Tsū: an alternative or ambiguous platform?

The rhetorical promises and utopian connotations surrounding computer-mediated-communication technologies tend to mask the fact that these spaces operate within the existing power structures of today’s capitalist economy, allowing users to be freely exploited. In response to this unequal character of contemporary exploitative mainstream social media, alternative models are being developed, for instance Tsū, a social platform that differentiates itself by means of sharing its revenues with its users. Such a mode of operation raises questions like “Which mindset and possible ideals lie behind the development of Tsū?”, “Are these values explicitly reflected within the action possibilities and rhetoric of the platform?” and “Does the platform fit within a capitalist or anti-capitalist body of thought?” This research focuses on these questions to analyse the extent to which social platform Tsū can, from a neo-Marxist perspective, be regarded as an alternative service. To be able to scrutinize this research question, a platform study is conducted, while simultaneously incorporating critical theory (essentially) related to new media. By examining Tsū’s various affordances, as well as related aspects such as the platform’s philosophy and rhetoric, this study has found that Tsū has an ambiguous character. While the platform cannot be considered an entirely valid alternative service based on neo-Marxist thinking (given that it reproduces the capitalist system, hierarchies and inequality), it does have transformative potential as it greatly fulfils its pledge to compensate users for their labour by dint of its payment model and hence, to some extent, challenges phenomena such as exploitation and inequality