The Ethos Network

Ali de Brunner is a first year Arts and Sciences student at UCL and CEO of The Ethos Network - a platform that provides everyone with an online identity based on the social issues that matter to them.

Source: Ali de Brunner

How did you come up with the idea?

Last year, I had to take five months off university due to appendicitis. During this time, I got really into a philosopher called Hannah Arendt. One of her main ideas is that if we were to normalise people engaging with the social sector - in the same way we normalise engaging with economics, say - the world would just self-improve! Social issues aren't necessarily discussed on a wide scale; we need to start talking productively, learning and amplifying causes. It would subconsciously reflect in our daily lives and we would change our behaviours.

This was all while TikTok was growing in popularity and I realised how much time I personally spend making videos. If we all spent a fraction of that time and effort sharing ideas or learning something such as an easy hack to be more environmentally friendly, I think that could be quite powerful. So many people already do amazing digital activism on their social channels, but I just thought it deserved its own platform. I should be able to use Instagram to share pictures with friends and have another place to communicate about the social issues that matter to me. I came up with the idea of a platform to encourage widespread normalisation of discussion of social issues. It seemed to be the best way of applying Arendt's thoughts to the modern world.

How does the platform work?

In much the same way as other social networks, you create a profile and you add friends, family and interests. You can share or save posts, comment, reply, make group chats and so on.

The big difference is that all posts are associated with a cause, and that people have to go out and find their own content themselves. We don't have an algorithm suggesting that you might be interested in a particular cause or sub-cause. The reason for this is that we are keen not to encourage echo chambers. The danger on current social networks is that people see what they want to see.

What are the benefits of using it rather than established platforms such as Instagram or Twitter?

On ETHOS you can write a longer "description" than on other platforms; this is because we want to encourage people to go into further depth when communicating about the issues that matter to them. Furthermore, on ETHOS your online profile is built only with social engagements. Going on ETHOS, you know what to expect and hopefully it creates a shared positive mindset for people. As I’ve mentioned, we don't create echo chambers nor collect the same amount of personal data other platforms collect.

Basically, we’re an accountable, on-trend social networking platform for positive and safe conversation about the issues that matter. 

ETHOS mobile app by Ali de Brunner

You say that “Ethos is made for young people”. Why is this?

It has been brought to my attention that that was ageist...! The idea was that young people are generally more particular about what they share on current networks. Also, if you use your social media to showcase yourself, or your art, or music, or anything other than social issues, sometimes it can be quite hard to talk about the latter because it clashes with the rest of your feed. Another issue is that "performative sharing/activism" gets encouraged on social media because many people limit themselves to just sharing on ‘Stories’. Lastly, my colleague Ana and I are both 20-years-old and run ETHOS together. We feel that we are targeting people of our own generation; those who have grown up with social media, and that have shown more interest towards pushing social change than any other generation so far. 

I really think students are the best pioneers of this sort of platform and setting the tone on the app and deciding what lands well and what doesn't is so important. Generally speaking, students tend to be pretty plugged in with world matters.

How do you see it changing in the next six months, year, say?

In the next three-to-six months we will be looking to do a proper launch. We will be announcing a new, revamped product application with media coverage and hopefully onboarding some of the big names that have shown us a lot of support up until now. As communities begin to form on ETHOS and we get the leverage to prove this concept further, a big priority for me is to connect with experts in their fields (cybersecurity, human rights, freedom of speech and more) to really ensure we scale correctly and could grow to have a positive social impact. In the next year it would be great to establish this concept and get started with the exciting partnerships we have begun to plan. All it takes in these really early months is for people to take the leap of faith with us and pioneer sharing content on the platform!