FIP Crypto
Most people will never figure out why their Yaps aren’t increasing.
And with the new changes to yapper leaderboards, Yaps will now play a key role for ranking.
But even with 1 million users on Kaito:
Less than 30k have earned any Yaps.
It’s harder to earn Yaps than to capture mindshare on a Yapper leaderboard.
I’m not an expert Yapper, but I’ve earned 839 Yaps since the start of Kaito.
Here’s what I’ve learnt about the game and some tips for anyone who wants to play this game:
In essence, your content earns Yaps if it meets these criteria:
Reputation-weighted impact
“Who” interacts with your posts is more important than ‘how much’ people interact with them.
That’s why Smart Follower engagement is crucial for earning Yaps:
Your post can have tons of engagement, but it won’t earn anything if no one of good reputation/standing interacts with it.
Insightful and original
I believe that original thoughts do not exist.
Every idea we have is a combination of our experiences with posts from others.
Instead, I would change the framing of content to be insightful and authentic:
We create content that’s uniquely us and no one else can create that same content because they don’t have the same experiences and opinions as us.
To show how Yaps work, here are 2 articles that I wrote on consecutive days:
My lessons from the Succinct airdrop
A stupid mistake that drained my wallet of $13k
Even though the Succinct article on Jul 29 had more views and engagement, it didn’t earn me much Yaps.
I earned the majority of my 16 Yaps from my second article, which shared my story of getting hacked.
Here’s why I think this content earned more Yaps:
More accounts (likely Smart Followers) engaged with this piece to wish me well (139 comments vs 50)
It could have been more insightful (I shared how I fell for the scam and what lessons I learnt)
It was more original/authentic (no one would have this same experience of getting hacked $13k in the same way that I did)
But that doesn’t mean that you should purposely get hacked to share your story to earn Yaps.
I didn’t do this for a publicity stunt and it was a genuine mistake.
But it goes to show what the Yap algorithm cares about to reward Yaps.
Here’s another example of how @shaaa256’s tweet earned 617 Yaps in one day.
Reputation
He was from the @banklesshq team and moved on to @coinbase, both well-known projects in the space.
There will be tons of high-profile individuals (or Smart Followers) who crossed paths with him, and they’ll wish him well, which leads to lots of SF engagement.
Insightful (?) and original (authentic)
This post may not be exactly what you’d call insightful, but there’s no doubt that it’s original:
It will be hard to find someone else with this same experience of working with Bankless and transitioning to Coinbase.
Anyone can use this same post on their profile, but it means nothing because ‘who’ says it is more important than ‘what’ is being said.
Yaps are all about reputation.
Who knows and trusts you is the most important factor for Yaps.
And it’s completely different from mindshare rankings too:
There are tons of accounts that rank on Yapper leaderboards, but they have zero Yaps.
It’s interesting to see how this difference played out during the entire L*udio ‘event’ where Twitter was so noisy yet most of them didn’t earn significant Yaps.
That’s because Yaps use a completely different algo to mindshare leaderboards:
Projects can choose to customise their leaderboards based on certain factors.
Yaps are definitely harder to earn because they’re more weighted on reputation while most leaderboards seem to prioritise engagement and views.
So the tactics used to rank on these leaderboards would be ineffective for Yaps.
No matter where you are on your Twitter and Yaps journey, here are the best tips I have to win this game:
Everyone wants smart followers, but they don’t want to put in the work to get them.
SFs have tons of people who are fighting for their attention, and there’s no way you’ll stand out if you’re either begging or posting AI slop.
Just like airdrops, getting smart followers is a transfer of value:
You have to give value to the SF first, before they will give back to you (by engaging or following you).
The only way to get them to notice you is by sharing authentic thoughts as comments on their posts:
Make them feel something so they resonate with your story and are compelled to engage and ultimately follow you.
That’s why being a reply guy is the best way to grow your account and earn Yaps along the way.
I’m at a disadvantage because I mainly talk about airdrops, and many SFs would have a bad impression of most airdrop accounts.
That’s likely why my Smart Follower percentage is so low too.
But that didn’t stop me, and I’ve been constantly replying to other accounts, which more than 2x-ed my SF count.
And here’s the trick to writing such content.
AI has lowered the cost of creating content.
Anyone can type a “Write a reply to this post” prompt and ChatGPT will come up with a template reply for you.
We’ve seen big accounts transform into creating commodity content that has zero personality:
If I copy and paste that content and post it on another account, it doesn’t make a difference.
While everyone is trending towards becoming a robot, being human is what stands out.
Authenticity is the ultimate moat and we escape competition by being our authentic selves.
No one can compete with you at being you.
People are too afraid of sharing their own stories because they fear judgment.
That’s exactly what I thought too, when my wallet got drained of $13k.
I’ve been constantly talking about wallet security, and yet I’m the idiot that got hacked because of a series of careless mistakes.
I was afraid that people would laugh at me and mock me, but I decided that I should share my story to raise awareness and help someone else avoid the same loss I felt.
When you share your failures, that makes you even more human.
Some accounts seem ‘too perfect’ as they only show their wins.
But to win the trust of others, you have to be open with your failures too.
Others will resonate more with your story, and they’ll trust you more.
Because ultimately, trust is all that matters now:
It’s impossible to build a reputation overnight because others need to trust you.
I shared the trust flywheel I’m using to build wealth (and earn Yaps along the way):
Value → Trust → Credibility → Social Capital → Wealth → More Value
To earn a reputation, others have to trust me first.
