'Our chance to fight back': local news outlet Village Media launches social media platform

A new social media platform rooted in Ontario communities is set to go live by the end of the month.

Village Media, which operates 25 community news websites across the province, is launching this project in the hopes of capturing some of the community engagement that happens on social media platforms operated by tech giants.

SPACES draws on the features of platforms like Facebook, Reddit or Nextdoor, but is built with the "DNA of a news organization," says the company's CEO Jeff Elgie.

"It's our chance to fight back on something we gave up on many years ago and shouldn't have," he added.

"It's time someone gives them some competition."

The project has been in the works for years, and will slowly begin rolling out next week, with the first 500 users based in Sault Ste. Marie accessing it through invitation only.

The platform will let users subscribe to different spaces according to their interests and geographic location.

The pilot launch happening in Sault Ste. Marie will include 25 different spaces dedicated to a range of topics such as smaller outlying townships, gardening, or hockey.

"Very similar to what you would see on other social environments, posts will appear in chronological order," said Elgie.

The platform will allow its users to share news stories from all outlets, local or national.

The spaces themselves are to be defined at the community level, with local hosts being in charge of overseeing the space.

Strategies to moderate the online space

These hosts are volunteering their time to help moderate and share their experience and knowledge in a given area. They have been interviewed and vetted by Village Media, says Elgie.

Additional moderation tools include verifying the identities of users that are sharing posts or commenting on them and using machine learning tools.

Instead of the usual comment section at the bottom of news stories, Village Media is set to encourage its readers to go on the newly formed SPACES.

The goal is to avoid it turning into a toxic echo chamber where negative and divisive comments are amplified.

"There are Facebook groups in [Sault Ste. Marie] that basically encouragebad behaviour, with a ton of racism and this unbelievable lack of care for people with mental health or addiction issues," said Elgie.

"You almost get these vigilante-like behaviours on these glorified neighbourhood watch groups."

Elgie says the project will be supported through advertisement revenues.

Expert says the platform may run into some challenges

"I'm interested to see where this goes," said Bree McEwan, associate professor at the Institute for Communication, Culture, Information and Technology at the University of Toronto.

She says this feels like much earlier attempts at social media, even prior to Facebook.

"One challenge is going to be: are people interested in using another social media platform? Is this going to be representative of the broader community or will it be small groups of individuals?"

McEwan says that as Village Media's platform focuses on direct community ties and interests, it also runs the risk of becoming "a little bit of an echo chamber."

"We're not having good arguments online, generally speaking," she said. "Those short messages don't always lend themselves for the kind of conversation this space is wanting to facilitate."

On the other hand, McEwan believes this feat might be easier to pull in a smaller community, as people may feel more of a responsibility toward each other.

She's not convinced, however, that having a user's identity be verified will stop them from posting hurtful or bigoted comments.

"People will have to stand by what they say but that won't necessarily drive them to be any less awful."

While she believes the vision of the platform is not new, she's interested in seeing how it being rooted in a local community will shape engagement.

Village Media has been growing steadily since it launched in the early 2000s. It recently opened a bureau on Parliament Hill in Ottawa and acquired Queen's Park Today, after years of operating hyperlocal news websites in smaller communities.