Meet Loka, Our Hero Mascot For Eternal Independence
This post is now outdated, as Gold memberships were phased out. But this post and the accompanying video remain up for posterity.
100 Million Books remains fiercely independent, so Loka is just as important as ever, but the means to attain that independence have changed over time!
An organization is controlled by those who pay it.
When 100 Million Books launched 5 months ago, we railed against commercial & social algorithms for promoting content that cultivated filter bubbles in modern society. That’s why the aim of our service has been to deliver the broadest range of ideas anywhere, period — regardless of peoples’ existing tastes or worldviews — by providing them a venue to step outside their filter bubbles in an effortless, accessible way.
As it turns out, organizations don’t run these algorithms because they enjoy seeing societal divisions deepen. They run these algorithms because they make them lots of money. Booksellers suggest you books you’re likely to like to increase the chances you buy. Social networks suggest you follow like-minded folks so you stick around & click around more…so the networks can sell more ads.
These trends are not unlike tobacco companies that engineered cigarettes to be so addictive and food companies that engineered highly-processed, sugary foods to be so addictive. So it’s not a new trend for companies to promote products with negative side effects, and it’s certainly not one that’s exclusive to technology.
This point became increasingly clear over the past 5 months as we researched various methods and partnerships to make this project economically sustainable. But as it turns out, our goals simply don’t align with those of anyone else, except the folks who’ve been with us since the beginning…our users.
They’re the ones who’ve stuck around when the software was buggy and the design was imperfect and features were missing and the book collection was small (there’s still a ton of work to do, but we’ve come a long way).
Does it really make sense to dilute the experience we’ve created with paid placements no one wants to see? To rely on affiliate revenues that require books to sell in order for us to prosper? To dilute the mission that’s garnered 10 million impressions in over 150 countries in the first 5 months of its existence? To fail our faithful users?
Nope. Not gonna happen.
That’s why we’ve decided to go another way. Instead of compromising the service, we’re doubling down on its original mission: unhindered intellectual diversity. That’s where Loka comes in. She’s an abstract representation of the ‘several blind men and an elephant’ parable that stands for humility in the face of differing perspectives — a key aspect of this mission.
So we’ve made her the mascot of our new offering, Gold memberships.
Gold memberships keep the core service intact for free users (new tab, new book), while making some of the niceties that aren’t essential to the experience for paid members only (history, favorites, etc). And it keeps us from compromising our raison d’ être in order to push other peoples’ marketing agendas or maximizing affiliate revenues. Which, in turn, results in the best possible service for our users.
We expect this new arrangement will keep most people happy while making a little bit of money, keeping our users’ data safe, and keeping the service healthy & growing.
And with Loka as our mascot, we’ll have an ever-present reminder of why we exist, who we serve, and what we do.
So that our users, the folks who enjoy the experience of our service every day, remain the ones who control it.
You can learn more about 100 Million Books here.
