In the world of social media, the fediverse has been hailed as a potential solution to creating enduring and interoperable social networks. However, one of the major drawbacks of the fediverse is the lack of direct monetization options for creators and businesses. Many content creators and businesses often resort to closed platforms like Patreon to earn money from their audiences. This is where Sub.club comes in, offering a solution to the monetization problem in the fediverse.
Sub.club aims to enable users on ActivityPub-based platforms like Mastodon to easily offer paid subscriptions and premium content while taking a 6 percent cut in addition to payment processing fees. This could potentially revolutionize the fediverse ecosystem by providing creators with a way to get paid directly on the platform. Bart Decrem, one of the founders of Sub.club, believes that bringing money into the fediverse ecosystem is crucial for those who believe in the promise of the internet.
Anuj Ahooja, an adviser to Sub.club, envisions the fediverse creating “one last network effect” where users can interact online across multiple platforms built on an open protocol. This would allow users the freedom to move from network to network and platform to platform at will, driving innovation in social media. While some platforms like X still hold cultural relevance, the idea of having profiles that users can take with them wherever they go could shape the future of social media.
Currently, Sub.club is only available for Mastodon users, offering various ways for creators to leverage the platform. Creators can point users to a subscription page on Mastodon web clients, while clients like Mammoth and Ice Cubes provide a rich experience for subscriptions with a subscribe button on the profile. Additionally, Sub.club allows creators to make posts that only subscribers can see by DMing their Sub.club account. The platform aims to integrate with other paid subscription products, encouraging developers to build in a standard and portable way across multiple services.
In addition to its subscription services, Sub.club has also created an API that developers can use to build premium bots for added functionality. For example, users could set up a bot that adds animals to photos, showcasing the platform’s versatility. Furthermore, Sub.club plans to allow Mastodon server admins to use the tool to help fund maintenance in the future, reducing the dependency on external platforms like Patreon or Ko-Fi for support. According to Anuj Ahooja, there is a significant amount of unpaid labor that sustains the fediverse currently, and Sub.club aims to address this issue.
As the fediverse continues to evolve and expand, platforms like Sub.club play a crucial role in enabling creators to monetize their content directly within the ecosystem. By offering a seamless way for users to offer paid subscriptions and premium content, Sub.club could pave the way for a sustainable and thriving ecosystem within the fediverse. With its commitment to providing developers with integration tools and server admins with funding options, Sub.club holds the potential to revolutionize the way creators earn money in the decentralized world of social media.