Why We Can Be Better
(btw if you didn’t see last night’s entry about the new Diary Search, please go back one 🙂 )
I want to try adding some explanation into this diary, about the history of OD, what it is, and how we arrived where we are today (so there’s more than just updating on new features as we release them!). I’ve been thinking a lot today about personal data and how websites use it – partly due to Facebook’s founder testifying in Congress about the problems that network has had, but also because of questions I’ve seen around OD as new people have been arriving the last couple weeks.
This may get too internet-geeky for some of you, but if it is please feel free to skip this one 🙂 If not, read on.
As you probably know, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other “social” sites make the majority of their money by serving advertising to their users. You don’t pay to use Facebook, but your use of the site is paid for by the advertising that you are shown. There are other ways they make money too, like monetized search, but let’s keep it simple.
The thing is, when you run a website that serves ads, there are a couple of ways you can go to generate revenue. “Display” advertising is the most well-known – that’s the kind of ads you see across the top of a page or down the side of the page, or interspersed in the content. The thing is though, the amount of money you can make from that display advertising varies widely, depending on who is seeing it and how many people click on it.
These days, the most important one is how many people click on the ad – this is calculated as a percentage of how many times the ad is shown, vs. how many time somebody clicks through and responds to it. Back in the old days, the most important metric was how many different people an ad was shown to – so if you had a high-traffic website, you could make more money simply by serving more ads.
But today, it is all about how many people you get to actually react to that ad and click it (or swipe it or touch it, etc., on mobile). So now, ad technology online has become all about “how do I serve you an ad that is interesting enough to you that you will click on it?” The answer to that problem is personal data.
We all see this all the time – we search for a shovel on Amazon, and then we are constantly targeted with ads for shovels on every site we go to for the next week. We post something about car insurance on Facebook, and suddenly we are seeing car insurance ads everywhere we go. All of these services and sites know an awful lot about us already – and they are learning more about us every day, based on what content we share, and what we Like, and what we view or read online. There’s a vast treasure trove of data that is generated by you and your activity online, and that data can be used to target more specific ads to you, that hopefully appeal to what you want (and then get that click or reaction from you that pays off).
The payoff is a pure numbers game – for a site like Facebook, increasing the performance of their ads by even .001% can result in millions of additional revenue. So for Facebook, this leads to not only mining all the personal data you have given them, but it also leads to another thing – manipulating the content that you see.
You probably see this all the time too – something one of your friends posts doesn’t show up in your Facebook feed at all, or something that you saw this morning is gone if you scroll back to look at it again this afternoon. For the sake of increasing the performance of their ads, sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram manipulate the feed of content you are seeing so that they can show you “sponsored” posts, or engage you with content they “think” you will like.
For companies like these, a huge amount of their energy, time, and resources is devoted to how they make more money off of advertising, and how they mine data more efficiently to do so. They may say that their primary interest is in their users – but in actuality, their primary interest is in refining their revenue model to be more efficient. Users are really just something they need to help generate that revenue through eyeballs and clicking-fingers.
I feel kind of like an internet-cynic having typed that – but this is why I want Open Diary to be better. This is why when I chose to revive the site, I chose to do it as a subscription service. I don’t want our business to be about how do we gather data on our members so we can target advertising at them so we can drive revenue up 1/10th of a percent.
I want OD to be about our community, and about our members – and I want our business to be focused on delivering the best experience we can for the people who put their trust in us, not focused on how we make advertising more efficient. I firmly believe that there will be other sites and services in the future that will follow our lead – charging members a fair price in return for a quality service, instead of expending all their energy on trying to make what they do “free”. Running OD as a subscription service lets us concentrate on the member experience, rather than concentrating on the advertising experience.
Having OD be a subscription service means we can commit to you that we won’t manipulate what you see, we won’t change your feed to our advantage, and we won’t mine your personal data so we can serve you ads. We don’t need that personal data from you to generate revenue, so we don’t collect it from you!
That was a long way through this, but this is something I’m pretty passionate about – I’ve been on the other side of running a website powered by advertising, and I know the pitfalls of it. Facebook is obviously wildly successful – there may never be another social network like it – but I choose not to follow that model.
(There’s a whole ‘nother entry in my brain about why and how the internet should be bringing people together, instead of dividing them – and this data/advertising/manipulation plays a big part in that – but that’s for another day.)
If you got all the way through this, thanks for reading – I hope that helps a little to enlighten why OD is what it is today 🙂
Makes perfect sense to me. Thankfully I’m a Lifetime member, though. My finances are far from where they were back in the old OD days, so I wouldn’t be able to afford to pay. I really hope OD’s comeback is a huge success 🙂
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I guess I am a cynic, too. I think some of these companies no longer care about their users at all. All that matters to them is the money they can generate through those ads. They no longer care HOW that money is made.
