Winter Rant

Who knows if this will work. But this is the closest that any platform may have gotten to helping journalistic organizations monetize (written) content on social media – at scale.

post.news seems to be on a useful mission. But like all things in social tech, it will come down to how the crowd uses this and how the trolls operate on this platform.

In the screenshot below, I can pay 5 “points” to read what Reuters has posted about Malaysia’s ex-PM. This kinda allows Reuters to not charge me for an entire subscription (Reuters have a subscription model curiously enough), while inviting me to pay for one of their stories that might interest me. At least that seems like the intended idea.

(I do wonder what 1 Point on post.news will mean in actual Dollars, Dinars, Euros or Rupees.)

But even more interestingly, every post on the platform has the option for “tipping”. So, in theory, I could be in a position to make money by just sharing links from NYTimes, without having any subscription for NYTimes – all because some clueless user on this strange new platform thinks they are tipping The New York Times, but really they are tipping me?

For a moment, I will assume that they know that they are not tipping NYTimes but instead tipping a random stranger on the internet. Are we saying that the act of sharing a link is a monetizable service I can provide in a functioning capitalistic economy? (from what I can make out, it can be any link – not just of news stories)

Or, for that matter, posting a picture of my cat is a valuable/tippable service I can now provide to the world?

Hey, listen, just checking: is this platform creating a monetization framework for Russian troll farms?

If there is real monetary benefit to sharing crap on the internet how is that system going fight … well, crap on the internet?

If a state-actor realizes that they can make say $10 for every 100k links/memes/posts shared on a social media platform, how long do you think it would take them to spin up their troll farms that spew out millions of links? Now they can go around wreaking havoc *and* make some tipping money on the side. Score! 🎉

::sigh::

It is still being built, and new users are entering the platform by invites. So, we are not in troll-farm territory just yet.

But the success of this platform, like every other social media website, will depend on how it scales the website’s *intended* culture.

Either way. I am on it. The devil is always in the details. (yes, I expect devils, space ghosts and clowns on this show.)

Who knows! This might turn out to be an engaging version of LinkedIn (which is a useful platform), where I can get my news, pay for said news, and see a few harmless memes flyby.

Too much to ask?

– vijay, still in the hunt for a useful Twitter alternative