We’re a bit excited because we’re moving out of the harbour and into the open web for the first time, based on an idea and the desire to give the web more freedom again.
The idea for testing Alpha is to validate the basic principle of reciprocity: Anyone is allowed to share their teaser (a preview of blog posts) on other blogs if they share someone else’s teaser on their blog. With the installation of the Plankton Social Teaser, our WordPress plug-in, this is exactly what happens, the teasers are displayed in rotation among all Alpha testers on the blog.
And to keep it as simple as possible, all you have to do is install the Plankton Social Teaser, which you will receive from us during the test phase after registration. You can find out who’s in Alpha once you’ve installed the teaser. We have a limited number of places because we want to make sure we get quality feedback and only test the basic principle.
The alpha version will also be the free version in the future, which anyone can use; only your most recent blog post will be displayed in the teaser. We already have some ideas for the features of the paid version: a selection of placements, popular categories, sharing several teasers at the same time, setting teasers as favourites, a slider for page views or interactions between users. But above all, we want to learn from you what should definitely be included as a feature in the next version or what is just a nice idea.
Software is code, but it does not fly around in open air, it has cultural and financial codes that we want to change with you. We want to live solidarity and bring people together who were previously alone. In times of uncertainty, let’s strengthen the community of the blogosphere and try out a fundamentally new way to cooperate. Let’s build a better network than existing ones, celebrate independence in the open web and build lasting interpersonal relationships.