Dear Panquake Community,

Talk Liberation continues it’s culture of transparency in our August campaign update for PANQUAKE

This month we take a closer look at how the demand for a messaging service shaped by users & not driven by advertisers has morphed from a handful of volunteers to a dynamic independent company building a new online community space. Despite the efforts of Big Tech to slow us down, Panquake remains on track, now enrolling selected members for our BETA phase! We cover off what’s still to do, how we will do it and how you and all of our Panquake community can help. This is truly a co-operative effort and it’s the determination of people like you to be allowed to control your own narrative that will help to shape our work and get this project over the line.

BETA applications have been pouring in and although we anticipate a months-long process to vet all 5,000 participants, the first batch of approvals is already underway and notifications will be going out to the selected users in the next few days! If you haven't already, apply to join our BETA Team of 5,000 here

See how advertising-free, next generation messaging can become a reality

* Watch the August monthly delivery meeting video on Vimeo here or on You Tube here

* Read and share this tweet thread about major aspects of the delivery content

PANQUAKE going green

A bastion of internet freedom but equally importantly, a country that runs on 100% renewable, sustainable green energy, ICELAND is the home of Panquake, where all our data and services are hosted and operated from. Giving you the confidence that we have a long term and sustainable plan for hosting our platform - and one that contributes to a better, greener future for social media.

PANQUAKE campaign progress

This month's campaign statistics demonstrate a total recovery from the losses we incurred due to PayPal's withholding of our campaign donations and we are back into the green thanks to all of your support! We are also now employing 9 full time staff, who are stepping on the gas to speed the build of Panquake forward at an ever-increasing pace.

PANQUAKE production progress

Development of our software took another leap forward in August, as reflected in our Production Metrics. In particular, the design of a suite of microservices which will deliver key application data to our users is another notch on our bona fide geek belt. Our microservices compartmentalize and secure critical data, making the program more operationally sound and safe, as well as making Panquake more easily scalable and extensible when supplying services to ever larger numbers of users.

We also have been producing and polishing architectural documentation to a very high standard, which will eventually be included in our technical white paper upon release of our BETA!

TALK LIBERATION - Why did we create it, Who is reading it and What is it reporting on?

We care about our users and listen to them. Some people asked why Panquake launched a news service in the middle of a software development project! A valid question, so we discussed the many reasons Talk Liberation serves our community as well as enhances Panquake, at the August delivery meeting.

It's all about educating our community - but more, it's about educating ourselves. Because we must stay on top of the problems, in order to be able to engineer the solutions. And it's also fortifying PANQUAKE - providing additional income streams and channels for the financial support required to complete this project and deliver Panquake into your hands. Subscribe to Talk Liberation - Your Worldwide Internet Report today and you will receive articles and videos with really high production value covering the most important news that Panquake users need to know and care most about. News that is too important to paywall - so we haven't - but for those wanting to provide recurring financial support to Panquake on a monthly or yearly basis, this is a great way to do it.

The Most Transparent Project Ever

Because you are collectively funding Panquake, and Panquake is funding Talk Liberation - Your Worldwide Internet Report, we want you to be a part of watching the growth of what we’ve built together.

As August was our first full month of publishing, we've compiled the performance metrics for the publication into a handy new chart. With $0 P.R. or marketing spend, and promoted only by word of mouth on social media, here's where we're at after our first month:

Any digital marketing person will tell you that a 11.9% conversion rate - especially on a platform where it is entirely voluntary to pay anything at all - is phenomenally high. Even 5% would be considered extremely high, so our 11.9% is simply off the charts! As is our 29% opening rate for our content. This means we are getting the right product to the right audience and that is why they are so highly engaged in consuming the content as well as feeling motivated to provide the financial support necessary to secure this unique and important news service into the future.

This is an amazing start to what we hope will become the go-to platform for relevant and trustworthy news about the internet issues that affect us all. Including:

There is some super worrisome news out in the world right now which will have dire impacts on internet and social media users, as well as on civil liberties, human rights and freedom of communication.

The landscape is changing fast, from only seven months ago when we first launched this campaign, to what we're seeing unfold around us all as we write this. In an age where many are prevented from organising in physical spaces to influence policy and society in a positive way, having online spaces where we can organise effectively is more important than ever.

There are some really important conversations to be had about this and PANQUAKE will increasingly become a facilitator of those in the months to come. Watch this space.

The final phase of our fundraising campaign is nearing - at 83% of Phase Two the transition to Phase Three, the Delivery Phase is in sight. We need all of your help to get us there and the sooner we get there, the better for all of us. Please consider donating here and spreading the word about the opportunity that Panquake is, to as many people as you can, as regularly as you can. We are just regular people up against powerful corporations and interests, but together we are strong. We need advocates and evangelists to light our way through to the final phase so that we can look back proudly on what we have built together, and provide this vital communications tool to generations to come.

Thank you so much for all you do!

- The Panquake Team