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The Platform
Why Now
The time is ripe for a new platform that’s scaled to the local community, not global markets. A platform that gives users control over their own data. A media platform that’s creative and generative, not destructive and toxic.
Local Institutions are struggling
- Local retailers are on the ropes, unable to compete with global logistics experts that can deliver packages the next day or even next hour.
- Local newspapers are on life support, their business model carved up by a dozen different centralized platforms that have no interest in local concerns.
- Local politics are overshadowed by rancorous national debates.
QuirkLocal is designed to redirect revenue to the local businesses and services, creating a local advertising revenue stream that will be used to re-invigorate local journalism, center local debates, and create a compelling source of local content.
Global platforms are failing us
- Legacy social media platforms exploit our psychology to create addictive experiences, they even have a word for it ‘gamification’. They use the same behavioral reinforcement techniques slot machine designers use to hook you on their platforms.
- These platforms value ‘engagement’ above all else. This prioritizes extreme content, outrage, and bullying, creating a toxic experience which harms us both personally and socially. It’s not fixable, it’s designed into their business model.
- Their revenue is derived from selling your personal data to the highest bidder.
- These platforms extract time and money that can and should be spent locally.
QuirkLocal respects your privacy and your data. You control your data, and it stays within your own community instance. We’ve learned from the toxicity of legacy platforms to create mechanisms that calm discourse and allow you to curate your own online experience. QuirkLocal has consciously designed away addictive features, and values community engagement over online engagement.
Differentiating Product features
The last 30 years of technological innovation has disrupted local economies at scale. But with this disruption comes learning. We know now why existing platforms are so destructive, and we have the means to reverse the trend.
- We are using the large body of psychological research on how existing platforms hack our psychology to create habit and addiction to consciously design a product that breaks these addictive loops.
- We are using predictive technologies to detect toxic user behaviors and coach users towards better behavior
- We maximize user safety, not ‘engagement’. This is a long term view, as it sacrifices short term revenue for long term investment in a community.
- We value community engagement in the real world over online engagement. QuirkLocal should get you out into the community, socializing, shopping, participating in local decision making, and building.
- We use modern deployment technologies to keep data local and respect user’s data privacy.
