will unseat facebook until there is a paradigm shift in the technology sets (browser/app combo)

[z3n]

...and yeah, I know you were talking about twitter too, but I feel like things have crystallized quote a bit. Until...

[Ransomed]

It’s hard for me to imagine someone looking back from the year 2050 and thinking that the rise of social media/smartphones was this really great thing for society.

Freegards

[Wuli]

“Great idea!.....”Then we’ll need a bunch of non-contributing freeloaders to post clickbait to it several times a day!.....”
Oh, wait...”

Darn, you beat me to it!!!

Without a financial model for a social media venue, it is not a model worth consifering, because it cannot succeed. With FreeRepublic we have just been lucky that Jim has gotten eonugh voluntary contributions over the years.

Are those who are promoting another venue suggesting the voluntary contribution model as well?

If that is their intent then I would suggest to them to first have dicussions with Jim Robinson about raising and expaning the abilities of FreeRepublic, for some of the “social media like” abilities found on other venues, and what those costs would be, and then starting a “capital investment” donation campaign, in addition to current general operating costs - IF Jim Robinson would like to pursue it.

My point is - wouldn’t it be better to improve a vehicle than invent a new one.

[free_life]

Twitter and bookface have share buttons on almost all pages, that is anther advantage they have in controlling social media’s future.

If a universal share button was adapted across net that a user customizes with all links they want and then loads as customized links button wherever they browse it would be a game changer.

[free_life]

2020 election will be won on social media...it will a new kinda crazy, with censorship, bots and fake news.

[moovova]

Don’t forget the village green stocks.

[Drew68]

There's been a lot of talk lately about Twitter and Facebook being very unfriendly towards conservatives.

Twitter and Facebook is where the fight is. Not here. Not Gab. Not some as of yet nonexistent conservative social media platform.

If you want to preach to the choir, you're fine here. If you want to reach the masses, make your voice heard on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, etc.

I have a Twitter account. Every FReeper should have a Twitter account. That's the front line. That's where President Trump wages war and wins battles.

[willyd]

You are correct it would be better for freerepublic to add a subscription model that gradually adds features and updates the platform over time . Call it freerepiblic+ and make it pay gated.

There may be reasons he doesn’t do this... not sure but I would like to help if possible with this model

We have to do something or our voices will be marginalized completely

[KEVLAR]

Some neat ideas on this thread.

If you get some momentum on this, freepmail me, I may be able to assist.

[Mears]

“If you get some momentum on this, freepmail me, I may be able to assist.”

—

For heaven’s sake,hurry,I’m 85 years old. :-)

.

[Delta 21]

YUP !

I happen to love the bulletin board pre-millennial speed and style of FreeRepublic.com.

[Wuli]

A “subscription model” was not my suggestion.

I sugessted that the ideas offered in the orginal post on this thread did not include a financial model. I also said ideas - about a social media platform - were useless without a financial model.

I then suggested that therefor maybe those proposing the idea were expecting to have a “voluntary contribution model”.

I then suggested that IF THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE SUGGESTING, THEN why invent the wheel, just add to and expand FreeRepublic.

But, for myself I am not suggesting either a subscription model or a voluntary contribution model.

I just have a basic problem with any model that does not a include a financial model within it.

[Vigilant1]

I am on Gab and it is steadily improving. Probably its biggest drawback is that, being a true free speech platform you have to mute a whole lot of idiots ('nazi' larpers, trolls, flat-earthers, etc.) to bring the signal-to-noise ratio down to a reasonable level. But once you do it is probably better than anything anyone else is likely to come up in any reasonable amount of time. I would encourage everyone to check it out as a Twitter alternative.

Gab

[Moe-Patrick]

Taking a look at the bigger picture.....

MySpace was big amongst younger people 20 and under prior to 2009.
2009 FB took off amongst 50 and under for two reasons, games and a replacement for classmates.com.
Obama reign 2008-2016 without any MSM scrutiny. Obamacare woke everyone up to a dangerous, costly DC.
Politics finally appeared on FB and twitter 2016. (By 2016, users had mastered memes on both platforms).

