I don’t really see how. If they tried to charge you, why wouldn’t you just join another instance? You’d still see the same stuff. Unless they de-federated, (and I only barely know what I’m talking about here) and became a privately owned site, but then, they’d lose all the content from other instances, which people would flock to immediately.
If lemmy.world became the biggest in the fediverse with a user base that could rival Reddit. Would it become monetized?
Submitted 2 months ago by Don_Dickle@lemmy.world to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
Comments
Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Jimmycrackcrack@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
The thing is, in a scenario where it’s as big as Reddit in terms of users, most of the content on the fediverse then would be local to them so if they defederated everyone or everyone defederated them, who’d really be cut off from whom? They’d probably only be marginally less appealing to their user base who might not even know how the whole fediverse thing worked anyway.
dragnucs@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
It could be monetized by showing regular ads next to content a and disguised adds as content. Also, if using the federated API, they could push some sponsored content desgized as such.
This cannoy be applied to the whole fediverse but only to instances whose owners a want monetization.
I am sure that if implemented, someone would make it work on mobile apps and others while showing a setting to “disable ads”. And there would be forks that block adds by default etc.
Maybe have a look. At what Threads are doing.
snooggums@midwest.social 2 months ago
At least one lemmy app already has ads.
Ads doesn’t need to be part of the fediverse to be displayed alongside the content.
sinceasdf@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I think there is an arms race with content moderation that even if the instance is not themselves trying to monetize, clever and unscrupulous ad agencies will slip ads into feeds under the guise of actual content. I think it’s a big reason Reddit went to shit even before it went public.
How do you separate a user who innocently includes McDonald’s into a post or comment from someone doing so with the intention of driving revenue? (Do you want some fries now?)
It’s probably already the case now just the ‘ads’ are mostly all political shit. Same idea just with a top-down political agenda rather than driving sales. They have all the public fediverse data to base their strategies on already.
I think this issue is just handwaved away with “oh go to a different instance” but we’re here for content ultimately and not all instances have what we’re looking for. Ad agencies are going to be able to adapt to a changing landscape like that because it’s literally their full time jobs/careers.
Don_Dickle@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Now you made me feel bad because I posted something about McDonalds.
14th_cylon@lemm.ee 2 months ago
I have real craving for some cheeseburger and fries and leader cola… I hope they have leader cola!
booly@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
I think you’re right. The line blurring between corporate sponsorship and community support is pretty difficult to determine. If someone wants to build a community around a particular video game or movie or television show, of course the corporation that publishes it benefits from a bunch of positive discussion about it. But at the same time, that corporate-owned product is part of our shared culture, and a legitimate topic to discuss in a forum like this.
And it’s not even necessarily pure corporate stuff, either. There are nonprofit and trade and governmental organizations that rely on advertising for public messaging: a tourism board promoting their location as a good vacation spot, an agricultural trade group promoting recipes using their specific product, a government health department drive encouraging vaccinations, etc. They pay for ads through conventional outlets while also promoting their interests on social media.
It’s just an ecosystem. We should be aware that there are those who would seek to influence us here, whether for money or politics or other motivation, and navigate these spaces with that in mind.
crawancon@lemm.ee 2 months ago
100% certainty. the data gleemed from the content produced by a lively community is valuable to data mining and marketing. once an instance makes their radar, they will want a pipe into it. whether they pay the instance owner, the ISP/cloud it sits on, or just copy the data maliciously, they’ll get it and sell it. and then have a plan to manipulate it / sell to that user pool as well.
it’s “natural” (for assholes) to do this. seems to happen everywhere, but lemmy and fediverse are prone to it for now.
NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world 2 months ago
it’s “natural” (for assholes) to do this. seems to happen everywhere, but lemmy and fediverse are prone to it for now.
I agree.
And I don’t see any mechanism in lemmy to prevent it.
finickydesert@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
It would because of server costs
FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I already pay a few bucks a month into the kitty for this instance, because I’d rather be out the price of a coffee than deal with corporate bullshit, AI, the algorithm, and GD motherfucking ads.
