Building a social platform, just finished the monetization model. Curious what others here would do.
What I went with: a 5x cap above the median creator payout, everything above it redistributed downward to create a floor so new creators aren’t earning zero.
Reasoning being that without a cap payouts concentrate at the top, and without a floor the long tail starves. The cap funds the floor.
Questions:
- Would you cap at all? Some would say let people earn whatever the market gives. Others that platforms aren’t neutral markets to begin with, so you might as well design toward sustainability.
- If yes, what multiple? I picked 5x median but have no confidence it’s right. 3x? 10x? Does platform size matter?
- Cap on what? Total monthly earnings, per-post, per-viewer, rate per engagement? I capped total payout but wonder if capping the rate preserves incentives better.
- Failure modes? Top creators leaving for uncapped platforms, gaming the median, redistribution feeling like a tax.
I don’t know what the right answer is but i know that no matter what you choose some people will always object to any kind of cap. They will point to things like needing to pay editors and artists, and to grow their channel as a business and be able to pay their employees. The question is what kind of platform are you trying to create and who should be on it, and that decision i think matters more than the exact numbers. Is it a platform for individuals who just want to share and connect with others, or is it for aspiring petty bourgeois “entrepreneurs”?
