Getting ready for Web 3.0 Social Trend

1. Introduction

The uniqueness of cryptocurrency lies in its versatility. Economists, lawyers, psychologists, programmers, marketers - everyone can find something for themselves

By using the term "cryptocurrency," what I mean is the open digital world created with blockchain technology. Cryptocurrencies are not just digital currencies, we should think more in terms of "digital assets", "open digital economy", "open digital world".

After 2.5 years in the market I have developed a strategy that fits my strengths, resources, skills, desires and outlook for the future of Web 3.0. I'm not saying that you should completely agree with my vision, but I am suggesting that you can read my ideas and develop your own approach to the digital market.

Diving into crypto in 2020, my biggest bet was fundamental L1 blockchains. They ended up being the biggest winners of the famous market rally of 2021-2022. Now it is time to place new bets.

It seems that the stage of building basic monetary infrastructure will soon be over and we should move on to the next most important thing – building an open social digital system. This step is extremely important and everyone understands that it is coming, even many people outside of the crypto world.

The best thing for us is that we are still at the very beginning of the long social journey and have a unique opportunity to get into this new foundation of the giant Web 3.0 Social Pyramid.

2. What is the Web 3.0 Social Trend and what types of social projects are already there?

Let me explain what the Web 3.0 Social Trend is first. By social I first and foremost mean decentralized platforms and services that create and support interactions of people/groups with each other.

If the first layer of Web 3.0 we can conventionally refer to as “monetary infrastructure”, the second layer consists specifically of the social actions of different individuals/groups/DAOs directed at each other.

For a more efficient and structural analysis, I have split Web 3.0 social projects into different categories.

Note that there are no clear boundaries between them, all categories are intertwined with each other and will probably merge later to create that "new open decentralized Internet" we dreamed of all these years.

I suggest that we take a look at the following social categories. More focused and detailed analysis will be covered later by our community in additional articles:

Social graphs

The social graph visually resembles a spider's web and stores the chain of connections between different participants. These connections are a major social media asset monetized by legacy social companies through targeting, advertising and selling data to third parties.

Existing monopolies are not interested in open and free-flowing data because they get the most profit out of a closed and controlled system. However, this makes them ineffective, rigid and leads to stagnation and inevitable collapse of user bases and revenue.

Open social graphs make it easier to create social apps because they provide underlying infrastructure with a constantly growing user base, so developers don't have to start from scratch, instead building on top of existing social structures. These open decentralized structures open up opportunities for advertising, communications, rating and reputation systems, and community management. They can create completely new forms of cooperation and interactions among users of different backgrounds and interests.

Users' benefits are quite obvious as well, they can finally have full ownership of the social profile, the ability to own and profit from user-generated content, and efficiently monetize it.

From an investment perspective, social graphs are very attractive by providing a growing ecosystem of services and projects, bringing value back to the investors.

The social graph is the foundation on which many applications will be built. Soon we will see the rise of new Discord,Twitter, Facebook and many others.

A list of social graphs:

https://cyberconnect.me
https://lens.xyz
https://mem.co
https://relationlabs.ai
https://www.dsnp.org
https://subsocial.network
https://primitives.xyz
https://www.knn3.xyz
https://ulas.network

DAO

A DAO, or Decentralized Autonomous Organization is a well known and popular concept, but at the time of writing, most DAOs are neither decentralized nor autonomous. For now, most of them are just decentralized communities with small groups of core contributors and questionable governance.

Nevertheless, by looking at twitter threads we can see that DAOs are becoming very popular, users are actively creating and joining DAOs with different goals in mind, ranging from shared investments to social and alpha-sharing communities.

The activities of DAOs are transparent and easy to share on social media so they usually form a full-fledged brand that attracts new followers. New products are created around the successful DAO, so DAO membership becomes very important for the reputation of prominent users.

Crypto Influencers indicate DAO memberships and roles in the profiles to raise the social value of their personal brand. DAOs are frequently emerging around already existing crypto projects as a form of true decentralization.

