3 ms·

What is their plan to monetize? Isn't the the saying: "if it's free, you're the product"?

riffic 3y ago
ads, vc, data harvesting and brokerage, managed services (hosting, infra) on a subscription model offered to orgs? the ethical model is obviously ActivityPub tho adding more than snark to my reply: I want to know if the PBLLC intends to submit this protocol to the IETF or W3C. We do the RFC thing for a reason folks.
- goykasi 3y ago
  How do ActivityPub/Mastodon servers monetize (or stay online)? Same way?
  - riffic 3y ago
    in general they're either labors of love or they run on a donation basis. it's a really good question.
  - MiscIdeaMaker99 3y ago
    They don't.
  - toofy 3y ago
    they typically don’t. this seems to be why many of the users prefer it. i think i generally agree with them—it leads to a different style of interaction. i haven’t figured out yet how to elequently describe it, but the interactions and experience is entirely different from a for-profit site. it feels “more pure” or something (though i do recognize why description is inadequate.) when “how do we monetize this?” becomes the driving force of a social thing, the experience changes in very real ways.
    - goykasi 3y ago
      I think that is pretty fair, but maybe I am more interested in the "keeping it running" component. Labor of love and donations can only go so far. When a env/population outpaces love and donations, what keeps the servers online? Does the decentralized nature of Mastodon minimize cost? Or has it just not reached a critical mass? Im more interested in the Mastodon/Bluesky approach to re-decentralizing (we had thriving forums long ago). But eventually cost does add up and monetization (or a benevolent benefactor) has to be considered.
    - holler 3y ago
      I felt that same feeling in ~2009 when I first joined Facebook, before it had ads. I think new communities in general tend to feel more "pure" in the beginning. Of course keeping that intimacy long term is the challenge.
acjohnson55 3y ago
Bluesky has said ads and services. Every aggregator / gateway is going to have to figure that out independently.

ads, vc, data harvesting and brokerage, managed services (hosting, infra) on a subscription model offered to orgs? the ethical model is obviously ActivityPub tho adding more than snark to my reply: I want to know if the PBLLC intends to submit this protocol to the IETF or W3C. We do the RFC thing for a reason folks.

goykasi 3y ago
How do ActivityPub/Mastodon servers monetize (or stay online)? Same way?
- riffic 3y ago
  in general they're either labors of love or they run on a donation basis. it's a really good question.
- MiscIdeaMaker99 3y ago
  They don't.
- toofy 3y ago
  they typically don’t. this seems to be why many of the users prefer it. i think i generally agree with them—it leads to a different style of interaction. i haven’t figured out yet how to elequently describe it, but the interactions and experience is entirely different from a for-profit site. it feels “more pure” or something (though i do recognize why description is inadequate.) when “how do we monetize this?” becomes the driving force of a social thing, the experience changes in very real ways.
  - goykasi 3y ago
    I think that is pretty fair, but maybe I am more interested in the "keeping it running" component. Labor of love and donations can only go so far. When a env/population outpaces love and donations, what keeps the servers online? Does the decentralized nature of Mastodon minimize cost? Or has it just not reached a critical mass? Im more interested in the Mastodon/Bluesky approach to re-decentralizing (we had thriving forums long ago). But eventually cost does add up and monetization (or a benevolent benefactor) has to be considered.
  - holler 3y ago
    I felt that same feeling in ~2009 when I first joined Facebook, before it had ads. I think new communities in general tend to feel more "pure" in the beginning. Of course keeping that intimacy long term is the challenge.

acjohnson55 3y ago

Bluesky has said ads and services. Every aggregator / gateway is going to have to figure that out independently.