How Social Media 3.0 Can Benefit Creators

Social media networks have been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons. Whether a function of their failures to remove harmful content, the way users are targeted and the accompanying ramifications, or simply the backlash from concerned lawmakers doubting their ability to act in the public good, social media finds itself at a dangerous crossroads.

“Traditional” social media involves leveraging user-generated content to profile users, and eventually target them through paid advertising. However, seeking profit at all costs has been enough to see the most popular platforms hauled in front of legislators to explain why they aren’t doing enough to combat bad-acting users or their own malign behaviors.

The recently released Facebook papers are likely just the tip of the iceberg of social media’s sins. Who can forget Diem and the backlash from lawmakers? (See Insiders’ Hot Stocks on TipRanks)

That doesn’t mean that all social media must inherently be bad. Social media, when first conceived, had a unique opportunity to forever change the way that humanity interacted, socialized, and learned.

Now, as more ecosystems transition to Web 3.0 models with their own decentralized economies, the promise of creator-centric platforms is more viable than ever before.

Transforming the Creator Conversation

The great transition towards greater rewards for creators surprisingly started a few years back, as platforms like Patreon and more emerged to help people seeking greener pastures outside of the YouTube universe of monetization options.

The immense popularity of podcasts and limited community engagement available from legacy platforms made it difficult for creators to fully monetize their appeal. 

Moreover, major social platforms are finding the welcome mat pulled out from under them. A fine example was TikTok’s purge from India in 2020, alongside a host of other Chinese apps deemed “national security risks” as the political tensions between the neighboring countries reached a fever pitch. Yet, the absence of this trendy platform paved the way for another to emerge in a significant manner.

In the wake of TikTok’s banishment, Chingari, which means spark in Hindi, has emerged as a viral short-video application in India. It’s already past 85 million downloads and is the fouth-ranked social medial app on the Google App Store in India, according to SimilarWeb stats. Chingari is home to many former TikTok influencers. 

However, unlike other social media apps which focus primarily on generating ad revenue, little of which is shared with creators, Chingari moved to realign its values to be more crypto-oriented and community-focused in 2020.

This shifting ideology matches up with the growing embrace of blockchain technologies, and the idea of Web 3.0, which promotes decentralization and open architectures instead of the more centralized architectures traditional social media platforms employ.

Beckoning Transition to Web 3.0

Chingari presents an interesting case study in how social media can restore the balance of power to creators instead of the centralized organizations which control platforms. Through its upcoming $GARI token launch, Chingari will gradually build a decentralized economy where creators are rewarded for uploading content.

Creators will eventually become the stewards of the network, just by virtue of their ownership over $GARI tokens which allow holders to participate in platform governance.

After creators upload videos, these videos are converted into NFTs, which can later be bought, sold, and traded, delivering value to the creators generating video content. Unlike other platforms which sell advertising, Chingari will become the first social platform to end this cycle by generating proceeds from the NFT marketplace it is constructing within the decentralized economy.

Although influences from the East are spearheading the creator-centric economy, some prominent western social media platforms are joining the fray. Take Twitter (TWTR), which has incorporated bitcoin tipping into its network.

Users can use the “Tips” feature to reward social media influencers through the platform. While the tipping practice is still not widespread, despite the spread of social finance, it shows that social media companies are rethinking their approach in the wake of changing trends and public outcry. 

Chingari is simply a harbinger of times to come as Web 3.0 transforms interactions and reforms the existing social media contract, having already outlined a roadmap for how social media can transition towards more rewarding public spaces for creators.

Though still in nascent stages, creator-centricity will likely prove the catalyst for major upheaval among centralized tech giants that are increasingly drawing the ire of users and governments alike.

Disclosure: At the time of publication, Reuben Jackson did not have a position in any of the securities mentioned in this article.

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