Introducing ... The Pub

A note from Grabien’s founder, Tom Elliott:

Today I'm excited, and proud, to announce the launch of The Pub, a news-oriented social network. The Pub adapts the model that's proven successful for Grabien, a B2B news-prep service, to the mass market — in short, breaking down the barrier between "the press" and "the people," so that everyone can shape the stories that shape societies. 

At the Pub, all are welcome, stories are shared, and the conversation is a little more fun and free-wheeling. 

The Pub turns the traditional social media model upside down & inside out. At other social networks, your content makes them rich. Not at The Pub. We recognize social networks derive their value from three places:

– Content creators (e.g., publishers, photographers, journalists)
– Influencers
– The actual users themselves!

As everyone is now well aware, these three groups — the ones making these networks worth using in the first place — increasingly despise the Big Three: Google/YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, where rules are shrouded in mystery, content isn’t properly valued, and users are increasingly unable to freely interact. (And that's before we even get into these companies appointing themselves sheriffs of the Idea Police.) 

The Pub has several key advantages over The Big 3: 

— A color coding spectrum that more easily showcases the accounts currently driving the conversation (the barrier between entry and influencer can be as small as a few days)

— Users' ability to track the downstream value they’re creating (i.e., 100 of your followers read an article you shared; and 200 of your followers’ followers read it too, and so on)

— All of the value being created within The Pub is compensated via an in-network currency called Pub Points, which has actual cash value (users can apply it toward paywalled content and/or cashing out and GETTING PAID!)

— Pub Points are backed with revenue generated from both display advertising & subscriptions to an ads-free experience (= other premium features are coming as well)

As some of you may know, I’ve been working on The Pub in some capacity for many years now. And unfortunately as this is still a solo operation, things are taking way longer than I would have liked. (Building a tech company on a shoe-string budget unfortunately means trying to finess a mountain of ideas through an unusually narrow funnel). 

As a consequence, the most compelling parts of The Pub are still in a state of development. But rather than wait until everything is 100 percent complete — which, I know from experience, is an always evolving target — I thought it makes more sense to start with this slimmed down version, and try building up a bit of momentum. With a bit of luck, others who like the concept and want to help make it a reality will reach out to offer some kind of assistance. (You know where to find me!) I'm well aware this is a massive undertaking — as I'm seeking to literally remake the entire news ecosystem from creator to consumer — so can use all of the help I can get. 

So please head over to ThePub.news and setup your account. You can also link your Twitter, so your tweets appear at The Pub, which I hope will make it easier for people to test the waters. 

And of course, please feel free to reach out with any ideas. (There’s a lot more still under wraps, incidentally, but I hope this serves as a good introduction.)

Thanks & see you in The Pub!

— Tom Elliott