An update on socii

Social network fatigue is at an all-time high. Last year leading into the first couple weeks of this year resulted in me "doomscrolling" more than I'd like and presumably like you, I've lacked motivation after spending hours doing that. Despite the tone of this intro, socii is not dead. Quite the contrary, development on 2.0 has been underway for a while and unlike last year I'm seeing 2021 with 20/20 vision. Let me explain.

It is my belief that Big Social lacks the resolve and moral tack to do what is objectively correct…even in the face of overwhelming evidence that refusing to take action could result in catastrophic events.

Corporations are not people and must move slowly by the very nature of massive companies. A raft turns a lot faster than a sailboat or freight-liner after all, right? Well, Big Social has shown time and time again their ability to move swiftly when it serves financial interest to do so. I don't buy the oft-given example I started this paragraph with, it's clearly a load of excrement.

Here is how socii is shaping up:

It is a paid service with a decent free tier.

There is a strict anti-harassment policy that WILL be exercised.

Communities are private by default and come with extensive moderation tools.

Remember customization? You are unique, your profile will act like it (if you want).

Per points 2 and 3, freedom of speech does NOT mean freedom of reach. This nuance is clearly lost on a subset of the American populace so here it is, upfront. Radicalization and violence stemming from disinformation has no place on socii. Or anywhere else, it seems. Anyhoo…

You may have noticed that "socii" lost its capitalization. It occurred to me that too often, services try to get ahead of themselves and attempt becoming brand-like before their service takes off. Startup wisdom says to "become a tribe" and your fans will buy anything you sell. But, how is your service more important than the people you are serving? How are you an "ecosystem" when your only claim to fame is the Product Hunt hype machine? Too many services with that mindset are mere tools that will be acqui-hired into a bigger company and be shut down internally (or just shut down).

You wouldn't capitalize "hammer" or "scissors" (unless you started a sentence with them). In the same vein, socii is a tool. socii is not meant to be the forefront of your mind, your life. Just…a place to connect with a community (or communities!) that you care about and that cares about you.

Until sometime last year I'd been coding socii in the open because I bought into the MVP (minimal viable product) hoopla the tech community spouts. As a result, no one used it because it lacked features people expected or wanted. Turns out, if something is too minimal it ends up not being viable and well, no one will use your product.

New year, new moves.

1.0 of socii is closed to new signups as work continues on 2.0. I may occasionally share updates on my Twitter @NetopWibby1 so follow me there if you don't mind sporadic updates. For those of you on this mailing list that already had an account on socii, y'all are grandfathered in. Something special may be waiting in your account once 2.0 is ready (please remind me).

Stay tuned. 🕸

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