An Alternate Reality For Social Media

The camera app VSCO is unlike its social counterparts. Though it has a feed similar to Facebook's News Feed and Twitter's Timeline, it doesn't employ any of the tricks meant to keep you hooked. VSCO doesn't display follower or like counts, and it doesn't sort its feed with an algorithm.

To view in your browser, click here. Friday, May 31    The camera app VSCO is unlike its social counterparts. Though it has a feed similar to Facebook's News Feed and Twitter's Timeline, it doesn't employ any of the tricks meant to keep you hooked. VSCO doesn't display follower or like counts, and it doesn't sort its feed with an algorithm. Instead of optimizing toward keeping you on its app, VSCO  — which last reported 30 million monthly active users — simply encourages you to shoot and edit photos and videos, regardless of whether you post them or not. The secret to VSCO's unorthodox approach? It doesn't depend on advertising. VSCO makes its money on subscriptions. More than 2 million people paid $20 in 2018 to use the premium version of VSCO's service. And in 2019, the app is on pace to double its subscriber and revenue numbers, VSCO CEO Joel Flory told me in a recent interview.   Making $80 million in a year directly from the people who use your service frees you to build for them and only them. There's no need to compromise between what's best for users and what's best for customers when they are one and the same. "Because our business is a subscription model, rather than supported by ads, we need to continually provide value and an improved experience to our creators," Flory said. "Our mission and business model are aligned with delivering valuable experiences for our members; if they win, we win." The VSCO case is a clarifying example of which social network features are designed for us and which ones are designed for advertisers. To be explicit: Facebook and Twitter's like counts, follower counts, and engagement-driving algorithms are intended for advertisers. The ad-supported services built these features to keep us hooked so they can show us more ads. With advertisers out of the picture, none of these features make it into VSCO's app. When it comes to product development, the people who spend the money are the ones who get the product designed with their best interests in mind. Last year, I ran a poll asking readers whether they'd pay $10.99 per month for an ad-free Facebook. Seven percent of approximately 5,000 voters said they would, even at such a high price tag. To me, that's a sign that Facebook could make a pay model work. It would take some creativity, but the smart people in Menlo Park could put their minds to it and find a way to strip out ads and the bad incentives they generate. I'm astonished that we, users of social media, haven't pushed Facebook (And Twitter. And YouTube.) harder in this direction. We know the negative consequences the ad-supported model has on our brains, our communities, and our democracies. And perhaps if we pay, people like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will build for us instead of separate entities with entirely different interests. We've heard a lot of talk from the ad-supported social networks about their never ending quest to clean up their services and optimize toward "time well spent." But as long as advertisers are footing the bill, their reforms can only go so far. Advertising dollars are why these companies are still only "considering" doing away with vanity metrics. With their revenue at risk, they're taking a nice long think instead of any action. As the VSCO case demonstrates, it doesn't need to be this way.   Links of the week   'A white-collar sweatshop': Google Assistant contractors allege wage theft by Julia Carrie Wong at The Guardian Google CEO Shunned a Large Stock Award After Lavish Payouts by Mark Bergen and Anders Melin at Bloomberg Bing's Not the Laughingstock of Technology Anymore by Shira Ovide at Bloomberg The Pelosi Video Was Altered. Why Won't Facebook Just Say That? by me here at BuzzFeed News White Nationalist Groups Banned By Facebook Are Still On The Platform by my colleagues Jane Lytvynenko and Craig Silverman, and the Toronto Star's Alex Boutilier Amazon To Acquire Sizmek Ad Server And DCO Business  by James Hercher at AdExchanger P.S. If you like this newsletter, help keep our reporting free for all. Support BuzzFeed News by becoming a member here. (monthly memberships are available worldwide) I'd love to hear from you. Please reply to this email with questions, tips, and things you'd like me to look into. Show privacy notice and cookie policy. BuzzFeed, Inc. 111 E. 18th St. New York, NY 10003 Unsubscribe