Meet Kindred
Imagine joining a debate club where a hundred million people get on the same stage and speak at the same time. The moderator sits idly by while a judge dishes out points to whoever says something sensational. Somewhere in the back, the stage manager pockets a payday to rain flyers on the crowd like confetti at a championship parade.
This is what social media platforms feel like these days. Public conversations on the Internet have become more like celebrated shouting matches. Sometimes they just feel pointless. Other times they can escalate into real life consequences like getting doxxed, canceled, or even physically threatened.
Much of the current reality traces back to the dominance of ad-based business models on the Internet. When a platform makes money by selling the attention of its users, it’s in the business of incentivizing popularity contests and fueling outrage machines. We go from a world of communities that share common interests to mobs that want to take one another out. We believe there’s a better way to bring people together online.
To be fair, moderating discourse across the entire Internet is far too tall a task for any one company. It’s unrealistic to expect platforms to substitute for human empathy and civility, and no single authority can possibly balance all the conflicting interests of its diverse users. But we think there are exciting and unexplored ways to reconfigure how online spaces work — to give users greater control, to introduce value systems that reward truth over popularity, and to innovate new ways for people to express their beliefs. That’s the journey we’re embarking on with Kindred. Along the way, our approach will be guided by a few principles.
Memberships: Anyone should be able to create or join public spaces. That space should belong to its members, who can directly enforce civility instead of waiting for company representatives who have too many conflicting interests to balance.
Governance: For public spaces, there should be democratic processes for making decisions as a community.
Monetization: A big reason why social media has become so toxic is because of conflicting interests between paying customers (advertisers) and users. We’re exploring business models that not only align with users, but also help them share in the economics of their online communities.
In the coming weeks and months, we’ll be rolling out a new product with features guided by the above principles. Sign up on our waitlist if you want to come along for the ride.
