We’ve seen previously that both Wikipedia co-founders Larry Sanger and Jimmy Wales despise how popular social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have turned into platforms for spreading fake news.
While Larry Sanger launched a social media strike in protest against the malpractices adopted by social media networks, Jimmy Wales launched WikiTribune, an online publication to post and share news articles.
Now, Jimmy Wales has launched ‘WT:Social,” a social media platform to rival Facebook and Twitter.
WT:Social To Change The Landscape of Social Media
WT:Social is similar to Facebook and Twitter but does not rely on advertisements as its revenue. “The business model of social media companies, of pure advertising, is problematic,” says Wales. His rival social media network will work on the donations by generous individual donors.
Another reason why Wales thinks that adopting the advertising model is bad is the fact that it leads to low-quality content.
While Facebook and Twitter use algorithms to display posts with most engagements on the top in users’ feed, WT:Social will display the latest articles. There is no ‘like’ button or something similar on the platform at the moment but an “upvote” button might be added later in the future.
WT:Social already has 50,000 users but Wales says that he wants to attract masses to his Facebook and Twitter alternative.
Speaking to Financial Times, he says, “Obviously the ambition is not 50,000 or 500,000 but 50m and 500m.”
In addition to news articles, WT:Social will also support niche communities to attract people with similar interests.
WT:Social’s website mentions “We will foster an environment where bad actors are removed because it is right, not because it suddenly affects our bottom-line.”
Currently, there is a waitlist to join the network. Meanwhile, you can sign up on the website for free, donate and invite friends.
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