A good example of a DAO with a strong brand and community is NounsDAO.

A list of popular DAOs can be found here:

https://daocentral.com/explore

Social identity, social rating

This category of social projects records user contributions to project development, community help, and other activities. The idea is similar to building a social rating system. It can be used in many important areas of Web 3.0 from decentralized finance, credit platforms, whitelisting and even airdrops distribution. It can increase trust between pseudonymous participants, make cooperation more efficient.

It is not clear yet exactly which form social identity will take, for example, it can make a snapshot of social activity and social connections in the Lens Protocol, perform analysis of financial activity in DeFi protocols, activity and participation in governance voting.

A list of projects building Social identity:

https://poap.delivery
https://galaxy.eco
https://rabbithole.gg
https://noox.world
https://beta.dequest.io
https://www.disco.xyz
https://mintkudos.xyz
https://dappback.com
https://floats.city
https://www.gitpoap.io
https://www.lvlprotocol.xyz
https://ever.xyz
https://www.proofofhumanity.id
https://www.orangeprotocol.io
https://lifeform.cc/did-protocol.html
https://quadrata.com
https://www.unipass.id
https://qui.xyz
https://www.sismo.io
https://beta.layer3.xyz
https://alpha.etherscore.network
https://www.spectral.finance
https://worldcoin.org
https://www.idena.io
https://www.brightid.org
https://www.civic.com
https://ont.io
https://www.did.id
https://crew3.xyz
https://www.daylight.xyz
https://charismasocial.xyz

Social media

There are some theories that when we create an organization, we create a separate living breathing organism that pursues personal interest and tries to survive and beat competitors by any means necessary. And that is exactly where I see the main problem with existing legacy social networks violently refusing to share power by opening the user base and algorithms to other projects.

It seems that decentralization can solve this problem by giving users and creators control over the platform, ownership of personal data, profiles, subscribers, which will positively impact creativity, monetization and attract new users.

We can see that many Web 3.0 social networks have already appeared, some offer tokens for creating posts and content, building the so-called “Share to earn” economy (an offshoot of the general trend on monetization of any activity).

While it's hard to recognize a final winner of this race, I think we can start looking for candidates in these emerging ecosystems.

A list of social networks:

https://www.revel.xyz
https://mirror.xyz
https://solcial.io
https://phaver.com
https://yuser.co
https://www.atem.io
https://nftychat.xyz
https://gm.xyz
https://youminter.com
https://taki.app
https://www.huddln.io
https://www.rug.fm
https://orbis.club
https://www.darkblock.io
https://www.hashchat.xyz
https://yup.io
https://www.seam.so/new
https://www.reveal.so
https://tabula.gg
https://www.dialect.to
https://chat.blockscan.com
https://mailchain.com
https://metalink.com/login
https://connect.nansen.ai
https://beb.xyz
https://satellite.im
https://decode.chat
https://comm.app
https://dscvr.one
https://comm.app
https://interface.social
https://bress.xyz
https://paragraph.xyz

Social tokens

The debate about private money has been going on for a long time. States have clung to their monetary monopoly until blockchain created an open system and put states power under a threat.

Most likely, both public and private money will co-exist, at least in the near future, and the one that proves to be the most effective will win in the end.

I see a lot of potential in social money in the long-term. Think about it, what is a dollar? It's a giant pyramid scheme. Its value is based on three things - trust in the US government and legal system, trading oil and dollar-nominated lending.

But we are free to organize our own community, come up with a mission, decorate and structure it, create a global brand, build partnerships, and drive adoption of our own digital currency by different agents with earned reputation and trust - so finally we can have our own personal dollar that is not limited or controlled by centralized government.

I think we'll see a lot of success stories like this in the near future.
To conclude, I plan to invest in strong emerging community/influencer tokens, and eventually will create my own token for Crypto Girls Community.

