• People wrote essays as letters to the future: on autonomous worlds, the dematerialisation of fashion, and the future of content authentication in the age of AI.

• People wrote about complex topics relevant to people building in the blockchain and distributed systems space: scaling blockchains, internet governance, MEV supply chain, retroactive funding mechanisms, and wallets-as-a-service.

• There was writing about art: generative art, onchain art, pixel art on digital surveillance, and art made from digital waste.

• There were manifestos: on taking back ownership, the importance of thinking about dynasty, the onchain cooperative, and from artist collectives.

• Newsletters launched: on gaming, privacy, Ethereum news, and onchain music.

• The big web3 brands came as well: Base, Linea, and even PayPal.

We write to find our communities online, and to signal support for ideas, or disagree with conventional wisdom. But perhaps most importantly, the reason why we write, or collect art and music, is to see ourselves in another.

There were a lot of invitations into niche worlds on Mirror in 2023 — 217,464 to be precise.

• People wrote essays as letters to the future: on autonomous worlds, the dematerialisation of fashion, and the future of content authentication in the age of AI.

• People wrote about complex topics relevant to people building in the blockchain and distributed systems space: scaling blockchains, internet governance, MEV supply chain, retroactive funding mechanisms, and wallets-as-a-service.

• There was writing about art: generative art, onchain art, pixel art on digital surveillance, and art made from digital waste.

• There were manifestos: on taking back ownership, the importance of thinking about dynasty, the onchain cooperative, and from artist collectives.

• Newsletters launched: on gaming, privacy, Ethereum news, and onchain music.

• The big web3 brands came as well: Base, Linea, and even PayPal.

We write to find our communities online, and to signal support for ideas, or disagree with conventional wisdom. But perhaps most importantly, the reason why we write, or collect art and music, is to see ourselves in another.

How we supported creators on Mirror in 2023

From the start, we wanted to build a web3-worthy publishing tool. As a creator, though, you need more than just publishing. You need to bootstrap an audience on the networks they use most. You also need a platform that incentivizes people to find and collect your work. In addition to improving our core editor, we rolled out a bunch of new updates — from better discovery, to notifications, to collectable embeds, rewards, and more.

From the start, we wanted to build a web3-worthy publishing tool. As a creator, though, you need more than just publishing. You need to bootstrap an audience on the networks they use most. You also need a platform that incentivizes people to find and collect your work. In addition to improving our core editor, we rolled out a bunch of new updates — from better discovery, to notifications, to collectable embeds, rewards, and more.

Having an exportable list of subscribers is key to re-engaging your top fans. In web3, re-engagement doesn’t just mean email. It also requires onchain addresses. We built Subscribe to Mint, which works a lot like an open-edition NFT drop, but in order to mint, a collector must subscribe to a creator’s Mirror publication with their email. It’s become a powerful way to bootstrap an engaged audience.

With cheaper NFTs and negligible gas costs, some brands treated commemorative NFTs like digital swag; a more sustainable version of a branded t-shirt or New Yorker tote bag. For collectors, commemorative NFTs are a way to signal belonging – that you were there as a supporter since day one, or even part of the creative process.

• Optimism grew their newsletter by 334,650 with their Subscribe to Mint campaign.

• Coinbase bootstrapped the launch of their Layer 2 blockchain, Base, by dropping a commemorative NFT.

• Linea dropped a commemorative NFT to celebrate the growth of L2 networks, which saw 131,878 people minting the NFT and subscribing to their publication.

Introducing Subscribe to Mint

https://dev.mirror.xyz/unYe1NE7GIS7vahvFTRdhjrHKlaS6YYuuttrR6TpMHE

https://dev.mirror.xyz/unYe1NE7GIS7vahvFTRdhjrHKlaS6YYuuttrR6TpMHE

Rewarding Creators and Collectors

Most recently, Mirror added rewards for minting or collecting Writing NFTs. Now, Mirror’s mint fees are split between creators who publish free Writing NFTs, the first collector of a Writing NFT, and people who refer Writing NFTs they’ve collected to other collectors.

Collector reward

Collect to show appreciation for a post. Collect to tip the creator. Collect to keep track of interesting ideas you read online. And now, earn a reward for yourself and for the creator via your collection activity.

• Optimism grew their newsletter by 334,650 with their Subscribe to Mint campaign.

• Coinbase bootstrapped the launch of their Layer 2 blockchain, Base, by dropping a commemorative NFT.

• Linea dropped a commemorative NFT to celebrate the growth of L2 networks, which saw 131,878 people minting the NFT and subscribing to their publication.

Introducing Subscribe to Mint

https://dev.mirror.xyz/unYe1NE7GIS7vahvFTRdhjrHKlaS6YYuuttrR6TpMHE

https://dev.mirror.xyz/unYe1NE7GIS7vahvFTRdhjrHKlaS6YYuuttrR6TpMHE

Rewarding Creators and Collectors

Most recently, Mirror added rewards for minting or collecting Writing NFTs. Now, Mirror’s mint fees are split between creators who publish free Writing NFTs, the first collector of a Writing NFT, and people who refer Writing NFTs they’ve collected to other collectors.

Collector reward

Collect to show appreciation for a post. Collect to tip the creator. Collect to keep track of interesting ideas you read online. And now, earn a reward for yourself and for the creator via your collection activity.