Don_Dickle@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I and not nocking the creators or admins but have you ever wondered what they do with that money?
southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
They’ve given info on that before.
They spend it.
That’s only partially a joke. It pretty much all goes to keeping the instance running right.
BaroqueInMind@lemmy.one 2 months ago
Genuine question to you: do you seriously think that data bandwidth, drive space, and domain ownership are all free?
FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Nope.
GBU_28@lemm.ee 2 months ago
What do you mean? Do you think that at everywhere and for everything you buy? It’s not a charity
pacology@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I assume that 80% of the users are on one or two instances. Maybe the operators of those instances could sell it to a big publishing company, like Condé Nast or something. That way it will be easier to vertically integrate advertisement between traditional print media, online publications, and less formal online gathering places. It’s a win win at the end. The original operators get their bag, and the community keeps going while being supported by a successful business.
/s
Crumbgrabber@lemm.ee 2 months ago
Yes it would be monetized, by a swimsuit calendar of each Lemmy user.
LemmyFeed@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I call August!
EleventhHour@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Let’s see those hairy, late summer balls! Wooo!
fubarx@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
They can go the route of The Onion and sell annual memberships. People will pay if it offers value and keeps ads out.
Brkdncr@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I hope so, but I’d also want them to be a registered non-profit or not-for-profit entity.
Just cover your bills and pay out bonuses to the people doing the work (including moderators)
Jimmycrackcrack@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
Definitely. At least the damage could be largely limited to just that instance though. I can’t seriously imagine the people behind it letting their ideals trump profit for an extended period of time, especially with financial imperatives from the costs associated with the infrastructure required if that one instance alone had so much traffic.
Theoretically though, if it started going rancid it’d be much easier to jump ship without losing out on too much, that is unless they defederate with everyone or everyone defederates with them, either of which could be distinct possibilities. In that case, I guess you’d just have another Reddit.
Don_Dickle@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Well I would like it to make reddit its bitch. And to be the biggest instance in all of the fediveres
Jimmycrackcrack@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
I think you might be misunderstanding the whole advantage of the fediverse idea in the first place.
mesamunefire@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Could go the route like tilvids where the community itself donated enough to keep the lights on.
Don_Dickle@lemmy.world 2 months ago
what in the hell is a tivid?
mesamunefire@lemmy.world 2 months ago
dudenas@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
I can imagine a model of ethical, user opt-in ad service, which could be privacy aware and still allow monetizing. Users could actively subscribe topics of goods-services they are interested in, as to sponsored account, or in even more anonymised, rss-like way (techies surely know more appropriate methods).
I would subscribe to some ethical and relevant for me ads, especially if it helped sustain and develop a platform.
snooggums@midwest.social 2 months ago
I would subscribe to some ethical and relevant for me ads, especially if it helped sustain and develop a platform.
What a terrible opinion to have.
dudenas@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
Why? Could you please add some arguments to your harsh judgement?
AsudoxDev@programming.dev 2 months ago
It would possibly be enshittified like others. The whole purpose of decentralization would be broken and it would become one single centralized website.
Carrolade@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Individual instances could theoretically monetize if their owners wished, they could show you ads, sell your data, sell you merch, sell the instance to a third party, all the same strategies as any other internet institution.
The Fediverse as a whole cannot, though, due to its decentralized ownership and development structure.
rustyfish@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I think I would buy a lemmy.world mug, as long as it’s a huge one. Don’t know about ads tho. Selling user data would end with everyone scrambling their content into Lorem ipsum and scatter to smaller instances. Lemmings are different from redditors.
Thavron@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
How big are we talkin’?
bob_omb_battlefield@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Isn’t the “user data” available for everyone to read already?
JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
They’d need to grow big enough to turn off federation without much loss.
ramble81@lemm.ee 2 months ago
They could always do unidirectional federation and only take feeds from others but not send their updates out and make it walled off for a subscription.