A list of social token platforms:

https://www.tryroll.com
https://rally.io
https://forefront.market
https://www.calaxy.com
https://metokens.com
https://strataprotocol.com
https://www.talentprotocol.com
https://solcial.io

Tools for building and managing a community

These tools mostly fall into the "infrastructure" category, but I've listed them here for reference.

It's hard to say if there will be a winner in this category and what kind of tools will become industry standard. In my opinion, these features should be integrated into the Web 3.0 social networks, where the community will have easy and convenient access.
It is also quite obvious to integrate these tools into the social graphs, such as the Lens Protocol.

A list of tools to create/manage a DAO:

https://backdrop.so
https://highlight.xyz
https://commonwealth.im
https://www.utopialabs.com
https://dework.xyz
https://www.usecocreate.io
https://samudai.xyz
https://crew3.xyz
https://www.daolens.com
https://www.coinvise.co
https://nouns.build
https://sourcecred.io
https://intros.ai
https://www.kali.gg
https://llama.xyz
https://www.catapultlabs.xyz
https://adimverse.com
https://www.orcaprotocol.org
https://wonderverse.xyz
https://snapshot.org
https://guild.xyz
https://beb.xyz
https://twitter.com/joincirclexyz
https://www.gnosisguild.org
https://tributelabs.xyz
https://sobol.io
https://www.showkarma.xyz
https://www.outcome.finance
https://www.tally.xyz
https://metaforo.io
https://www.iluma.xyz
https://coordinape.com
https://www.panvala.com
https://dispatch.xyz
https://matrica.io
https://www.poko.fund
https://site.gmfam.xyz
https://www.dispatch.forum
https://partiful.com

Influencer/brand relations with followers

This category includes social tokens, social networking and community management tools.

The bottom line is that brands (commercial and personal)/influencers want a deeper and more meaningful relationship with their followers. And followers want to have more attention from their favorites.

An open system can help them achieve exactly that because it won't try to monetize these relationships and interfere in other people's relationships.

A list of platforms that provide communication between brands and followers:

https://www.socol.io
https://www.arianee.org
https://zoopcards.com
https://komon.io
https://www.tyb.xyz
https://join.tell.ie
https://www.truts.xyz
https://www.snickerdoodle.com
https://www.hang.xyz
https://www.channel.xyz
https://unlock-protocol.com
https://www.mintstars.com
https://blog.sermorpheus.com
https://heirloom.io
https://perk.shop

3. Why I bet on Web 3.0 Social success

Economic environment

It seems that the current growth phase is behind us and the heavy market correction will continue in the near future.

In this scenario, the value of free capital will begin to increase (yes, we theoretically can go back to printing money, but a heavy correction after over stimulating the economy for so long is inevitable). It is also important to keep in mind that market adaptation to new reality will take some time and inevitable negative developments (e.g. liquidation, bankruptcies, etc.) may take years to finally be over.

This cool down period for the growth phase should be used properly. It is time to create something new that will allow true success during the next wave of industry growth. Capital may be leaving the markets, but another important resource remains: people.

People

People cannot exist in complete isolation. We constantly feel the need to engage in social interactions with each other. That's exactly what's happening right now in Web 3.0 - community building, unification, cooperation, and product creation.

So I've come to the conclusion that growing your own community of single minded people is the best thing to have for anyone interested in growing in the Web 3.0 world. People reach out to you, offer ideas, help and share value. With the right people you can build basically any business or project, move into politics, it opens up limitless possibilities.

Existing Infrastructure

We already have several blockchains, wallets, information sharing services, tools for development, a large number of experienced builders, developers, and new people onboarding onto Web 3.0 every day.Now we are ready to build a social system. It wasn't ready yet in 2018, but it is now.
Web 3.0 will continue to grow despite slower capital injections and market cool-down.

Twitter Research

Twitter right now is de-facto the main discussion platform to come up with new Web 3.0 ideas and share them to millions of users (it will take some time for proper Web 3.0 competitors like Lenster to rise and take significant market share).

