When thinking about the most important paradigm shifts of the 21st century the list certainly starts with the internet. For a long time, however, it seemed to only be useful to the tech savvy. It was only with internet 2.0 and the advent of social media and the user’s ability to create their own content that we started to see mass adoption penetration.
So if blockchain is internet 3.0, what will be it’s secret sauce?
I had planned to write on a completely different topic today while visiting the Vaynermedia offices, but luckily hit a brutal writer’s block. Sitting in the house that Gary V built, it’s hard not to imagine what was going through his mind in the early 2000’s when he invested heavily in now cornerstone internet utilities like facebook, twitter, and snapchat. Perhaps Gary’s greatest gift is a deep understanding of human motivation. From selling baseball cards, to wine, and now cutting edge advertising campaigns, really it all boils down to identifying where the shared human consciousness (and therefore attention) is headed.
Owing my own career direction to Gary’s #2017FlipChallenge (which motivated me to make the money necessary to buy my first 2 bitcoin last march) I couldn’t help but wonder if it might be my time to return the favor.
If web 2.0 helped people all over the world share their stories and connect, web 3.0 will allow a seamless world economy to be built on top of this network. Like an innovation staircase I believe the communities and content creation aspects of social media is what will trampoline the seamless value sharing of blockchain into the true light of the mainstream.
Specifically I believe that the Steem blockchain and its ecosystem of social media platforms will be the pin that pops the adoption bubble. Even more specifically I believe this because of three advantages it holds over the traditional scene:
-Direct Monetization:
The current model of content monetization is a mess. The only options currently available involve running ads, procuring sponsors, or pushing merch.
With Steem, you are rewarded directly by the viewers you bring value to with your content. Each upvote is worth some monetary amount. This results in not only a better experience for the user as it circumvents the need for ads, but the users comments themselves can be upvoted, incentivising post engagement.
-Censorship Resistance:
Anyone paying attention to the news recently has witnessed the heads of Facebook and Twitter being called to testify in front of congress. This is because of concerns over the way their centralized entities control the content on their platforms.
Beyond banning and censoring popular content creators like Logan Paul and Alex Jones over the last year, these legacy organizations also exercise soft control by choosing which content can be monetized and how visible it is.
This has strangled many content creators into near capitulation as their main income source has been taken away.
Steemit.com and its Youtube clone offspring D.Tube has become a safe haven for this demographic as their decentralized networks allow them to evade the heavy hand of massive corporations.
-Data Security:
Probably the most urgent problem facing the tech scene are personal data breaches. The Equifax hack of the last year has shown us that even the most sensitive of information such as social security numbers are up for grabs if they’re hosted on centralized databases.
This weakness simply does not exist on a blockchain, as all data is stored across many databases, meaning it is impossible to exploit the network all at once.
This will increasingly important as we continue to put more and more of our lives into the digital world.
So what will be the tipping point that will bring web 3.0 to the masses?
I believe content creators like Gary V and Logan Paul will discover the amazing opportunity crypto-social media creates, and will then bring their existing audiences over. On platforms like Steemit.com and D.tube they will be able to incentivize their audiences with free crypto by upvoting their comments. This free avenue into the crypto, complimented by the launch of the Steem Media Token platform (enabling the easy creation of crypto clones of all social media platforms) will allow cryptocurrency to be seamlessly integrated into civilization.
Peace, Love, Anarchy,
