Relevant Beta is LIVE
Announcing the launch of our new app and website. Sign up here.
There’s something wrong with the internet. Monopolistic, data-driven platforms have over-saturated the information economy, leaving users lost in a web of content without the tools they need to navigate and decipher the online world. But what if there was a way to cut through the noise without creating closed networks or participating in top-down censorship? What if we could build tools that allow users to share, sort and rank content according to quality instead of clicks?
Communities Built on Trust
At Relevant, we’re proposing a new kind of network built on trust. Instead of filtering information using opaque, click-based algorithms, we’ve built a Reputation metric that encourages users to rate content according to its value.
The Relevant Reputation system puts curation power in the hands of trusted community members and experts instead of passive consumers. Anyone can contribute to the conversation, but the information that comes from, or is endorsed by trusted users will appear higher in the feed.
To start, we’re launching Relevant with two pilot communities: Satoshi’s Planet, a forum for discussing crypto-related news, and Relevant Feed, a space for debating broad topics like culture and technology.
Users Own the Network
Relevant has a built-in economic system that distributes coins as curation rewards. These coins can be traded for Ethereum-based tokens (REL) that represent ownership in the Relevant ecosystem. This means that users are the owners of the platform — not its product. As a result, it’s in the best interest of developers to maintain the network according to the needs of curators rather than those of external actors, like advertisers or data brokers.
How it Works
Communities
Each community on Relevant is similar to a subreddit. You can start discussion threads by posting links or text, and rank content using upvotes and downvotes.
Reputation
Each user has a Reputation score. Users earn reputation when reputable community members upvote their comments. Content and links are also ranked according to user Reputation. The higher your score, the more say you have over what shows up in the community feed. Reputation scores are community-specific and cannot be transferred between networks.
Coins
Users can earn Relevant coins by upvoting quality posts. You have 3 days to upvote a post after it goes live. If other users with a high reputation also upvote the post, you’ll earn coins. You can’t earn coins from posting content, only from upvoting, and having more coins doesn’t impact your reputation score, only your ownership in the platform.
A Healthier Information Environment for All
Relevant beta is a starting point for a greater communal project with a goal of providing useful alternatives to the current social media landscape.
We believe that by offering users a stake in building their own communities, we can foster thoughtful curation, meaningful discussion and the formation of healthy networks online.
If you are a part of a community looking for a space to congregate or have an idea for a new network, feel free to reach out to us at info@relevant.community.
