Can an Ex-Googler’s New Startup Get Rid of the Trolls?

In a current survey, Pew Research found that forty % of U.S. adults have skilled on-line harassment in some type. Whereas males have been extra more likely to be referred to as offensive names, ladies have been extra more likely to be stalked and sexually harassed on-line. A brand new social community is hoping to to offer a platform for troll-free discussions.

VProud is the brainchild of Karen Cahn, a former Google, YouTube and AOL exec. She was previously the overall supervisor of AOL’s unique content material, and headed up gross sales, partnerships and branded leisure for YouTube. The location bills itself as a “video-based mostly dialog expertise constructed for ladies, by ladies.”

VProud has attracted 250,000 customers throughout its first month of beta. The platform permits ladies to start out or be a part of conversations round sure points. The location seems to be extra like a video-centric xoJane — a mirrored image of its employees. At launch, there was a managing editor, parenting editor, affiliate editor and a few contributing editors. Its staff page seems extra like that of a media startup, making all the operation a bizarre publication-social-community hybrid.

Whereas publications are social with their feedback sections and social-media integration, and social networks are information sources full of shared hyperlinks and consumer-generated content material, VProud takes this integration to a brand new degree. Its homepage has information, well being and parenting verticals, and the social points of the location are centered round its verticals. Customers who begin their very own conversations should embrace a headline and video, however the dialog is edited by a “workforce of specialists” who edit conversations to “match to the location’s aesthetic,” in accordance with a how-to video.

From a launch saying its launch:

With on-line assaults towards ladies growing in current months, VProud provides ladies a protected digital sanctuary to speak with different ladies, free from verbal hostility …read more

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