A Kickstarter campaign seeks funding for Bokeh, a new photo sharing platform that enables users to privately share images with friends and family. Bokeh is presented as an alternative to traditional social media services, offering users a focus on privacy and a lack of ‘creepy ads,’ according to Bokeh creator Tim Smith.
Bokeh is an ad-free image sharing service where accounts are set to private by default (the option exists to make them public), accounts are only searchable by username, and followers are hidden from public view. The platform includes features to help keep content private and users safe, such as an automatic prompt to block a user after their follow requests have been declined three times.
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The Boken interface resembles Twitter profiles, at least based on the Kickstarter previews. Rather than selling user data and showing advertisements to fund the platform, Bokeh will charge users a fee to use the service. Individual accounts will cost $ 3/month with the option to pay $ 30 per year. Family accounts (up to five users) will be offered for $ 5/month or $ 50 per year.
Smith explains in his campaign:
I believe that your data shouldn’t be mined to sell you targeted ads, that your timeline should be chronological and not based on some algorithm, that tech CEOs shouldn’t allow hate groups to flourish on their platforms, and that we need more social networks that are privacy-focused and ethically sustained.
The Kickstarter funds would be earmarked to develop the service. As with any crowdfunding campaign, there are risks involved and a final product may never reach the market.
Disclaimer: Remember to do your research with any crowdfunding project. DPReview does its best to share only the projects that look legitimate and come from reliable creators, but as with any crowdfunded campaign, there’s always the risk of the product or service never coming to fruition.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)