Cosmetics.
Let’s offer paid cosmetics for users of your instance. Animated or custom banners, posts, new themes, etc.
It’s a model that works really well for Discord and League of Legends. Instances offering to sell aesthetic luxury to their user base could work for Mastodon too.
It’s non-invasive, it’s optional, it’s a great addition for some people, and it allows to raise funds to keep the hosted instances up and running.
Do you think it’s viable?
Donations is the way forward.
A dollar or two should be enough per month.
I run mine for free, self hosted, and I’m alone there. Server cost is absorbed by my hobby expenses. Maybe $20 per month.
Donations is def not the way forward if you want to mainstream it.
It works because moderation on Mastodon is manual (by my understanding), so most good instances are closed, which means donations kind of work.
But donating to use a social media service is unheard of in India (and may I say most of Asia too). Most also consider this as a waste of time. There’s no way you can make Mastodon big in India without thinking of a way to monetise it.
Just curious, how many users do you currently host and what is your user amount capacity? Just trying to figure out math in terms of scalability
I thought the “I’m alone there” covered it.
Donations are usually volontary so if you run a very large instance, income isn’t guaranteed.
No need to be a dickhead…the “I’m alone there” was an ambiguous statement which I interpreted as you solely absorbed all the costs and effort of hosting.
English isn’t my first, or second, language. Maybe something got lost in translation.
I’m sorry if I sound like a dick head.
Ah completely understand. I apologize then for calling you that.