Our research of the latest Twitter trends showed a massive growth of Web 3.0 social projects, while dozens of new social platforms and services are being built right now. More and more people create and join the communities to turn them into full-fledged decentralized brands for all the world to see.

Limited awareness

At the same time, some hardcore crypto users are oblivious to the coming social trend, they are focused on DeFi monetary projects with straight forward profit incentives. They ignore Web 3.0 social projects, focus their attention on the areas they are familiar with and can’t see the emerging benefits and opportunities.

Crypto social is a completely new thing and it might become the new profit generating meta very soon. With limited awareness and attention from mainstream crypto-community, early adopters of Web 3.0 social trends might be handsomely rewarded in the future.

We are the customers.

What is important to understand is that we are the target audience who will use new social products. We are the target group and to create proper decentralized community social projects might distribute tokens to the early adopters and contributors who helped and were active on early stages of development and growth. Keep that in mind while interacting with new platforms and services.

4. How to make money with Web 3.0 Social

Airdrops and token giveaways

We all know the stories about the projects rewarding early users for signing up for a newsletter or filling out an interest form. Thousands of free tokens were awarded for testnet participation or ambassadorship programs.

Now there is less money in the market and much more professional drop hunters trying to get the next big airdrop. The competition is severe, heavily automated, scripted and taken over by bots. They are willing to do a lot of work for little to no reward.

So how do you beat them?

To do this you have to understand your advantage and use it – it could be your gender, unconventional ideas, personal skills, appearance, openness, technical knowledge, or other specialization.

It's unclear if social projects will airdrop tokens simply for filling out a form, this model was done already and too many people are trying to abuse it. Maybe they will choose a more complex and intricate distribution format. Nevertheless, the hype phase will inevitably come.

It seems promising to look for new interaction formats with social projects, for example by posting new unique content in social graphs. Some social projects might reward users who bring attention to the platform and help them build an ecosystem by filling it with new exciting content.

And as a nice bonus, your crypto social media activity is a great way to build on-chain reputation. It will be extremely valuable in the future. The more likes, followers, posts and impressions you will gather – the higher your social rating and the higher your chance to be rewarded by projects in the future.

Followers, brands.

Gated news monopolies and legacy media are losing their power. People are more interested in the content of ordinary people like you and me. Once you've gathered an audience, you can create anything you want, share the most diverse and unique content imaginable and be successful.

While the competition in the emerging social networks is low, there is a great opportunity to quickly promote and grow your profile, attract subscribers, and build a personal brand.

Project partnerships

By having popular social media accounts, you can sign into partnerships with different projects and receive various benefits, be it specific whitelists, token allocations, special rewards or sale discounts. We already have some successful partnerships via our Lens profile, so you can try it as well.

Content monetization

Decentralized social networks are more user-centric, which creates new opportunities for content monetization – built-in donations, paid subscriptions, tipping systems and special NFT drops, among many.

Domains, profiles

Another idea is to claim cool domain names in social graphs and other ecosystems that might be of interest to people who come after you. Company names, brands, names, popular nicknames. Domains and profiles are easy to sell because you own them in the NFT format.

Investing in creators economy

New and promising investment opportunity – investing in social tokens of specific DAOs/influencers/brands. You can also invest in content, profiles, posts (Lens Protocol already implemented these features, but at a very early stage, check them out).

Grants

If you have a popular account with active community/followers, it's not hard to get a grant from social projects and use these resources to start or expand your own business.

5. Ecosystems watchlist

Spot hits bring the most profits, while also having the lowest probability of hitting. Regarding this I like to bet on ecosystems.

In an ecosystem, the success of one project has a positive impact on other projects in the ecosystem as well as on the whole ecosystem.
I think we should look for winners somewhere here. However, it is not yet clear how these ecosystems will correlate with each other.

It is also necessary to consider the number of partnerships, integrations, interests of Web 3.0 builders based on their Twitter subscriptions.

5.1 Lens Protocol ecosystem

Lens Protocol is a social graph from the team that created the Aave DeFi protocol.

