WT:Social: The Social Wikipedia
In the digital era of social media sites being controlled by influencers, advertisements, the selling of user data and a need to get as many likes on your selfie you posted from Friday night, there may be a site for those who want to get away.
Jimmy Wales, the co-founder of Wikipedia, has launched his own social media site known as WT.Social. The site is similar to Facebook in how it shares content on its feed, but the site’s priority? Showing new content to its users.
Wales tweeted recently that as of Nov 17, the site had roughly 160,000 users.
No advertisements. No user data being shared. It seems too good to be true. The only exception is being placed on a waitlist, unless you donate to the site, then you bypass that. The site needs these donations to flourish, and it seems that Wales has acknowledged that fact.
As quoted by Wales from the BigThink article: “Instead of optimizing our algorithm to addict you and keep you clicking, we will only make money if you voluntarily choose to support us — which means that our goal is not clicks but actually being meaningful to your life,” A call to empathy: Wales is trying to make a connection, using human emotion to get followers to his page.
Wales was motivated by the “superficiality” of sites like FaceBook and Twitter, calling them out on things like clickbait or fake news. It’s a news focused, ad free platform.
The site allows you to post news stories or other content in the form of subwikis, similar to Wikipedia. Users also can flag posts they see as problematic, or edit misleading information. Again, similar to Wikipedia.
LETS DEBATE:
Is a new social media sight like WT.Social able to compete with the juggernauts of its industry like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram?
With the stereotypes and stigmas surrounding Wikipedia, do you think that said negative thinking will impact this site’s overall success?
Is having a new social media site without ads a good or bad idea? Do you think future social media outlets will follow suit?
