Social network vs. website
“Best result with least effort”, this is what we assumed when we relied on Facebook back in 2019 but we were completely wrong: that platform is driven by an algorithm which decides content’s visibility depending on how much you pay to sponsor a content and takes complete control on our data.
There was no convenience in this so we decided to choose a paid hosting and created our own site.
As amateur digital creators we have tried some free blogging services but they present heavy customization limitations which may fit needs for basic users, definitely different from ours.
Same limitations apply if we consider using advertisement banners to cover our expenses: generally ads providers ask many restrictions on content publishing and they trap our creativity this way.
Despite not creating “mature contents”, our blog’s main subject is HIV and stories are mostly addressed to crime genre. How could we respect some agencies’ terms of use and avoid to talk about sex or blood?
Let alone that advertisers often neglect digital accessibility and our site is maintained by a visually impaired person; it would be an unpleasant effect having some inaccessible functions on our space, just integrated to earn a couple cents wishing to cover site’s expenses.
We believe it’s a matter of respect as well: Internet is full of sites where besides displaying plenty of ads, their authors use questionable methods for convincing readers to click on their articles; however, we’d like people to support us willingly, when they spontaneously decide to do it.
Our ambitions
How funny it would be for us to create our stories in audio format, and how our readers could enjoy them? Especially if we enrich them with music and sound effects. But those are dreams for now.
Thanks to artificial intelligence, buying audio effects and taking advantage of electronic voices we could create an enjoyable international podcast (Italian one is a work in progress), but its costs are quite high and without any support, this remains an idea as our job would be double: having them in Italian and translated in English.
Our best goal would be joining in-person events where to meet other HIV activists who are certainly better than us, but at the moment this remains just a dream.
How to support us?
All methods below hopefully fit most needs of people wanting to support us with a digital payment.
- Italian readers can rely on a sustainable cosmetics company with a referral program, but we are not sure that it can support English as well.
- support via ko-fi platform – this service allows to send us small amounts;
- LiberaPay: another method to support us through paypal, credit card or stripe. Manual or automated renewing is available but nothing is mandatory.
Are we going to create paid-only material? This is a plan for the future but there’s no intention to lock the entire blog under a subscription model.
No pity or charity
We’re not asking for anything beyond your support. We’re two digital creators determined to using our website to fight against HIV stigma. Our activities are valuable for us but ultimately, you’re the judge. Whether it’s giving us a couple cents or simply spreading the word, your support means so much to us. Thanks to anyone who is and has been kind and encouraging.
