
Users as people and the participatory economy - sariazout
https://sariazout.substack.com/p/check-your-pulse-50
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sariazout
A paradoxical truth in business is that most companies spend little time
focused on their customers. The beauty of the participatory economy is that
it’s not only about what makes sense for publishers, advertisers, creators,
teachers, etc… but also listening to the people on the other side (students,
fans, readers, shoppers) and honoring them as people, not users.

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reidjs
How do you feel about calling them "Participants" in this model instead of
"People?"

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rgoulter
_In many ways TikTok is the best example of a participatory network._ _As
noted by Eugene Wei, “The TikTok algorithm acts as a rapid, efficient market
maker, connecting videos with the audiences they’re destined to delight._ _The
algorithm allows this to happen without an explicit follower graph.”_ _The
removal of a follower graph prioritizes creativity and talent over reach,
democraitizing and unlocking participation._

I'm not sure about the effects of using a recommendation algorithm over using
follower graphs. Maybe it's backwards. e.g. people dislike that Twitter shows
them recommended stuff, because people (users?) prefer having control over who
they follow, what they see.

This did make me wonder about what would happen if users could provide their
own recommendation algorithm.

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Animats
So many buzzwords. What the examples show are schemes where the 'fans' (their
word) do more of the work for a small cut of the profits.

This is not a new idea. It's all too similar to Amway and other multi-level
marketing schemes. More complicated, with more roles other than selling and
building a downline. But similar in the ways the money flows.

 _" People like you helping people like us help ourselves"_

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ciaranb4
I got quite excited when I thought an article on Participatory Economics as
proposed by Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel has made the front page of HN.

Maybe someday...

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_economics](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_economics)

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amelius
An economic system based on peer evaluation sounds interesting. But there are
many related problems that are far from solved. For example: online comment
moderation. Or SEO-resistant search ranking. Or even democracy.

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mvellandi
In reading this, I'm reminded of co-innovation platforms that rose up around
2007 and focused on R&D and product dev. As well as how companies like
Threadless and Quirky used them to reward successful community creators. Throw
in resellers and varying referral programs, and you've quite a spectrum of
options for "community brands". It's neat to see more companies experimenting
with business models where participants drive growth through financial and
non-monetary incentives. It can certainly help drive "participant" acquisition
and activation. Just try to keep these programs straightforward and they
should be fine.

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reggieband
I've been considering this participatory economy for a long time (longer than
I think the term has existed). What blows me away is how fast companies are
cropping up to fill this space. There are a dozen startups in this post that I
haven't heard of before today that have some significant VC backing. It does
feel like this is a space that is ready to see some growth.