Relevant list of the Lens Protocol ecosystem projects can be found here:

https://lensgarden.xyz/

From the entire ecosystem, I will highlight the profile service https://www.lensfrens.xyz. Importantly, it’s a unified profile for all applications built on Lens protocol. Therefore, it makes sense to take up domains and gain subscribers with little competition. Please note, the profile is sold together with the subscribers!

From the social networks built on Lens, I highlight https://lenster.xyz. You can post whatever you want, collect likes and subscribers. As a result, this may affect your future social rating and increase the probability/amount of airdrops.

I’d also like to mention the availability of its own marketplace – https://lensport.io. For now, you can buy profiles and posts on it, but I think the monetization and investment options will expand in the future. Investing in creators (content creators) is a promising and new niche which we’ll be following up.

5.2 Cyberconnect ecosystem

Cyberconnect is a Chinese social graph.

A list of the Cyberconnect ecosystem projects is on their website, scroll down here:

https://cyberconnect.me/

If you want to find more projects, then you can follow the twitter of the founders/affiliated individuals, open their subscriptions and look for leads.

From the entire ecosystem, I highlight https://link3.to. You can take up a domain, organize/participate in AMA and send/collect Soulbound tokens (identities). These activities are likely to affect your social ranking.

Cyberconnect itself looks less promising than Lens. While in the Lens Protocol most of the projects come from the community, here is a sense of centralization and secrecy.

However, Cyberconnect cooperates closely with other Chinese projects, including rss3, mask network, matrix world.
I suggest diving deeper into their ecosystem and partnerships. You can see that they are connected and doing "their internet".

Also, pay attention to rss3 and its social protocol https://crossbell.io. Everything is still so early there that I managed to take up domains of blockchain names and VC. I haven't emphasized it into a separate ecosystem yet, but it is likely to be done.

It's important to bet on both sides, so we’ll observe this ecosystem as well.

5.3 Farcaster ecosystem

Farcaster is an open protocol that allows the creation of social applications.

A list of applications on Farcaster can be found here:

https://farapps.farcase.xyz/

and here

https://www.farcaster.xyz/ecosystem

From the entire ecosystem, my attention grabbed the Farcaster app itself, which is positioning itself as a Web 3.0 Twitter.

The app has an interesting feature that allows you to track the NFT activity of app users. You can see the name of the NFT, and how many users of the application own it.

Additionally, you can check the names of the owners of each popular (over a different period of time) NFT.

And the time they minted an NFT.

It’s quite useful, considering that almost all of Farkaster's users are Western builders and people related to Web 3.0.

5.4 DeSo ecosystem

DeSo is a social blockchain.

Its token is already traded and a large number of domains are taken, so it seems less promising. Nevertheless, it’s worth monitoring the ecosystem's evolution.

A list of the DeSo ecosystem projects can be found here:

https://signup.deso.com/explore

The ecosystem features decentralized analogues of all popular Web 2.0 social networks: Tiktok, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, Medium, Discord. It looks like a purely commercial story from the VCs. There is no sense of community involvement, which doesn't match the essence of the social.
However, things can change.

5.5 Ceramic ecosystem

Ceramic provides developers their own way to integrate important features such as advanced identities (profiles, reputation, social graphs), user-generated type of content (messages, interactions), use of dynamic data in apps, and many more.

A list of the Ceramic ecosystem projects can be found here:

https://developers.ceramic.network/learn/highlighted-projects/

I don't feel the strength of the community yet, I don't like the visuals, and the technical side is not clear. However, the project is often glimpsed on Twitter. I think it's worth taking a closer look at it as well.

6. Conclusion

Social category in crypto seems promising because of its novelty, large number of monetization variations and its understandability for people outside the crypto world.
However, the winners will be difficult to discern.

Do a lot of betting with low risk, keep an eye on the ecosystems, and dig into Twitter. Think about your advantages and develop a unique market strategy. Be ready that you need to search for unique information from primary sources on your own.