Document: WM-023                                                 P. Webb
Category: Project                                             2017.12.30

                 Who the hell creates a social network?

Abstract

   A crazy person, that’s who.

Body

   Or, "Social networks are terrible, so I’m creating one". But…why?
   Excellent question, buckle up gang!

   Social networks in 2017 are just bad. There’s no shortage of
   articles written about how depressing, manipulative, greedy, and
   morally bankrupt they are but, to what end? The same people writing
   about these horrid networks continue to use them because despite
   all the horrible things done (or ignored) by the creators to their
   users, these networks have utility. At their very core, social
   networks bring people together and double as support groups for
   like-minded thinkers (for better or worse). There’s (seemingly) no
   incentive for the networks to make things better on behalf of their
   users. Where else are they (the masses) gonna go? Mastodon?
   Micro.blog? Sublevel? Scuttlebutt? HAH!

   "Big Social" knows damn well that the average user (read: at least
   70% of them) isn’t going to:

   1. Create a DigitalOcean, or other VPS (virtual private server)
      provider account
   2. Pay money for a server (even though the cheapest is $5)
   3. Read a tutorial on GitHub for instructions on how to set up their
      own Mastodon instance
   4. Invite their friends and family
   5. Maintain the server and continue paying $5/month for it

   You wanna know what my friends did after I told them I was deleting
   my Facebook account at the top of this year? Some responded with a
   disaffected, "oh". Some were appalled at the privacy violations they
   unknowingly subjected themselves to daily yet continued scrolling
   their feed. Others just didn’t care. Now we get to the reason social
   networks are just bad and will continue to be: The masses simply do
   not give a rat’s ass, flying fuck, and/or shit. Womp womp.

   To my wife’s credit, she mainly uses Facebook for the mom/support
   groups she’s found. All those moms aren’t going to a transition to a
   Discord server or subreddit because the experience will be too
   jarring and that’ll make the transition unlikely to stick.

   To be quite honest, I am not much better. I mean sure, I quit
   Google because of their ever-increasing invasiveness to my privacy
   and selling my user data to advertisers. I now self-host my email
   (shout out to Mail-in-a-Box[1]). But…I created a new Google account
   so I could still use YouTube (thinking about deleting it again and
   manually keeping track of favorite channels but MEHHHHH).

   I complain about Twitter on Twitter and guess what? I tweet like a
   mofo. I retweet even more! I favorite! I am disgusted by the fact
   that they utilize Drumpf in their advertisements overseas while
   pretending that they cannot hold the current U.S. president to the
   same standards as everyone else. I am disgusted by the way they
   enable Nazi propaganda while simultaneously blocking such content
   in Germany and France. I am disgusted by the way they effectively
   shit on their users being attacked and for some strange reason,
   side with the oppressors/attackers. And yet…it’s the best damn
   version of social media I’ve been on to date and that does not make
   me happy. At some point though, you’ve got to stop complaining and
   take action.

   

   Introducing Socii ("Oh great, another social network," you think),
   my answer to the bullshit perpetuated by Big Social and the absence
   of an easily accessible alternative (pronounced \\’sō-’kē\\).

   Like Big Social, you’ll be able to:

   - add a profile picture
   - have an accent color
   - post updates

   Unlike Big Social, you’ll be able to:

   - play with a crap ton more customization options (top secret
     for now)
   - use tools to customize and protect your online experience
   - read your timeline untouched by algorithms

   "This sounds good," you say, "but how will you make money? I’m not
   paying for a social network!"

   Well damn, you’re stingy but okay I get it. There will be a
   merchandise shop, account upgrades like the ability to secure a
   three/four character username, and something else related to the top
   secret customization options mentioned above. Furthermore, there will
   be a way for users to make a bit of cash themselves. It is my hope
   that this will be enough to keep Socii going once the free tier
   limits on some services I’m using to operate it start costing money.

   To temper expectations (if only for myself), I do not expect Socii to
   become "the one true network" but I would be delighted if people
   found it to be a welcome reprieve and community of good vibes. A
   private alpha will occur in early 2018 with a beta slated for
   (hopefully) late summer. I’ll bring people in on a rolling basis at
   that point. If you’d like to be notified once early registration
   opens up, feel free to sign up at socii.network[2]! 🕸