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“Vers is a new type of social network that values your mental health and well-being over engagement and mindless scrolling. While other social networks are engi

“Vers is a new type of social network that values your mental health and well-being over engagement and mindless scrolling. While other social networks are engineered to keep you online as long as possible; Vers encourages you to log off and experience the real world. Whether you realize it or not a social network is a very intimate tool that most of us use daily, and we here at Vers don't take that responsibility lightly.” - Currently in beta but I would love for you to test it out. Posted this on here last week but my listing was flagged because I didn’t have a homepage and privacy policy (a little excessive in my opinion but here I am posting one more time), all legal documents are complete now. Welcome to Vers

derekzhouzhen 5y ago
How do you achieve these goals? What value do you provide to your users? I am very skeptical about alternative social networks. If it still rely heavily on network effects, then it is only natural for it to maximize engagement. You can't beat them (facebook etc) by playing with their rules.
- 1mbsite 5y ago
  Thank you for asking me about something other than homepage. For starter Vers has a distraction free feed that only shows you 1 post at a time, and never shows the same post twice. This feed is to discourage mindless scrolling. If using the chronological feed Vers will even let you know how many inches, feet, miles, etc you’ve scrolled. You can throttle notifications to once per day. More wellness features are on the way.
  - derekzhouzhen 5y ago
    If the game is still all about network effect, then all things being equal, the one that grab more attention will win, the ethical one that discourage engagement will lose. You have to have something else.
    - 1mbsite 5y ago
      Can you please elaborate? In a future update you’ll be able to hide vanity metrics like likes and followers
      - derekzhouzhen 5y ago
        network effect means the more users and the more active the users are, then more value the users will perceive, and they will engage more. It is a strong positive back loop. Do you provide values that do not depends on the network effect? Ethical is nice but it does not stand on its own. Also it requires a leap of faith.
    - brudgers 5y ago
      All things are never equal. For example we are here on Hacker News. Not Twitter or Facebook. In the long run, it is about delivering value to users.
      - derekzhouzhen 5y ago
        Of course. My point is even if the play field was leveled, the rules are still against an non-engaging social network. I want to know the value as much as you do.
        brudgers 5y ago
        For me, the landing page has a clear value proposition. The value proposition is the service will be low key. Demanding it be high key is off key. Low key works for Hacker News because it filters out people who want high key. I know it’s not for me because I like Facebook and TikTok. Or more accurately, for me they are useful tools because of how I use them. And the dog gets me off the screen and out in the world.
        derekzhouzhen 5y ago
        low key by itself is not a value; A blank web page is even lower key. The problem is how to get people to put their content there. Hacker News has the audience and YC endorsement.

derekzhouzhen 5y ago

How do you achieve these goals? What value do you provide to your users? I am very skeptical about alternative social networks. If it still rely heavily on network effects, then it is only natural for it to maximize engagement. You can't beat them (facebook etc) by playing with their rules.

1mbsite 5y ago
Thank you for asking me about something other than homepage. For starter Vers has a distraction free feed that only shows you 1 post at a time, and never shows the same post twice. This feed is to discourage mindless scrolling. If using the chronological feed Vers will even let you know how many inches, feet, miles, etc you’ve scrolled. You can throttle notifications to once per day. More wellness features are on the way.
- derekzhouzhen 5y ago
  If the game is still all about network effect, then all things being equal, the one that grab more attention will win, the ethical one that discourage engagement will lose. You have to have something else.
  - 1mbsite 5y ago
    Can you please elaborate? In a future update you’ll be able to hide vanity metrics like likes and followers
    - derekzhouzhen 5y ago
      network effect means the more users and the more active the users are, then more value the users will perceive, and they will engage more. It is a strong positive back loop. Do you provide values that do not depends on the network effect? Ethical is nice but it does not stand on its own. Also it requires a leap of faith.
  - brudgers 5y ago
    All things are never equal. For example we are here on Hacker News. Not Twitter or Facebook. In the long run, it is about delivering value to users.
    - derekzhouzhen 5y ago
      Of course. My point is even if the play field was leveled, the rules are still against an non-engaging social network. I want to know the value as much as you do.
      - brudgers 5y ago
        For me, the landing page has a clear value proposition. The value proposition is the service will be low key. Demanding it be high key is off key. Low key works for Hacker News because it filters out people who want high key. I know it’s not for me because I like Facebook and TikTok. Or more accurately, for me they are useful tools because of how I use them. And the dog gets me off the screen and out in the world.
        derekzhouzhen 5y ago
        low key by itself is not a value; A blank web page is even lower key. The problem is how to get people to put their content there. Hacker News has the audience and YC endorsement.