Participating on me.dm costs @medium community members $5/month (or $50/year).
This development requires context.
The Founder of @medium is Twitter Co-Founder @ev. Another Twitter Co-Founder, @biz, also has an account there.
@medium is now competing with Twitter. More importantly, @medium is undercutting Twitter in terms of subscription price.
Remember, Twitter Blue is $8/month with ads!
https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/7/23628642/medium-opens-mastodon-subscription-membership-twitter
I don’t think Twitter Co-Founders @ev and @biz would ever say, “@medium is competing with Twitter.”
But that’s what this is: me.dm is a microblogging site built on Twitter’s biggest competitor, Mastodon.
And they’re providing services that not only Twitter won’t provide (ad-free experience) but can’t provide (federation).
At a substantially lower price too!
A year ago, many people said this would never happen.
“The Fediverse can’t be monetized,” they said.
Now @medium has come along and monetized their Mastodon server.
Not only can the Fediverse be monetized, it’s being done by Twitter Co-Founder @ev (though @coachtony, amongst others, probably drove this initiative).
That’s symbolism for you!
@atomicpoet@mastodon.social I don't think anyone believed the Fediverse *can't* be monetizied. I think people believe that it won't work very well considering it's the Fediverse---there is nothing exclusive or special about the technology. The domain in question is simply running a Mastodon instance. What's there to offer vs. any other Fediverse instance? Why should anyone pay $5/mo for an account on a Fediverse instance? Or, this Mastodon instance, specifically? Why pay for that which you can have for free? Or pay for an experience markedly worse than an experience you could get for free elsewhere? Or pay for content and engagement that other users will get for free anyway (unless me.dm defederates). It's not impossible to monetize the Fediverse, it's just silly unless you can somehow provide something others cannot provide (for free). @medium@me.dm @ev@me.dm @coachtony@me.dm
@adiz @ev @medium @coachtony I’m just telling you what certain people have opined to me.