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Thousands flock to Wikipedia founder's 'Facebook rival'

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Thousands flock to Wikipedia founder's 'Facebook rival'

#101

Post by gnode »

jandrese wrote: post #2

Is that headline damning with faint praise? Mere "thousands" doesn't seem like enough to get critical mass on a social network. For comparison Google+ had something on the order of 300 million users and failed to get traction.

> doesn't seem like enough to get critical mass on a social network.

I'm not sure it matters for this social network. It's positioning as a news-based platform doesn't require people you know personally to use the site in order for it to have value.

Perhaps conversely, too many people on a social network may be detrimental to these aims, as ever more narrow-minded echo chambers or factions can achieve critical mass.

Re: Thousands flock to Wikipedia founder's 'Facebook rival'

#102

Post by MBCook »

jandrese wrote: post #2

Is that headline damning with faint praise? Mere "thousands" doesn't seem like enough to get critical mass on a social network. For comparison Google+ had something on the order of 300 million users and failed to get traction.

But G+ users didn’t choose it (by and large) it just happened TO them.

In this case at least the users had agency and actually signed up.

Still a small number in the grand scheme, but G+ was a bit of a different beast due to how Google launched it.

Re: Thousands flock to Wikipedia founder's 'Facebook rival'

#104

Post by kingkawn »

It does not need to beat facebook at its own game. Merely establish a digital public space that has its own culture, and in time, that culture spreads out into the world, whether the world joins the site itself or not. Hackernews is an example of such a place too.

Re: Thousands flock to Wikipedia founder's 'Facebook rival'

#105

Post by gnode »

jermaustin1 wrote: post #14

I can't see this as a Facebook rival. From my understanding, this is a social news site with fact checking. I use Facebook to post pictures of my vacations for my family, and get updates on my nieces and nephews since I moved from Houston, TX to NYC 5 years ago. Until someone replaces that aspect in a way that works while still enabling my family to do their memes and quizzes, and all that crap I avoid, there will be…

I get the impression that for many people their main experience of Facebook is as a source of media with mixed social and commercial promotion. In this regard, Wales' social network is a rival.

Re: Thousands flock to Wikipedia founder's 'Facebook rival'

#106

Post by osobo »

znpy wrote: post #46
tekkk wrote: post #36

Well can't say I'm not curious, but €90 a year is a lot of money. To pay that for just another service for procrastination? Maybe I'll pass. Although I definitely support the idea.

it's the old saying: "if you're not paying for using a product or you're not being paid to use a product, that means that you're the product". Deciding to pass on a service that asks you money to offer you a service is completely fine, as long as you don't later complain about "privacy issues" and "massive surveillance".

But I'd like to sample or at least see the bloody service before I pay for it. Right now I'm hitting a paywall telling me I'm x0.000 in line and "Oh, we want your money". I'm not triggered to commit.

Re: Thousands flock to Wikipedia founder's 'Facebook rival'

#108

Post by fortran77 »

I tried it. Despite it trying not to spread "misinformation" it really isn't that much better. And I'm getting barraged by "friend requests" from Russian Women just like any other social network.

What would be nice is if people paid for Journalism again. They major newspapers and news magazines should figure out how to have a common payment system that lets you subscribe in one place to nearly everything, with a consistent interface between them.

Re: Thousands flock to Wikipedia founder's 'Facebook rival'

#109

Post by Kye »

rgbrenner wrote: post #96
jandrese wrote: post #2

Is that headline damning with faint praise? Mere "thousands" doesn't seem like enough to get critical mass on a social network. For comparison Google+ had something on the order of 300 million users and failed to get traction.

That's because Google tried to be the network for everyone. There are a lot of people.. several billion, and if that's your market, then 300m doesn't cut it. (They also forced it onto everyone.. there was little community there.) On the other hand, being the social network for a smaller audience is very do-able. Even Facebook started locally at Zuckerbergs college, then expanded to other colleges, before eventually o…

Somehow I doubt they learned the lesson it should have taught them.
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