TL;DR: In the last week, we’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to build a better kind of social media, and how our own values fit in to with the grand spectrum of values across Canada.
So, our team sat down and came up with a set of guiding principles for Gander (more on that below) — things like building on Canadian-owned infrastructure, no behavioural profiling, co-creation with the community, and actual moderation (imagine that).
But here’s the thing: we’d love your input too.
We’ve put together a quick survey you can reply to via email. Your answers are completely private, and they’ll help us shape the next steps.
Read on for more…
Geese, Guts and Getting it Right
Social media sucks right now.
I’m guessing that you’re here because, like me and the rest of the Gander team, you agree to some extent that social media is eating away at… everything.
And while we as Canadians tend to be pretty patient, we’re not okay with platforms that treat our personal information like it’s up for grabs, or treat us like hamsters running in a hate wheel.
We want something better, something that rivals the energy and fun of the big US platforms while giving space for Canadian voices — all with civility, honesty, and the protection of our laws.
And we want to build this with you – not just for you.
Before that, I need to own up to something
Last week, I posted a video talking about how “Gander will be built on Canadian values.” It was off the cuff, but some of you rightly pointed out that this might need some unpacking.
And unpack it we did—in as much as we identified that our values as individuals at Gander don’t by any stretch reflect the values of ALL Canadians.
So yeah, silly thing to say.
However, it DID spark a rather lengthy conversation where we established a set of guiding principles for Gander.
Our guiding principles
- Built and hosted in Canada
- No pixel tracking, personal profiling, or data brokerage
- Transparency over trickery
- Real moderation, not engagement bait
- You own your data and your experience
- Co-created with community voices (that’s you!)
But enough about us. What matters to you?
We’ve put together a quick two question survey to gather your thoughts. It won’t take long, we promise.
And yes, we’re using email to keep things lean while we build our own Canadian tools. That said, your responses are totally private.
What’s Next?
Next week, we’ll be sharing more about our team, our roadmap, and our vision for what we’re creating. Consider it our version of showing you around the place.
Keep the feedback coming. Whether it’s by email, in the comments or through DMs – we’re all ears.
Thanks for being part of this!
P.S.
Yep, we sometimes use AI to help us create content — it supports, but never dictates. We’re a lean team (for now!) and LLM’s help us move faster without compromising our voice. That said, we never feed in your personal data, and we look forward to the day we can use Canadian-made language models when needed. 🇨🇦
