The cryptocurrency industry is proceeding along. There is a lot happening in a relatively short period of time.
Over the last few years we saw many different phases with various tokens developed. So far we can see the different crazes that emerged.
- ICO
- Decentralized Finance
- NFTs
Obviously, there were a host of tokens created, many which will be a part of this system going forward.
We are now about to embark upon one of the largest markets cryptocurrency ever say: **gaming. This is an arena with over 2 billion users and growing. Now that we know gaming is the next phase of cryptocurrency what comes after that?
Social Tokens
What is bigger than online gaming? Social media. Is it any wonder why that is?
Humans are social beings. We enjoy, for the most part, interacting with others. The digital entities has done a fantastic job tapping into this human need. Many consider it "mind control" since they are using psychological tactics and, to a degree, it is most likely correct.
However, we cannot deny the deep-seeded need that exists for connection. Social media companies do a tremendous job accessing this. For this reason, more than half the Internet is on some type of social media platform. That is also a number that is growing.
For this reason, social tokens are going to be even bigger than those from gaming. They will be the largest market comprising of all those online. It is easy to see a time when almost all activity is tokenized in some way.
We see it added to another level when we recognize communities as the business structure. Suddenly, it all, for the most part, becomes social.
Having Fun And Earning
Of late, many are starting to grasp initiatives such as Play2Earn. This is part of the Blockchain Gaming community where people are starting to realize they share in the financial gain. It is a novel concept and a basis of what people are calling the Metaverse.
We see people posting on social media (and Hive) how they are amazed they are having fun and earning money. Some mention that they are paying some, if not all, their bills from it. This is a completely new experience.
It is also one people better get accustomed to.
The future with tokenization is one where communities are able to monetize engagement. Whatever the reason for coming together, a token is tied to it.
We all have areas of interest. This is the essence of voluntaryism. When someone opts to be a part of something, it takes on different meaning as compared to when he or she is forced to be there, such as a job.
In a world of tokenization, having fun and earning can be the regular course of action.
The Attention Economy
We already live in a world where attention is vital. This is a source of revenue. If they can capture your eyeballs, then they will monetize it. Social media is fantastic at this of course. They are not the only ones. Consider broadcasters who try to get your onto their stations so as to sell advertising at a higher rate.
The reality, right now, is there is a limit to where our eyeballs go. This might change with the development of AI, avatars, and the VR world. In the present, we are limited by time.
If we remove the traditional notion of work, think about what is left in our lives. What is important is often determined where we spend our time. Here we have a degree of freedom to choose. It is also where the social aspect of life arises.
As we see the blending of things due to technology, we are going to see this area expand a great deal more. As businesses are developed by members based upon community involvement, and all are sharing financially in it, then the choices we make for our social engagement is going to impact our monetary life.
There is little doubt as to why Facebook is one of the largest companies in the world by market cap. This is a platform that simply caters to social engagement. As much as many of us feel this particular entity is harmful, the success it enjoys by garnering people's attention tells the entire story.
When it comes to attention, Facebook captures it.
The key going forward, is to spread that out while giving more control to the communities and their members.
Hive Is Leading The Way
Hive is already showing what is possible. There are communities forming which appeal to a large cross-section of interests. Many of them are already tokenizing, providing a monetary value to their members.
The challenge in these early stages is infrastructure. There are not a lot of tools developed as such that allow for greater engagement. At the same time, we have seen few businesses spring up around these communities. That will change in time as they grow and more entrepreneurs enter the picture.
Nevertheless, even in these early days there are hundreds of different tokens on that platform. Sure many, if not most, have small followings and no use cases. However, as there are more options to create tokens and larger communities start to form, we can see how this will spread. To get to large, more smaller communities will arise.
This is going to result in millions of different tokens being created. They will apply to every walk of life we can think of. In essence, wherever we choose to spend out time (focus our attention) is where we will be monetizing.
Whether it is gaming, creating content, watching videos, volunteering, exercising, or eating nutritional food, all of that is going to be monetized. We see this in the early stage on Hive. Many of communities or applications offered tokens for engaging in that behavior.
Social tokens will end up dwarfing all other aspects of cryptocurrency. They will be the biggest cryptocurrency market we create.
In time, all will use them.
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