Sharing the latest pictures of avocado toasts and latte hearts with the world might become a part of the crypto economy. A startup called Selfllery wants to create a new take on that of social media influencers on Instagram, Snapchat and other well-known picture sharing platforms- just with a crypto twist.
“From the rock art to modern ads, humans have placed value on art,” says Vadim Onishchenko, founder and CEO of Selfllery. We have just tipped over to 2018, but according to statistics about 1.2 tln digital photos were taken last year. Today’s social networks have mechanisms in place for users to make money from their online activity, adds Onishchenko.
It can be thrilling for most of the users whenever a ‘thumb’ or ‘heart’ ping on their screens signaling someone out there in the internet multiverse likes their photo. Now, Selfllery wants to double the thrill by giving people the opportunity to get paid for each ‘like’ their share photo receives. People with huge amounts of followers could earn huge amount of money, the company emphasizes. But there is also an alternative way by selling your photos to the built-in stock photo market, and businesses can also benefit from their advertising on the platform.
Social influencers get ready
Users’ popularity on the platform would manifest in the form of ‘token multipliers’ which would determine how much YOU coins they would earn for each interaction. With every like, comment and participation in photo contests would boost their multiplying rate and thus, the tokens they earn.
The company allows users to monetize their visual content by rewarding them in YOU tokens, Selfllery’s own cryptocurrency, built on the Ethereum Blockchain.
YOU tokens can be exchanged for goods and services on their internal marketplace. People would be able to buy photos from other Selfllery users, give tokens to friends and even donate certain percentage of their income for a good cause. Encouraging this option, the company would give away 10 percent of its monthly token income to charities as well. And if the users want to take a step out to the wider crypto economy world, they can withdraw YOU tokens (one Token equals to 0.001 ETH) to their Ethereum wallets.
Blockchain for safety
The platform is based on Blockchain technology and smart contract ensuring not only security but also transparency and speed. For example, participants of a photo competition can have a clear overview on the terms and conditions thanks to a smart contract which makes it sure everything goes smoothly in line with the advertiser’s rules. Selfllery also extended their innovative approach to copyrights to provide better protection to users’ photos and videos
Others like Steemit have already tapped into the social media networks when it comes to monetizing shared content, but their users get rewarded not only for photos or videos but after articles and comments. However, countless studies showed photos and videos remain the most engaging type of content and drive the most traffic to a platform.
Our digital culture has really shifted towards encouraging people around the globe to produce and share their content with each other. And since smartphones are getting more and more affordable, the number of people taking photos or videos has skyrocketed. Yet, the road to earn money after your photos could seem endless to most of us. Selfllery tries to change this and reward people in a fast and secure way who might not be professional photographers but talented enough to create compelling visual content.
The company’s ICO will start on March 5th and has already raised over $1 mln in its presale.