And most importantly, memes informed young Bernie voters of Clinton history. Democrats can blame Russians, but it was everyday Americans sharing american-made memes that educated a generation or two. And that trend continues today. Memes are very powerful in conveying a specific message because people read them whether they agree with them or not. Therefore, planting a seed......

As an example, my husband has 700 FB friends based on years of playing in various local bands as a hobby. Most of these people he barely knows. I often ask him ‘what kind of memes are you seeing from 700 friends’. He was seeing anti-trump periodically through Sep 2017. He has been seeing many pro-Trump and anti-democrat since then. We live in Ohio. In summary, social media educated many and bypassed the DC controlled message. Social media sunk Hillary and elevated Trump. Why? Because people are spreading the truth.

On a side note, FB eliminated it’s biased trending news feed. I suspect social media will try desperately to eliminate Americans from sharing truth. They know what happened in 2016 was powerful and must be stopped.

[Moe-Patrick]

Addendum to my previous post....

While I see the news/truth advantages of social media, the disadvantages are numerous. I believe social media makes people antisocial.

As for 2016, it is because FB was the platform for sharing truth via memes etc that many people unfriended Trump supporters. Those that could not handle the truth or defend their own views had no choice but to unfriend others. BUT, you can’t unfriend everyone.

[TBP]

Many of us have joined mewe.com

[yesthatjallen]

It's possible but you have to have two things to start.

People with the skills to build such a platform and now, because of established competition, money to promote it as a viable alternative.

A group of like-minded people created Facebook. YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, who were all early employees of PayPal.

Facebook beat out MySpace but Youtube was almost unique in it's field. You have to take into account many factors that platforms like Facebook, Youtube, et al didn't have to contend with.

If you're serious, I would research how each social media platform was created and see if their experience can be replicated.

It can be done if you find the core talent and find funding.

If you find the talent, you can crowd source money along with private investors.

[tenger]

I suggested some sort of subscription model in a previous post, just as an example. I have a few ideas about that, but they're just that, ideas. Anything more than that at this point is speculation. Without buy-in of the idea (that Twitter is broken, for example) from a core group of starters, anything more is a waste of time. It's not to say you can't have ideas about it, but you never know until you implement if it's going to work or people would accept it.

So, Wuli, what you are saying is if you know what the financial model is, you'll help with the project? Or you'll consider it?

I mean, a very basic model would combine both ads and subscription. $2/month and no more ads. Text ads if they don't pay. That model is in place in hundreds of thousands of sites across the web. That's as simple as it gets. Would it work? Functionally yes, but would people pay $2 to have a stable platform with no ads? Who know?

I also am not suggesting to add to FR. The platform/site is quite stable without introducing new tech. Why fix what isn't broken?

[Wuli]

What I am saying is if someone gives me a financial model from something, and I can make some intelligent analysis of that model, then if I liked that model I could consider supporting the idea. In other words, I wouldn’t buy into a “pig in a poke”.

I will agree to this much.

It may be that consideration of some ideas about specifics about a social media platform & system have to be put together and agreed on, by persons who are going to be its intiators, in order to see where and by what means financial support for the system could be produced. I am not sure that is correct, but I will concede that reasonable people may think it is.

If I thought I had the paths open to me to some Conservative venture capitalists, and there was a great social media platform idea I thought should be given the chance, I’d hope to be able approach them for some seed money. My problem is I know they would want to see a financial plan.

Then again some of such persons may not be “ideal”, not “pure” Conservative enough in some folks eyes, even though some such backers may not be looking for political purity of a Conservative sort in those bringing the idea. Not all Conservatives are absolutist in alignment with all other Conservatives, yet are willing to work with other Conservatives on general principles. I think any Conservative social media platform will be doomed if there is a Conservative litmus test.