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The Hidden Cogs

For three days now, I've been spending hours trying to understand the full scope of what it means to build a revenue model for snapie.io. Truthfully, it seems like every time I turn a page, a brand new problem has to be solved. It isn't scope creep either. It's just the incline of the climb.

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I was thinking, and I'm still convinced I'm right, that I would need to create metrics that allow me to count the more passive types of interaction people have with content. On Twitter, for example, the algorithm counts impressions and click throughs too, not just likes. As you might know, that's not something our blockchain tracks, but maybe that hardly matters.

Of course, this means that if I build an impression tracking system, and if I succeed, it would only work within Snapie. A gap, some would say, but one that has no real way of being filled. I now understand why views on PeakD are exclusive to PeakD. Alas, the thing is, if I'm going to build a promotional feature, one where people can buy exposure, then I have to be able to demonstrate reach. How can that be done without these tools?

I'm also thinking, and I've already scribbled down a few bullet points on the matter, that a new page would have to exist as well. Maybe somewhere inside Settings, or perhaps on the profile itself. A place where users can clearly identify their own behavioral trends.

Are you getting more click throughs lately?

Are your impressions higher at certain hours?

Which posts actually convince people to open them?

That sort of thing.

To say that I'm discovering the complexity of one of these systems, the hidden cogs inside the watch, would be putting it mildly. I've gained a newfound respect for the people who built these systems, and I might even have to eat some of my own words, considering I've been such a vocal critic of them for so long.

The amount of design, the amount of careful thought, the endless debates that must have happened in meeting rooms somewhere, all just to arrive at the formulas that now hold together much of the financial machinery of Web2... it's honestly a bit of a wonder.

That doesn't mean I've suddenly become a fan of the incentives, or of the people sitting at the helm of the giant companies.

But every once in a while it's healthy to peek behind the curtain and appreciate the engineering, even if you don't particularly like the magician.

MenO

339 upvotes $4.33

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