Things are about to happen on Thingiverse.
The venerable 3D model repository, the very first to be dedicated to printable models, is still one of the largest available. Over the past few years, it has changed hands a few times from its founder, MakerBot, and is now owned by MyMiniFactory.
The site has not held up well versus its competitors since the previous owners of Thingiverse weren’t particularly focused on its success. As a result, its reputation has dropped somewhat, and designers and users are often on other competing sites.
The new management wants to change all that, and it sounds like they have big plans. We’ve been told that they intend on launching an ad-free version in the near future, which was one of the aspects that most bothered users when browsing Thingiverse.
Their goal is to produce a sustainable business model for Thingiverse that will allow it to survive and, hopefully, thrive long into the future.
How will this occur? They are planning on implementing a number of premium features that would generate some revenue for the site. This is a common approach among websites, so it’s not a surprise that MyMiniFactory is doing so here.
They are also planning on introducing new monetization features for designers. This was sort of already present in the form of tipping, but it sounds like MyMiniFactory will be re-imagining this part of the system entirely.
They plan on introducing the new features through an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session tomorrow. If you’re interested in joining the session, here is the link to sign up.
I’m interested to see how the new management can restore Thingiverse. They have been quite successful with MyMiniFactory, so there is no reason to doubt that they could do the same with Thingiverse.
Via Thingiverse
