What is Responsible Social Media?

If you do a Google search for “responsible social media” most of the search hits will link to sites advising individuals on how best to use social media. Individuals are given advice on how to avoid addiction to platforms, spot misinformation, and manage their reputation. This is all good and valid advice. However what seems to be missing in most of the conversation is the responsibility the platforms have to us. It’s almost as if we’ve just accepted that the effects of the existing platforms are the result of “natural” forces, rather than the result of a series of choices.

Sound Off is designed with a different set of choices in mind. As a platform we believe that we have a responsibility to you! Sound Off’s Blog is a space where we’ll share our thoughts on the choices we’re making for the Sound Off platform. We think it’s important that we’re transparent with you in the choices we’re making and why we think those choices will help us achieve our mission.

What is Responsible Social Media?

It might help illustrate what we think responsible looks like by comparing the traditional and responsible approaches to Social Media in a few key areas.

Monetization

Traditional approach: Traditional social media monetizes through advertisements. This means that you are not the actual customer! The real customer is the Advertiser. Advertisers purchase access to you through the use of ad targeting tools. Thus the incentive for the platform is to serve you content designed to continue your engagement. The higher the engagement the more opportunities to sell advertising, thus the higher the revenue. There’s an inherent tension between serving you accurate information that may be less engaging vs incendiary, inaccurate information that’s really engaging.

Responsible approach: We think a more responsible approach is to treat you like a customer. That way we’re focused on bringing you value that you’re willing to pay for. Selling your data or trying to keep your attention by encouraging “doom scrolling” might make a lot of money for us as a platform, but it seems like you’d get the raw end of that bargain. By engaging in a direct relationship with you, and using subscription revenue, we’re no longer incentivized to show you clickbait. This is the difference between Netflix and YouTube. We’re trying to be the Netflix of Social Media! Whether you use Sound Off for 5 hours a day or 5 minutes a week, our revenue doesn’t change. However, we’re focused on making sure we bring you the value you’re looking for when you use Sound Off. And if you don’t feel like you’re getting the value you’re paying for, our incentive is to make things better for you. That’s a win/win!

Public Conversation

Traditional approach: Things like accuracy and trustworthiness often take a back seat to engagement. This makes sense when the business model is geared towards keeping you scrolling so there’s more opportunities to show you an ad. While the major platforms have begun doing a better job in tamping down on things like QAnon and COVID-19 disinformation, often these are in reaction to pressure rather than done proactively. The prevalence of bots and trolls on the major platforms also means that conversation and public sentiment may be getting steered in certain directions by coordinated, automated (often paid) forces. The louder the cacophony of bots and trolls, the less folks like you and I get a chance to be heard. This is effectively censorship through noise.

Responsible approach: The first priority of a responsible platform is to ensure those involved in the public conversation are actually interested in exploring the topic at hand rather than trolling or driving disagreement. Sound Off allows Free User to use emoji to react to Thoughts shared publicly. However, participating in the public conversation by replying to journalists or posting your own content, is something reserved for Premium Users. In this way we literally put a tax on bots and trolls. Additionally as a responsible platform we want you to know when you’re seeing information from reputable, ethical journalists. Unlike traditional platforms in which all posts look the same, we allow Journalists to post Thoughts with a different visual treatment. Furthermore we allow Journalists to mark their Thoughts as Opinions so you can understand when the Journalist is delivering facts rather than adding their own commentary. Additionally, we know Journalists won’t always get it right, so we allow them to issue Corrections. All of this is designed to give you more transparency and confidence in the information you’re seeing. We can’t guarantee that people will always agree, but we can do our part to make sure you’re getting accurate information so you can engage in the public conversation in a healthier manner.

Mental Health

Traditional approach: Traditionally your mental health is not top of mind for social media platforms. Most of the advice online is about how to manage your own mental health and addiction when using the major platforms. Again, this makes sense given that these platforms require your continued use for as long as possible every day in order to maximize revenue. Furthermore, many of today’s news stories can be anxiety inducing. The phenomenon of “doom-scrolling”, while horrible for our mental health, is a revenue generating behavior for the major platforms.

Responsible approach: No platform can make the problems of the world go away. And while we’re committed to amplifying information from trustworthy sources, even accurate information can weigh you down. This is where our business model comes in handy again. We’re not incentivized to keep you scrolling indefinitely! We allow you to leave emoji feedback on Thoughts you come across. This allows us to detect when you may be in danger of doom-scrolling and intervene. Either by adjusting the Thoughts in your feed to be things we think will be less upsetting or, frankly, encouraging you to take a break! We know that burning out our customers is not a successful long term strategy. Our business model allows us to align our interests with your long term mental health.

Sound Off is Responsible Social Media

We hope this begins to give you an insight into the choices motivating the design of Sound Off. Of course we’re not going to get it perfect on day one. But we are committed to working with you and the rest of our community to craft this platform to be an alternative to today’s platforms. We don’t think there has to be a tension between building a huge, enduring business and embracing our responsibilities. In fact, the bigger our business the more resources we have to take on these responsibilities. And, frankly, the more likely we are to provide a blueprint for platforms large and small. That’s a boon for all of us.