I have been using SOLA for a while now, I am not a frequent user though. I just check it once in a while. I won't say that I am impressed with it or any other claims or so. It's just that I find it too easy to publish a few cards once in a while and then check back after sometime. It hardly take a minute to get started or publish your cards.

So what is SOLA all about?

Sola is one of the next generation decentralized social media platform that incentivizes and benefits all involved parties. The name Sola is an acronym for “Social Layer". Sola is an open ecosystem, which means that most of its source code is made open and available for audit, public inspection, improvement and usage by anyone who wish to do so.

Some Terms to Get started

1. Action Points (AP) - AP or Attention/Action Points are the points you earn when attracting attention to the app by logging in every day, browsing through, or sharing information outside. You can spend AP to create content and to endorse cards and comments that you find interesting.
2. Endorsements - Endorsing a card/post/comment is like Upvoting it on Steemit. You can endorse a coin by swiping up or down from 1-100. Please know that the more you use, the more you lose. It literally works like Voting Power.
3. SOL - SOL is the Native Cryptocurrency that you gain from creating content on Sola. When users endorse your cards and comments, you get an amount of SOL equal to an amount of Action Points, spent on the endorsement.

What if you run out of Action Points?

Everyday you receive a Bonus Action Points for logging in. So, if you run out of AP. Just relax, and wait for a while. Though, you can still use the Platform but just won't be able to create content.

You can also browse and earn some AP. Isn't it interesting concept to increase user engagement and organic curation?

Channels for SOLA as Tags for Steemit

Channel is a topical section inside Sola. Channels are created and run by users somewhat similar to how the tags works on Steemit. The only difference is that Channels are heavily moderated by user admins and they can remove your contents if they don't fit in that particular channel criteria. Which is impossible on Steemit.

But you do have the option to create your own channel or do not at all and just keep posting right away.

SOLA Mobile App

SOLA Mobile app is pretty sleek and smooth to browse through. If you are using the web version of Sola platform, you might miss on some features like DM and joining Channels but if you are using the Sola App, you can use all those extended features too.

What is a ban?

There are certain behaviors that instantly and forever disqualify people from using SOLA: If someone posts child porn, for instance, they will get banned right away and irrevocably. If a user breaks the rules repeatedly despite several warnings and restrictions, they will get banned as well. Banned users can’t log into Sola anymore at all.

Also, if a user posts content that doesn’t comply with the Terms of Service, they can be restricted from posting for a certain time.

Flags/Downvotes

Here's the catchy part, every flag is reviewed by a human. If the flagged content doesn’t violate the Terms of Service, it will not be removed. I am not sure how possible that is once the platform is taken over by greed and enough user to create havoc like once he had on Steemit. But still, it's an effort so that no one can censor you.

Problem

What bothers me is their unstable Revenue generation scheme and the censorship model that holds solely in the hands of core team. I know we all hate the Flags on Steemit but the good thing about Steemit flags is that no one can silence you but the community itself. What's different with SOLA is, you can get banned by the team indefinitely. And that's scary

If you would like to buy Sola, you can do so on Bitshares, OpenLedger, EtherDelta or TIDex. The only notable name I could find on their Advisor Team is the CEO of OpenLedger RONNY BOESING himself.

I guess, that pretty much it. But if you are still unable to understand, the following short video should help.

If you want to try Sola? Then click here and open yourself an account.

Credits: All the images belongs to the sola.foundation official platform.