One of the areas that has continued to evolve during development is how profiles will function at launch.
When All Me was first conceived, the focus was on creating a safer digital environment for people. Much of the early thinking centred around privacy, identity exposure, surveillance-based business models and returning agency to users.
As development progressed, another challenge became increasingly apparent: context collapse.
Modern life consists of multiple overlapping contexts. People are employees, founders, consultants, volunteers, creators, parents and hobbyists, often simultaneously. Yet most social platforms continue to assume that a single profile can adequately represent all aspects of a person’s life.
The more we explored this problem, the clearer it became that identity was only part of the challenge. Context was equally important.
The conclusion we continue to arrive at is simple:
- A profile is not a person.
- A profile is a context.
This distinction has become increasingly important as the platform architecture has matured.
The Single Profile Problem
Most social platforms ask people to place everything into a single identity.
Work. Business. Family. Interests. Opinions. Future ambitions.
Everything is expected to coexist inside one profile.
For some people this works reasonably well. For many others it creates a form of digital context collapse where completely different audiences are forced into the same space.
Someone may be:
- An employee
- A consultant
- A founder
- A craftsperson
- A volunteer
- A future entrepreneur
These are not separate people.
However, they are often separate contexts.
Over time it became increasingly clear that All Me should not attempt to recreate the single-profile model.
Launch Profile Types
At launch, All Me will support two profile types:
- Anonymous
- Ways of Working
These were selected because they address the two areas most commonly affected by identity exposure and context conflict.
Anonymous
Every account will receive one Anonymous profile.
The purpose of the Anonymous profile is to provide a space for participation without a public identity.
It is intended for situations where ideas should be judged on their content rather than the reputation, occupation or background of the individual expressing them.
Anonymous participation will remain free.
Importantly, the current thinking is that each person will have a single Anonymous profile.
The objective is not to create multiple personas. The objective is to create a private space for participation.
Ways of Working
Ways of Working (formerly Professional) profiles have evolved considerably throughout development.
The original question was whether users should be limited to a single Professional profile.
The current answer appears to be no.
Modern working life increasingly consists of multiple parallel activities rather than a single career path.
A person may simultaneously have:
- Employment
- A consulting practice
- A side business
- A startup
- A future venture
- Commercial creative work
These are all legitimate ways of working contexts.
Rather than forcing them into a single profile, the current launch model allows multiple profiles.
Each profile can develop its own audience, reputation and activity stream without interfering with the others.
From an architectural perspective this aligns more closely with the principle that one human may operate in many contexts.
Verification and Ways of Working Profiles
Recent work has also reinforced a distinction between identity verification and profile management.
Professional profiles are connected to a verification process established through an independent third-party provider.
The verification process confirms that a real, age-verified human exists behind the account and establishes the ability to support Professional profiles.
Importantly, All Me does not receive the underlying identity information.
The platform receives confirmation rather than identity documents, personal financial information or verification records.
This allows profiles to exist within a trust framework while remaining consistent with the project’s broader privacy objectives.
Profile Fees
The current launch model remains unchanged.
Anonymous participation is free during the launch window.
Professional profiles carry a small monthly fee.
This decision is often misunderstood when viewed through the lens of traditional social media.
The objective is not revenue generation.
The objective is infrastructure sustainability.
The fee helps distribute the operational cost of running the network across those maintaining Ways of Working profiles while avoiding the need for advertising-driven business models.
In practical terms the cost remains lower than a typical monthly single cup of coffee purchase.
Looking Beyond Launch
The launch profile model is intentionally conservative.
Anonymous and Ways of Working profiles solve the most immediate problems.
They are not intended to represent the final identity model.
Two profile types already under consideration for future releases are:
Interest Profiles
Many people participate in communities that have no relationship to their work.
Photography. Music. Gaming. Technology. History. Gardening. Sport.
Interest Profiles are intended to provide dedicated spaces for these activities without creating overlap with professional audiences.
Family Profiles
Family remains one of the most important social contexts people have.
Future Family Profiles are being explored as a way of creating spaces specifically designed for family interaction rather than treating family members as simply another audience attached to a public profile.
Current Thinking
After several years of development, the direction is becoming clearer.
The original problem was never simply creating a safe space for humans.
It was the assumption that a human being can be accurately represented by a single digital profile.
Current thinking suggests that the answer is not one profile with increasingly complex privacy controls.
Instead, it may be multiple purpose-driven contexts operating under a common foundation.
For launch, those contexts will be Anonymous and Ways of Working.
Interest and Family focused contexts are expected to follow later as the platform continues to evolve.
As always, development continues and every major design decision remains subject to refinement as implementation progresses.
