Introducing the Just About Newsletter

Early reactions from our announcement

Hello and welcome to the first Just About newsletter!

Thank you for signing up and supporting the project. We'll be using this newsletter to keep you up to date on the highs and lows of bringing a new community platform to life. We’ll be covering:

• How we plan to solve the challenges faced by online communities today

• Deeper dives into the features and tools that make Just About different

• The most important developments in the world of online communities

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But first, we look back on Just About’s announcement this week.

On Monday, our founder Rupert Loman sat down with James Batchelor of GamesIndustry.biz to talk about our plans and the inspiration behind the platform.

After the news broke, inevitably Twitter responded. Here's a few interesting points that were raised…

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Fatally Yoursler @esler_r

This is a really interesting idea. If it produces passionate and community driven guides similar to old GameFAQs and Forums, but creates a platform with better moderation and monetisation that would be sick.

Just About ◢◢ @JustAbout__

Just About is officially announced! A new community platform that unites fans and pays them fairly for creating the best content and conversation on the internet: https://t.co/j1cCmQsLP1 https://t.co/WxV61v4JHd

The most engaged players who make up gaming communities are driven by genuine passion to become unrivalled experts. So who better to produce brilliant game guides and helpful videos?

But let’s see them recognised for their knowledge and time invested. There are existing platforms that allow them to share, but very few give them proper recognition.

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Robin Clarke 🐀 @rclarke

Will be interesting to see if this gets anywhere. Involving money fundamentally changes the relationship participants have in a community. More cynically: will this undercut writers for news/review content? How will plagiarism be dealt with?

justabout.comJust AboutA new community platform that unites fans and pays them fairly for creating the best content and conversation on the internet.

Robin raises an important point about introducing money into organic community dynamics.

For us, it’s about respecting and recognising people’s time and their talents. These things are valuable and so it seems only fair that they should receive value in return.

On the point of plagiarism, this is something we’ve spent a great deal of time thinking about. We’re building the tools to be proactive in recognising the provenance of content, and ensuring the right creators are recognised.

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Trajan ACCA @CJ_Trajan

Obviously there's basically no definition yet on functionality, UI, etc... But the sentiment behind the project is one I can get behind. Social media/Community platform with dispersed leadership and tangible incentives at all levels of use.

Trajan has hit the nail on the head: It’s not just about content creators, we aim to recognise the curators, moderators and contributors too!

As for the UI & functionality, subscribers to this newsletter will be the first to see what we’re building.

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Absolutely. We think there’s room for Just About Everything!

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We don’t have all of the answers yet. We’re going to open up the development process as much as possible and work with communities to shape the platform. That includes you, our Newsletter readers...

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Thanks again for subscribing and jumping in with us, right from the start. We can’t wait to share more.

Rupert & the Just About team