“The greatest threat posed by the latest advances in AI is their ability to generate low-quality content, which is likely to make the entire internet look like the spam folder in your email account. We are likely to see more and more junk chasing fewer and fewer clicks”

To read the entire article:

https://www.tvtechnology.com/opinion/ai-and-the-news-business 

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https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/chatgpt-or-cheating-a-look-at-the-ai-product-that-could-cause-headaches-for-parents-as-kids-head-back-to-school/

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“Expert weighs-in on the impact of AI on consumers and the news industry”:

https://www.wowktv.com/good-day-at-4/expert-weighs-in-on-the-impact-of-ai-on-consumers-and-the-news-industry/

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The Otherweb was featured on KPRC's "Fifty Plus" show. They actually called the episode "Fink Different":

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1248-fifty-plus-52808599/episode/fink-different-118236660/

Our interview starts at 19:30 if you want to fast-forward to the interesting part.

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https://www.kvue.com/article/news/health/brain-health-screen-habits/269-2a098301-63d6-4979-9f9a-aa2295426098

https://youtu.be/PObs7oZeN7U

https://youtu.be/VnbelhFd1WA

https://www.fox43.com/article/news/health/health-smart-digital-diet-is-important-for-healthy-minds/521-423f5636-d4d4-4016-ae45-18bcf15d8ebd

Please join me in welcoming Rich Evans to our advisory board. Rich brings with him a wealth of experience, as former head of Facebook News, head of audience development at Sky News, and Senior Editor at Yahoo.

We are excited to have Rich on board and we're confident he can help us improve the quality of content on our platform - through better content-selection practices and through partnerships with major publications worldwide.

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If you have an hour to spare, please join Alex Fink and Whitney Lauritsen in this amazing podcast episode:

https://podcast.wellevatr.com/feeding-your-mind-tips-on-a-healthy-information-diet-with-alex-fink

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We're often asked why we haven't started monetizing yet. So I wanted to go over a few brief examples to illustrate our current approach:

1. Facebook started monetizing its platform in 2006, when it had over 7 million registered users.

2. Instagram started monetizing its platform in 2013, when it had over 100 million users.

3. YouTube began monetizing its platform in 2007, when it had around 50 million monthly active users.

4. Twitter started monetizing its platform in 2010, when it had around 30 million monthly active users.

5. Snapchat began monetizing its platform in 2015, when it had over 100 million daily active users.

6. Pinterest began monetizing its platform in 2014, when it had around 70 million monthly active users.

In each of these cases, the companies had already achieved significant user growth and engagement before introducing monetization strategies. They were also able to leverage the treasure trove of data they already had about their users to:

a) Choose monetization methods that did not interfere with their users' experience.

b) A/B test everything and roll things out step by step.

A second question we're often asked is - if there's no revenue yet, what is the company's valuation based on?

Here too, we'd like to turn your attention to a few examples:

• Whatsapp was acquired in 2014 for $20B, when it had about 400 MMAU, i.e. $50/MAU. But that was in 2014 and valuations are higher today.
• Facebook is valued at $463B with 2.96 BMAU, i.e. $156/MAU.
• Twitter was acquired for $44B with 256 MMAU, i.e. $172/MAU (today their valuation would be lower).

We can go over dozens of examples, but they all point to a very similar range eventually. As a rule, a non-paying active user is worth somewhere between $100 and $200 right now.

What is this number based on?

The value of each MAU is based on the assumption that he/she will eventually generate cashflow once monetization is turned on in the future. If we compare companies that monetize their users to those who don't (yet), we see a tradeoff:

A. Companies that monetize have cashflow in year 0; but grow slower.

B. Companies that haven't begun monetizing yet have cashflow farther in the future; but grow faster today.

Given the Otherweb's current size and rapid growth, we chose to follow strategy "B" for now.

But sometime in the next 3-6 months it might be a good time to move to strategy "A" instead.

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Exciting news - the new app design has finally been released. Check out the news design here: iOS / Android

Key highlights include:

• Swipe design with easy transitions from one item to the next
• Self-learning algorithms that figures out a user's interests and adjusts their feed over time
• Audio narration, so users can listen to the news while driving or exercising

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https://www.fox5dc.com/video/1189394

I highly recommend you check out this research from the Reuters Institute.Here are some highlights:

Notice what top-line number for the US is -> 42%. That's a lot of people. And when we consider why they dislike the news so much, we get these answers:

Consider the implications of this data. What is the market opportunity for a news source that doesn't have a negative effect or mood, and doesn't wear people out?

https://youtu.be/rc3GVMuU82w

Hey, we recorded our answers to some of the more common questions as video.

https://youtu.be/MDsSIMpBxkw

Enjoy!

This is a major milestone. One of many.

Our community is growing, and users clearly appreciate the junk-free experience we are providing.

Next stop - 250k!

I know it might seem like the campaign was already up and running, but until today we were still, officially, in the "testing the waters" (i.e. pre-launch) stage.

But now we are officially fundraising - the SEC has accepted and approved all our forms and disclosures, including an independent CPA review of our financials and all the contents of this campaign page - and so, we're off to the races!

If you have reserved your spot previously, you might want to head over to https://wefunder.com/otherweb/invest and confirm your reservation.

Once again I want to thank you all for your trust and your belief in us. Thank you!!

P.S. Let's fix the internet together ;-)

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https://youtu.be/5eN-GfSH_Bg

We created this company with a single mission in mind - to improve the quality of information that people consume.

Here's why we think it's important.

The internet is full of clickbait, eye-catchers, autoplaying videos, link farms, SEO-content, fake news and other forms of digital junk. It's hard to avoid. All the major search engines, social networks, news aggregators and streaming apps are full of it. Even the news looks like this now:

We think it is critical that we address this problem as quickly as possible. People can't possibly make goods decision if they consume bad info. Garbage in leads to garbage out.

So we want to put people in control of their feeds, and we want to create incentives for content creators and content distributors (ourselves included) to reward quality over attention-grabbing.

The Otherweb is our vanguard, and it's making great inroads so far.

More great products will follow.

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Many companies start off with great missions. Google's was "organizing the world's information". Facebook's was "connecting the world". Unfortunately, in a C Corporation these missions have no staying power - as soon as external investors enter the picture, the founders and officers have a fiduciary duty maximize the investors' shareholder value, whether it happens to coincide with the mission or not. Eventually, most companies arrive at the point where the only mission that truly matters is their numbers for the next quarter.

Now, we care about shareholder value, and we work tirelessly to maximize it, but we also want the Otherweb to have a meaning beyond quarterly numbers.

So we decided that the best way to codify this meaning in a way that would have legal and practical value is:

1. Registering as a Public Benefit Corporation and listing our mission in the incorporation documents, as something we are legally obligated to pursue.
2. Raising money from individual investors who are investing their own money, and not from institutional funds who are investing someone else's money.

These two steps, taken together, provide confidence to our employees, our users, and all other stakeholders that regardless of how fast we grow - our course will stay true.

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