Building a Better Web

Imagine the internet as a series of virtual destinations that connect you to the real world. One destination may keep you in contact with an old friend, another might connect you with like-minded folks in your community, and yet another might be a common interest hub for information, organization, and action.

To get to any of these virtual destinations, you’ll need to travel over virtual roads. These roads can look like anything, but some of the most popular ones today are Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Instagram. These platforms connect us, but they are not public. They belong to private corporations and exist to make money.

So they monetize the roads. They start by putting up billboards – you still get to where you’re going, but now you see some sponsored content along the way.

But it doesn’t stop there -these companies realize that the more time you spend on their roads, the more ads they can sell. So where before they were prioritizing getting you to your virtual destination, now they really just want to keep you driving.

Suddenly there’s viral content, fun and games, “click-bait”, things to buy, gratifying headlines, all manner of things to keep you on their roads. They figure out specifically what gets you hooked and then they serve it up to you in an infinite buffet.

Eventually you may even forget where you were going in the first place. The connection we came for becomes secondary, and we find ourselves in a noisy auditorium personally tailored to capture our attention. What once was an avenue to a virtual destination too often becomes, at best, a diversion.

Now lets take a few steps back. Imagine instead that we have public roads, clear and free. No ads, no diversions – just the fastest and most effective way to connect you to the people, groups, and causes you care about. The roads are easy to maintain – voluntary contributions are the unenforced taxes that keep things running.

Just like that, virtual connection and coordination become free, simple, and direct.

This is Beacon. We are building the roads, and asking our travelers to maintain them. We are building an ad-free, not-for-profit social network that prioritizes community, connection, and action.

We at Beacon know first-hand the power of connection, coordination, and action. We are all a part of communities that flourish and give life. We want very badly to see technology serve people everywhere as an empowering tool that lets us connect and thrive, and we know we can be stewards of that effort.

We are raising money to launch in time for a Spring full of connection and action. Help us reach our goals by giving today, or becoming a monthly supporter. Right now an anonymous donor is matching up to $1000 in contributions, so anything you give will be doubled!

Whether or not you can give to support this effort, please spread the word – we are looking for future users! Let your friends, family, and community partners know that there will soon be a better way to connect over the web.