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Intending to get right what Facebook and Twitter have so far been getting wrong, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales is launching a social-media website named “WT: Social” which will compete with both the social media platforms.
Instead of going for an ad-funded model, Wales aims to finance it through donations, just like Wikipedia.
Like those platforms, WT:Social will let users share articles. But WT:Social will be funded by donations, rather than advertising.
The social media site has a wait-list for new users who want to join, which those who donate can reportedly pay and skip.
“The business model of social media companies, of pure advertising, is problematic. It turns out the huge winner is low-quality content,” Wales was quoted as saying by Financial Times, according to an Engadget report.
According to the FT report, WT:Social puts newest links first, unlike Facebook and Twitter, whose algorithms ensure posts with most likes or comments are shown first. “However, WT:Social hopes to add an “upvote” button that will allow users to recommend quality stories,” the report states.
It started as Wikitribune — a site that published original news stories with the community fact-checking and sub-editing articles. The venture never gained much traction, so Wales is moving it to the new platform with a more social networking focus.
WT:Social will be free to join, but at the moment, you either have to sign up for a waitlist, donate or invite friends. Just a month old, it already has 50,000 users and more than 200 people have already donated to the site, the report added.
“Obviously the ambition is not 50,000 or 500,000 but 50m and 500m,” FT quotes Wales as saying. He is also reportedly looking at making the website sustainable, rather than massively profitable. The company currently has only a few employees and this includes developers and a community manager.