Unsocial Network
I think about how difficult it is to make a social network often. I’ve show Facet to a few friends, some MBA friends, and their first thought, like good MBAs, is “what’s the business model?” and “how do you scale?”.
It’s strange to be in a place where those aren’t my first thoughts. My first thoughts are “how to I serve my users better?” and “how can I make sure people trust us and have a good experience?”.
The problem lies in the examples that we’ve seen. Companies like Meta, Snap, and TikTok have aggressively and manipulatively vied for our attention. These aren’t social networks anymore, they’re advertising engines disguised as ways to connect with people and share photos and videos. I think there’s a necessary shift in perspective when it comes to Facet. My MBA friends are phenomenally smart, and it’s to their credit that they’d gravitate towards scale, growth, and business model thoughts first, but I think that the case studies they’re referencing aren’t the round hole to put Facet’s square into.
I don’t want it to be an advertising monster that feeds on the attention of it’s users. Facet should be more of a protected space without the typical “social ick”. It’s a place to store the parts and pieces of your life.
I don’t think that it will ever have the engagement of an advertising beast like Insta, but at the same time, it’s currently ad free without the feed/algorithm manipulation found on those platforms meant to drive people back with division/rage. If you don’t come back for a month, that’s okay.
I think that there is room for artisanal social networks in the market in the same way that there are places in the world for Blue Bottle Coffee and Verve Coffees in the coffee space. Blue Bottle makes $750MM a year where Starbucks makes $36B (that’s 48x more). But for my money, if I’m anywhere that has a Blue Bottle, I prefer to go there over a Starbucks. Sure, Starbucks has the convenience when traveling and when on the road, but if I want to have a meeting with someone, I’ll suggest a higher tier place than Starbucks because they’ve lost their brand presence as a cool place with goof coffee.
While I hope that Facet will scale, the goal isn’t to co-opt our user’s attention spans or be part of the advertisement tug of war between the larger socials. Facebook/Meta mentioning recently that you might have AI friends is just a punctuation mark on how far they’re willing to go to remove people from a human experience to keep your attention. Imagining a world where individuals engage with fake friends and groups of friends that remove you from real experiences is dystopic to me.
Advertising?
Maybe the future will have advertising revenue, but it should be about focusing people toward wonderful experiences where they can make profound memories. I’d consider Facet to evolve like a source for positive experiences in a way. If people are continuing to have great experiences doing certain things or in certain places, there may be a promotional avenue for those places or businesses in Facet. If those good experiences decline over time, then there would be an avenue to let those groups know when and maybe how their experiences became worse.
Authentic Ratings
As we search for authentic and good experiences that don’t waste our time, I think a collective network of individuals sharing real-life, and real-world positive feedback about those experiences has a high value, especially in a world where AI and fake reviews are becoming hard to see through. Facet’s closed system to “only your contacts” also helps create a more honest representation of experience because there is no reason for users to become fake or become influencers.
Subscriptions?
I’d like to stay away from the subscription model because I think that there’s too much of an uphill battle against the free platforms. I don’t know if people are willing to pay for it. There is the option to make Facet a premium social network without ads, but I don’t know that there’s enough evidence out there to prove that would be a viable path.
A subscription model also requires significant differentiation. At the current state, I don’t see offerings available to justify and expense.
All that said, I have grown to love my timeline in Facet and each memory is a curated piece of me and the ones around me. It would be painful to lose everything I’ve put in there. As a user, and I know I’m a super-user, I’d be willing to pay $12-24 a year to keep it going just they way it is for me and my custodial accounts. Maybe others will feel the same.
I don’t know the cost at grow yet, and I don’t know how it will evolve, but I’d like to keep the app simple and user-centric. It’s fine with me if Facet isn’t considered a social network, and in reclassifying what “social” can be, maybe hyper-scaling and attention span mining won’t be top of mind for some when they think about what we are and how we expand.
🎵 ”Falling Apart” — Leaving Laurel