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Reading this makes me even happier to be a Lifetime member. But if I weren’t already, I’d want to be!
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I appreciate the explanation as well as your philosophy. It is worth paying for the site rather than dealing with the ads. I am also enjoying using OD a lot better because of it. Looking forward to reading the entry you alluded to.
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Somebody on a different site was complaining just this morning about how much Facebook, etc. knows about her. I tried to explain to her about cookies and how they mine that information from your computer. It’s very disconcerting, and I really hate the ads. On Facebook, the ads outnumber the posts two to one these days. What’s really frustrating is that all of my friends click and share all those click bait posts about “name three things you’re afraid of“ or “what foods did you hate growing up that you refused to eat now?“ They don’t realize that all of those things are being used to gather information about them.
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I thought this was going to list a plan of what improvements are coming. What about people who may have paid the equivalent of Lifetime but never actually bought Lifetime? I have online friends who have Lifetime, & if that was me, I’d be more likely to stick around. Sadly, it’s not, I’m in the other group.
@mlle I’ve been a Lifetime member more than once. There is no record of this due to my own fault. I don’t expect to be given my Lifetime Membership again. I truly don’t. The past is the past and I am letting it go. I will pay $3.99 per month happily to participate on Open Diary. I understand your situation may not be the same as mine and perhaps you cannot afford to pay a monthly fee of $3.99 to be an Open Diary member. For this I am very sorry. I do believe Prosebox is headed towards paid membership in the future and I think you will see this is the trend. Open Diary is just leading the way. Best wishes to you!
@wildrose_2 the question wasn’t for you it was for the DM
@mlle we have been coming out with improvements at a steady rate and will continue to do so. I have also been posting entries about things that are coming and there will be more of those in the future too.
For people who have paid monthly or annual subscriptions in the past, that model will continue – we don’t have a mechanism or plan to convert those to something else. Thanks!
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the price is fair too. I had no problem paying for a good site
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I do hope you are successful in your model. Truly. I am getting so sick of the ads. I remember when Pop up ads first started…they were so annoying. Then things got better and now they are worse again. I really hate the video ads that break into something you are watching.
So, thanks and best of luck
@sheetmusic thank you!
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PS Your photo…is it Mountain Laurel?
@sheetmusic yes it is 🙂
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This. Perfect. Im glad I’m a lifetime member and that it pays off! I’d have it no other way.
@uncertaintragedy me too, thanks!
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I got “all the way through this.” It was very informative and the subscription makes perfect sense to me. It has from the beginning. I think communication with your subscribers is the key. You’re doing an excellent job of that. Thanks for Bringing OD back.
@ipsofacto you’re welcome!
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Amen, and more power to you. Facebook and other sites not only mined our information they have lazily ignored a lot of the negative impact their sites have on individuals and the culture. I used to wonder what others were thinking. I don’t any more. The negativity and the herd mentality of social media is overwhelming. Open Diary is a deeply refreshing alternative to that discomfort. If I have not already thanked you for this then I will do it now. Thank you for creating a site that builds friendships and online communities in a healthy way. I truly hope others follow your lead.
@ahem thanks for that, you are exactly right about how those sites ignored their impact on the rest of the world, to everybody’s detriment. Glad that you are seeing how OD is different 🙂
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Honestly, this makes perfect sense to me. When the PB scare happened, it didn’t surprise me, and while I’m glad we found a way out of that scenario (and they may start opening up for donations or a paid tier eventually), I really think that at this point in the internet’s life cycle – running a robust website with functionality, security, bandwidth to handle hundreds of thousands of users – it costs MONEY (I dabble in development and even I can tell this) – as well as a lot of time. It’s not just a side hobby anymore.
So…the question is where is that money going to come from? Frankly, I’m fine for paying with a service I care about. I’m also fine with Facebook – I don’t necessarily begrudge them what they do (and am kind of impressed by the algorithms from a geeky standpoint…). Funny thing is, I can’t recall ever actually clicking on an ad from a site I’m browsing. Do people actually do this? When I want to buy something, I know what I want, and I buy it on Amazon or wherever. I have noticed that sometimes Google has ‘suggested’ search results and I make sure to bypass those since I know they just paid to be suggested (although sometimes I do click them if it’s the site I was actually looking for). And there have been a few times the suggestions have been useful.
Now, I do agree with you on the way the data is used to serve up content, hide friends’ post, etc. That is incredibly annoying and insidious in part because it’s a little more invisible. Adds/sponsored posts are at least more obvious if you understand what they are.
