Bubblews was a social networking platform that offered users
the the opportunity to create posts (or “bubbles”), follow friends, and “like”
or comment on other’s posts, much like Facebook does for their own users.
What makes Bubblews different, however, is that the company offered money to
its users for using the platform, giving more money to those who attract
advertisers and other traffic.
I found this site extremely interesting in terms of this
course, as we have discussed a lot about Fuchs who argues that our current social
media platforms (such as Facebook/Twitter/Instagram) gain capital from their
users who are simply being exploited for their work. Could Bubblews be the
answer Fuchs has been looking for?
In order to make money users would be required to publish “articles”
of 400 words or more on their site. These articles must be completely original
and written in English. According to the wikiHow article on “How to Earn Money
on Bubblews”, in order to make money a user must interact with other users on
the site, commenting on and liking their articles.
In other words, one is forced to interact with others, forced
to write over a minimum word count, and it is necessary to post to others who
you do not know and are not friends with. This is unlike the other social media
platforms we have discussed in class and most likely use on a daily basis.
Rather than using the site by your own agency, you must adhere to the
affordances of the website in order to create revenue for yourself. This
becomes problematic as one is now forced to construct a certain type of
identity to meet the criteria of the website’s payroll.
Unfortunately (or not?), the site has been shut down after
three years of operation, claiming on their now inaccessible web page “The
climate for display advertising has drastically changed and made it impossible
for us to sustain the business model and operations.” Throughout CS 640 we have
discussed many possible ideas for a more ethical way of creating and using an
online social media platform. While some of Bubblews platform strategies seem
to have been still generating capital for the network and paying dollars or
even cents to its users, this type of system may be one step closer to the
ethical social media platforms we’ve been waiting for.
Sources:
http://onlinemarketingwithvince.com/bubblenews-scam-review/
http://www.wikihow.com/Earn-Money-on-Bubblews
http://www.bubblews.com
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