Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales believes he can create the best social network. It's called WT:Social, and it's not financially related to Wikipedia, but it operates on a similar business model: donations, not advertising.
WT: Social launched last month and is currently approaching 50,000 users. The company is slowly opening up access. To become a member of the new social network project, you either have to wait your turn or pay $13 a month or $100 a year for instant access.
In comments to the Financial Times, Jimmy Wales said: “The business model of social media companies is advertising resulting in low-quality content.”.
The WT:Social interface is currently quite sparse, presenting a simple feed of news and comments below it. News is a large part of the network , a continuation of Wales' previous project, WikiTribune, which attempted to be a global news magazine made up of professional journalists and citizens. Both WikiTribune and WT:Social highlight the need to combat fake news, emphasizing evidence-based news coverage. Every story posted to the network makes it clear where the article came from, as well as sources and references.
You can also join various “SubWikis” which are essentially like Facebook where a specific topic is discussed. You can also add hashtags to a post or follow hashtags for more specific interests that may cover more than one topic. Posts are currently sorted chronologically, but the site plans to add an upvote system for users to promote quality stories.
A war against Facebook and Twitter is no easy task…just ask Google. Wales seems to have a more focused approach for WT:Social, aiming for meaningful content and hoping to build smaller, niche communities.