@asilliamagdalene I totally agree – and to be clear, I’m okay with what Facebook does as long as they are clear with people about it (they’re not) and they don’t make their tools available to people who use them for bad things (which happens). I always skip suggested search results too – unless they happen to be the site I was looking for anyway, in which case I figure I will click it so they get their money’s worth for buying the sponsored link 🙂
@thediarymaster Data mining is interesting – I work in software (health care IT) and we’re also starting to take advantage of predictive analytics, AI, machine learning, mining data from sources outside the health care record (weather, social demographic info, etc) etc (all well beyond my capabilities in terms of what I work on, lol) and it truly has some useful and beneficial applications. Heck, even I have appreciated times my phone has recognized where I am and brought up relevant nearby restaurants, etc.
But like you say, it can be used for nefarious purposes and transparency is key.
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I’m of two minds on this. On the one hand, as an adult I deeply appreciate a site that is affordable that encourages self-expression and community without focusing on ads. On the other hand, as a preteen and teenager growing up in a very isolated and conservative community, the internet and early proto-social media sites like OD, Xanga, LiveJournal, and MySpace were absolutely vital sources of support, inspiration, and information for me. I can honestly say I wouldn’t be where I am today without them, and the fact that they were free was absolutely essential to my ability to access them at that time in my life. I don’t know if there’s a perfect solution that would allow for both the kind of inclusive, user-driven community OD has and strives for and the accessibility that it had in the past, but I do think both are important aspects of social media to balance, especially for young people.
@theraisingirl thanks for the thoughtful response, especially in regards to young people. I agree that having an outlet like that is vital for that age group – and glad that we were able to provide some of that when we were able to 🙂
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Interesting…
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hey it’s me… again 🙂 I am curious is there a feature where when our friends update their diary we can see it on our friends list? I don’t always remember what day they posted but it would be nice if their name changed color or something when there was an entry I missed. thank you
@kaliko that is something we are actually working on right now, it will be coming very soon!
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I may be the only unparanoid person on the internet and I have the goofed up computers to prove it. But anyway. I am also a lifetime member and I would be willing to make donations to the site – possible pay for memberships for those who can’t afford to pay. I remember in the old days people would pay for the memberships of others. I’m not sure how it worked but it might be possible again. Scholarships?
BTW I am eternally grateful to get my old diary back.
@womaninthemoon we are glad to have you back! We are working on a way to give gift subscriptions, that should be available pretty soon. Thanks 🙂
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Then again, I don’t know if this will work or not. Here many of us are tho….giving it a try.
@georgette it’s a fair point – there are still the majority of sites that think they can get on just fine on advertising and selling data, we shall see 🙂
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Sounds fair enough to me – a month’s friendship and therapy for less than a cup of coffee!
@sapphire glad you think so!
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Read every word. My thanks for returning my journal to me – and for keeping it add free!
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I believe in this model, which is why I’m back with a subscription. This may be the way social media starts to go, and OD may, once again, be at the forefront of it. There are rumors today that Facebook is considering changing it’s model to be a subscription-based service.
@alika I do believe that more and more sites will see that this is the only way to both stay healthy and to do right by their members – I would be glad if we were in the forefront again 🙂
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Hi DiaryMaster! Can you check my resent post l am really confused to do a post like me has to click on certain things before l post my entry. I am on my load as before it went down l was using my laptop. Is it okay? l saw when l opened it up the small square box on the right side was different. I didn’t make private l know this. Thank You So much for making Open Diary Possible forus again!! I hope your Happ as much as we are!
Love, Anne~ 💙🧢
@amazinggrace you’re welcome! I looked at the entry, I’m not sure how you posted it without a title because that’s not supposed to be possible 🙂 If you go to the entry there is a link to edit it in the bottom left, you can add a title there.
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I wish you great success and I am glad to read through my old ramblings once again BUT you absolutely need to take down the ban on certain countries. I was very happy to receive your email letting me know that OD is back but imagine my surprise when I saw “access from your country has been blocked” after clicking the link, with no way to get in touch with you as the site’s admin. I waited for nearly a week, then ended up getting a trial version of VPN to finally get through and contact you about it. Kind of makes me feel like a second-class citizen here, really.
@colorlesseyes that is something that is enforced by our Soto mates spam filtering software, depending on where spam is coming from – but we can adjust it. What country are you posting from?
@thediarymaster Thanks for explaining the situation, now I understand why it happened and can appreciate the efforts. I’m from Poland but if letting me post here means you’ll be getting tons of spam from my country, then perhaps it’s best just leave me out. I’d rather have this site up and running without me than bogged down with me on board.
@colorlesseyes I had the Support team remove the larger block for Poland and we will work on refining the blocks for spammers there – you should be able to access the site fine now!
@thediarymaster I can indeed! THANK YOU!
@colorlesseyes you’re welcome!
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Question….Being public will i not be abel to read people who are member only or friends only? Do these options cost money?
@jaythesmartone no, you can read members only entries if you are public – the difference is that public can be seen by anybody, members only can only be seen by somebody logged into OD. Friends only can only be seen by other members who you are Friends with. None of it has to do with whether you have paid or not.
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Thank you for this.
@cat you’re welcome!
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