Users as people and the participatory economy

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.

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.

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"

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

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.

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.