Why PubHubs for you, as individual?

How does PubHubs differ from other platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok?

  • There are no advertisements on PubHubs. You are therefore not steered, tempted, or misled into buying all sorts of things.

  • On PubHubs you always talk “locally,” within a Hub. You are not speaking to the whole world. And all kinds of random people from across the globe don’t talk back to you: only people within the Hub itself can respond.

  • What you say in one Hub, for example in a patient association, is not visible in another Hub, such as a municipality. This protects your privacy.

  • In principle, you are a different person in each Hub. When you first enter a Hub, you are given a random name (a “pseudonym,” such as 04a-d83). You can change it to a self-chosen display name (such as Johnny) for recognizability. You may use your real name, but you don’t have to.

  • You do not have a central profile across all Hubs on PubHubs. Within a Hub you can add a photo to your display name, but you don’t have to. You can choose a different photo in every Hub.

  • Within PubHubs there is no central time line where messages appear because “we from PubHubs” think that you should see them, on the basis of an AI-powered userprofile. Such profiles do not exist within PubHubs. Numbers do appear on Hub icons to tell you the number of new messages in Rooms that you have visited before.

  • Hubs have different “Rooms” where conversations take place. Most Rooms are open, but some are “secure.” You can only enter these under certain conditions. For example, your email address might need to be on a list before you can join, or you may have to prove that you are older than 16, that your age is between 12 and 18, or that you live in Birmingham … De Hub administrator determines such access requirements.

  • PubHubs uses a separate app, Yivi, which allows you to prove your identity. Yivi is required for central registration and login, but also to access a restricted (secure) Room. This may require some effort to enter, but in return you get as user certainty about other participants in conversations. The Yivi app is important for the sense of safety that PubHubs wishes to offer.

How does PubHubs work?

In principle, PubHubs should be self-explanatory and easy to use. Within PubHubs buttons generally come with explanation. Below some general points are described about the structure.

  • PubHubs consists of a collection of Hubs that are run independently by different organisations and that are maintained locally. Those Hubs can be dedicated to a specific topic (like an illness) or can be focused on a particular group (inhabitants of a municipality or neighbourhood). On the homepage of PubHubs there is an overview of the various available Hubs. When you are logged in, the homepage can be reached via the compass icon in the upper left corner.

  • These different Hubs all live under the login umbrella of PubHubs. Only after a login at the central level, you can reach these Hubs. But once logged in, you can seamlessly click from one Hub to another. You can do this via the homepage (reachable via the compass icon) and also via your favourite Hubs that are listed below the compass.

  • Within a Hub you can choose a (nick)name for yourself, but that is not needed, for instance if you are visiting the Hub just to look around. If you do not choose a name, other people in the Hub only see the random name (pseudonym) that is automatically assigned to you, per Hub. If you do choose a name for yourself, there is also the option to upload a picture. These chioces exist in each Hub separatedly, because Hubs are separate environments. This is a deliberate design choice, so that you do not have to worry that what you say in one Hub, for instance about an illness, can be connected to you in another Hub — unless you use your real name in Hubs.

  • When you enter a Hub for the time, you can look around to find out what Rooms there on which topics. There is a button to search for Rooms. Some Rooms can be entered directly. Other people in the Room then only see your nickname (or pseudonym). Some Rooms are “secure”; in order to enter those Rooms you have to disclose some personal information about yourself via the Yivi app. Other people in the Room have disclosed the same information about themselves. This provides mutual certainty.

  • PubHubs does not (yet) have its own app in the big app stores. PubHubs is a so-called “webapp”. From within a browser on your phone you can add PubHubs as icon on the desk of your phone (or tablet).