One way to think about how, as creators, we can help co-create the next generation of the internet known as web3 is similar to how we talk about becoming “stewards of the Earth”.

It’s literally an upgrade.

For context, a steward is a person who tends to, and has responsibility for something they care about, like a garden or piece of land. A creator is a person who makes or curates digital and IRL experiences. Web3 is the next era of the internet, a place where we have the potential for ownership, decision making and overall more fulfilling online experiences.

Now that we understand that, lets zoom out.

In my last entry, we learned how technology mimics nature, using the example of the mycelium network as the framework for the internet.

Before even knowing what web3 was, I was laying in the pool of our retreat center in Mexico, meditating on what is at the core of preventing creators like myself and hundreds I’ve worked with from feeling seen, heard or even wanting to post on social media. After researching this problem for a year and talking to dozens of creator-friends, here’s part of what I learned:

1.) When we post regularly, we expose ourselves and our followers to scams via fake profiles.

2.) The reward for posting is the opportunity to accrue likes and followers, which we’ve learned is a surface level validation of our creative expression or self image.

3.) 95% of the attention and revenue goes to 5% percent of creators. What does that mean for the rest of us?

These problems lead to unmet expectations, which leads to disappointment and often prevents us from participating. Moreover, it prevents many of us from being truly authentic, often compromising our content to appease the algorithm.

Before we go any deeper here, I wish to be clear that I am not dismissing web2 social media platforms. Rather, I think we can use web3 utilities to make them and better and in the process make the internet (and possibly the Earth) a better place to spend time.

While living in Bali and NYC, I invested 8 years of my creative energy into filming and editing videos and building custom apps for creators. In this experience, I learned that web2 platforms have positive effects for some creators. However, there is great deal of inequity, and there’s some pieces missing that only web3 can solve.

**Enter the Creator-Steward

We are living on the precipice, the edge of an opportunity to improve the experiences inside our online, and in effect, offline worlds. But the promise of web3 is not a given, and we’re already seeing signs of how “web3 is (not) going great”.

Thus, we need Creators to become Stewards, by working together to incentivize behaviors that make our overall user experiences better.

Our behaviors online are often affected by rewards. The current paradigm of rewards on social media holds much of the internet back becoming a tool we can fully trust. Here’s why:

The current reward system is biased towards attention, and one of the ways of getting our attention is by appealing to the reptilian brain. To get to the reptilian brain - or the “bottom of the brainstem” as Tristan Harris points out - algorithms often populate superficial photos, videos, captions and more.

Superficiality can be a loaded, triggering term for anyone, especially a creator. None of us wants to believe that we’re creating or consuming superficial content. But think about it from the perspective of an AI machine that learns about what you react and respond to. It knows the use of a sexy photo with a cheeky caption will get your attention and keep you in the app longer.

This has an effect on creative expression, because most creators start to learn how the algorithm works, and tailor their content accordingly. You may have no intention of showing people sexy photos of yourself when you start your graphic design brand, but then you notice the followers boost rapidly once you do.

Imagine if you could just focus on sharing the message, art, or creative expression you want to share, without having to appeal to the bottom of peoples brainstem and instead appeal to their hearts.

Rather than just chasing attention, imagine you were rewarded by carefully tending to a garden of content you create and curate. This is the essence of becoming a Creator-Steward.

In my next article we will explore how web3 can help make this happen, and how by re-orienting the internet away from superficiality and towards authenticity we fundamentally shift the reward system, and incentivize behaviors that make our overall experiences better.

One way to think about how, as creators, we can help co-create the next generation of the internet known as web3 is similar to how we talk about becoming “stewards of the Earth”.

It’s literally an upgrade.

For context, a steward is a person who tends to, and has responsibility for something they care about, like a garden or piece of land. A creator is a person who makes or curates digital and IRL experiences. Web3 is the next era of the internet, a place where we have the potential for ownership, decision making and overall more fulfilling online experiences.

Now that we understand that, lets zoom out.

In my last entry, we learned how technology mimics nature, using the example of the mycelium network as the framework for the internet.

Before even knowing what web3 was, I was laying in the pool of our retreat center in Mexico, meditating on what is at the core of preventing creators like myself and hundreds I’ve worked with from feeling seen, heard or even wanting to post on social media. After researching this problem for a year and talking to dozens of creator-friends, here’s part of what I learned:

1.) When we post regularly, we expose ourselves and our followers to scams via fake profiles.

2.) The reward for posting is the opportunity to accrue likes and followers, which we’ve learned is a surface level validation of our creative expression or self image.

3.) 95% of the attention and revenue goes to 5% percent of creators. What does that mean for the rest of us?

These problems lead to unmet expectations, which leads to disappointment and often prevents us from participating. Moreover, it prevents many of us from being truly authentic, often compromising our content to appease the algorithm.

Before we go any deeper here, I wish to be clear that I am not dismissing web2 social media platforms. Rather, I think we can use web3 utilities to make them and better and in the process make the internet (and possibly the Earth) a better place to spend time.

While living in Bali and NYC, I invested 8 years of my creative energy into filming and editing videos and building custom apps for creators. In this experience, I learned that web2 platforms have positive effects for some creators. However, there is great deal of inequity, and there’s some pieces missing that only web3 can solve.

**Enter the Creator-Steward

We are living on the precipice, the edge of an opportunity to improve the experiences inside our online, and in effect, offline worlds. But the promise of web3 is not a given, and we’re already seeing signs of how “web3 is (not) going great”.

Thus, we need Creators to become Stewards, by working together to incentivize behaviors that make our overall user experiences better.

Our behaviors online are often affected by rewards. The current paradigm of rewards on social media holds much of the internet back becoming a tool we can fully trust. Here’s why:

The current reward system is biased towards attention, and one of the ways of getting our attention is by appealing to the reptilian brain. To get to the reptilian brain - or the “bottom of the brainstem” as Tristan Harris points out - algorithms often populate superficial photos, videos, captions and more.

Superficiality can be a loaded, triggering term for anyone, especially a creator. None of us wants to believe that we’re creating or consuming superficial content. But think about it from the perspective of an AI machine that learns about what you react and respond to. It knows the use of a sexy photo with a cheeky caption will get your attention and keep you in the app longer.

This has an effect on creative expression, because most creators start to learn how the algorithm works, and tailor their content accordingly. You may have no intention of showing people sexy photos of yourself when you start your graphic design brand, but then you notice the followers boost rapidly once you do.

Imagine if you could just focus on sharing the message, art, or creative expression you want to share, without having to appeal to the bottom of peoples brainstem and instead appeal to their hearts.

Rather than just chasing attention, imagine you were rewarded by carefully tending to a garden of content you create and curate. This is the essence of becoming a Creator-Steward.

In my next article we will explore how web3 can help make this happen, and how by re-orienting the internet away from superficiality and towards authenticity we fundamentally shift the reward system, and incentivize behaviors that make our overall experiences better.