I earn trust by consistently providing value to one specific avatar (I choose my former self as this avatar).
Once people know and trust you, they will start spreading your ideas to their friends, and this compounds your reputation even more.
I provide value by solving problems for my former self, and others who are in the same stage as my former self would benefit from these solutions.
This takes time, and I focus on giving away freely first before asking for anything in return.
And that’s why I would avoid this completely too:
In this age of attention, many aspire to go viral.
The dopamine hits from getting tons of views are extremely addictive (I’ve experienced it myself and know how dangerous it is).
But there’s really no point in virality:
It usually involves getting as many views on a specific post, which will hopefully earn us tons of Yaps.
But that attention only lasts for a specific period of time, before we become irrelevant.
Even if that post gets tons of views, others will only remember us for a period of time.
And it takes a huge mental toll on us as we would want to go viral again (and wonder why we can’t replicate it again).
So there’s no point in chasing virality:
I choose to consistently provide value instead.
The trust we earn is much more valuable than the viral attention we chase.
Others will see and respect the value we provide, and this leads them to trust us even more.
Trust creates sticky attention, and that’s how we become resistant to algorithms.
Many YouTubers have burned out because they’re so focused on serving the algorithm:
Every video becomes over-optimised for click-through rates and retention that it becomes so robotic.
And the same thing is happening on Kaito too:
Many want to know the tricks to earn Yaps from their posts, and they’ll look to optimise for certain metrics.
But all of these factors do not matter:
Word count
The amount of time you spent on a post
What time you published your post
What ‘keywords’ you included inside
Instead of writing for the algorithm, write for a specific audience.
The audience decides whether your content is worthy of Yaps, not you.
It doesn’t matter how many hours you spent on the post.
If the audience isn’t engaged, no one will care about it.
So choose to write for your audience and they’ll naturally interact if it solves their problems.
Yes, there are accounts out there with tons of smart followers who will farm engagement.
“I’m a smart follower, engage with me to earn Yaps”.
But such groups will eventually be discovered and penalised.
All of these engagement tactics are trying to hack growth because it takes a long time.
I’ve never participated in these engagement farming tactics to grow my account because it feels too inauthentic.
Yes, my account will grow more slowly, but I’m building for the long-term game instead of chasing a high number of SFs.
Apart from farming engagement, begging is the worst way to get a smart follower.
Begging shows a low self-worth and that you have zero conviction in yourself.
Most SFs will outright ignore you (including me).
This increases the credibility gap further and you would need to put in more effort before you get the follow.
If our content is of high quality, the SF will naturally follow us.
There’s no need to fake anything:
Just be yourself, and the SF will naturally follow you back (though this takes a lot more time).
If Yaps are the only thing on your mind when creating content, you will burn out.
Instead of optimising your content for Yaps:
Optimise for value and earn Yaps along the way.
I’m not earning a ton of Yaps every single day, and I’ve stopped checking the Yaps dashboard.
Back in December, I was obsessed with Yaps, and it completely destroyed my mental health when I didn’t earn any Yaps with my content.
It made me stray away from my authentic self too, and some of my followers were getting tired of the inauthentic content I was posting.
Yaps shouldn’t be your entire personality, because Kaito could become irrelevant (and so will your brand).
Instead, the best way to earn Yaps is based on your reputation and the value that you provide.
And this prevents you from burning out too:
Don’t talk about topics that are popular because you know they’ll earn the most Yaps.
Instead, talk about what you truly know and enjoy.
Others can tell when you’re just talking about a topic for the sake of Yaps or leaderboard rankings.
While there’s a different energy when you’re talking about something you’re truly interested in.
I don’t have the highest Yap count, but I’m perfectly fine with it.
I can continue talking about airdrops because that’s what I do and enjoy doing.
Those who look to only talk about what’s trending (because it gets the most views and not because it interests them) will eventually burn out.
And this kills your mental health too:
I’ve experienced this too, where I look at other accounts and wonder why they’re getting more Yaps than I am.
I would go to their profiles and analyse their posts to see how I can copy what they’ve done.
Comparing with others will kill your mental health because there will always be someone who performs better than you.
After a while, I no longer see a point in comparing:
All of us have our own different paths with backgrounds and experiences.
So instead of worrying about what others are doing:
Look to build your own journey and forge your own path. instead.
There’s no point copying someone else when the only way to stand out is by being yourself.
Everyone wants to get tons of Yaps with just a single post.
But Yaps are a long-term game, and the only way to win is by providing value and building trust.
It’s ‘easy’ to get into the top 500 every day:
All we need is 11 Yaps, and we’d already be outperforming most accounts.
But consistently earning Yaps across multiple days is the real challenge.
That’s only possible with a strong personal brand:
You’ve built a reputation, and others will actively search for your content (instead of waiting for the algo to share it with them).
It’s no longer about the topic, but people follow you for you.
And that’s how you stand out in this sea of AI slop and earn an income just by being yourself online.
I likely will not earn thousands of Yaps like the top few accounts (because I don’t have the same reputation as them).
But that’s perfectly fine by me.
Most of them are reputable figures on CT, and I’m not at that level (yet?).
But focus on charting your own journey and building your personal brand based on trust (while avoiding hype/drama).
Choose to give value freely at the start, and you’ll get so much more in return when it’s finally time to receive.
If you’re not on Kaito yet, feel free to use my referral:
https://yaps.kaito.ai/referral/1504968360567615488
The fastest way to grow any account (and earn Yaps) is by being a smart reply guy.
I shared the full framework I’m using for replies below:
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