Last time we introduced the unique Vortex business model. This post elaborates on that model by introducing the concept of Vortex roles.
VORTEX ROLES
To recap, Vortex is built around content rooms, each of which is created and owned by a single user. All content and comments occur in a room. Other users may post content using a write share, or read and possibly comment using a read pass.
"Write share" and "read pass" are really implementation concepts. What a Vortex user sees instead is one of several roles. A user has a room role, and may have different roles in different rooms.
At launch the defined roles are:
- Owner. The owner is the user who creates a room. The owner may post content to a room, including text, images, and supported embeds. The owner is also the room moderator, and may delete any and all content in the room.
- Creator. A creator may post the same type of content to a room that the owner can post. A creator may only delete their own content.
- Commenter. A commenter may read and comment on any post in a room, but may not post new content and can only delete their own comments.
- Reader. A reader may read any post, but may not comment, post new content, or delete any content or comments.
Roles and Revenue Share
The Vortex business model relies not on advertising or subscriptions, but instead on small one-time fees paid by users to obtain a role in a room. These fees are distributed in part to Owners and Creators, because they provide the substance of the room content. Commenters and Readers do not share in revenue, but their participation is essential to room success and consequently the one-time fees for these roles are quite small.
In our next post we will discuss the actual revenue splits anticipated at Vortex launch.