Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has launched a new social network that aims to become the Facebook and Twitter of today. The new social network is called WT:Social, and Wales reports that it had 25,000 members as of November 6.
Today it must have around 80,000 members, who seem to be excited by the idea of a social network that fights fake news.
The site does not use Facebook's ad-funded model, but has adopted a subscription model like that used by Netflix and Spotify.
It will cost $12.99 per month or $100 per year in the US, or €12 per month or €90 per year in Europe. However, there are still a number of questions about the content of WT:Social. For example: Will it be worth paying for the subscription?
The social network is a reboot of WikiTribune, which started in 2017 as a news-sharing service but fell through and Wales ended up firing several journalists he had hired. WikiTribune was launched through a crowdfunding campaign.
Wales spoke to the Financial Times about the new project and how fragile the new website proposal is. But according to Wales:
The business model of social media companies is problematic. It turns out that the huge winner is low-quality content.
Wales hopes that WT:Social can attract 50 million or even half a billion users, citing the success of Netflix and Spotify in attracting people who are willing to pay for “substantial” content.
Registration is free, but WT:Social has established a waiting list. Of course, those who pay can skip it. So far, only 200 people have paid to skip the waiting list.
Wales doesn't expect the new social network to be profitable, but he believes it could be viable with minimal staff.
Why?
Instead of the news model used by WikiTribune, WT:Social aims to become a self-sustaining community consisting of many small ones on specialized topics.
Instead of using moderators to control fake news like Facebook, Wales' social network will rely on users themselves, who will be able to edit and delete posts they consider incomplete or unreliable.
