Tipping v. Liking

This was originally published in May 2018 on Yours.org, but since I find it relevant to read.cash, I made some changes and thought I'd post here for posterity.

By “tipping” I mean anything that carries with it a financial ramification. This would include all the micro transactions now made possible through sites like read.cash and tipping bots like tipprbot and chaintip. On the other side we have “liking”, which encompasses all the ways you are currently able to react to posts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.

Recently I’ve been trying to work out in my head what the key differences are between these two interactions, and how those differences can have an impact on our world.

The obvious difference is that one involves money while the other does not (for the most part). This is the biggest difference, but there is also the fact that whereas all likes are pretty much equal, tips are not. You could argue that a celebrity liking one of your tweets might be worth more than a like from the average joe, but if that same celebrity were to like two different tweets, you can’t say that one of those likes is worth more than the other. Tips, on the other hand, can be ten cents, a dollar, a hundred dollars, and so on, adding another dimension to tips that are not available to likes.

The way I see it, liking something simply displays your affinity for that thing while costing you nothing for it. And it shouldn’t cost you anything to demonstrate to a friend, relative, or complete stranger that you like pictures of their cute kids, or pets, or what they ate for dinner. And as harsh as this may sound, these types of posts require very little effort to create, and therefore add relatively little value to our society. In other words, you get what you pay for.

In our world, people are motivated by many things. Yes, most people want to be liked by others, and so they will post on social networks what they think other people might like (i.e. cute pictures of their kids). And they generally want to be liked by as many people as possible, so they tend to refrain from posting things that could illicit a strong reaction or differences of opinion.

Before I go on to tipping, I must add the caveat that likes can in fact result in a financial return, and that’s of course through advertisement. If someone has enough followers, companies might be willing to pay them to promote their products. But consider what you need to do in order to take advantage of such opportunities. As stated earlier, since you need a lot of followers to begin with, you can’t risk losing them or you risk losing this potential income source. By that same token, you are now beholden to the advertiser who is paying you. On rare occasions, there are celebrities that have the clout and the personality to be who they want to be, to influence society, and still take advantage of advertising dollars, but there are very few people in that position. Besides, ultimately what is happening when you accept ad money is that in the end, a product is being promoted, nothing more.

Which brings us to tipping. With tipping you can do everything you can with liking, only more. Yes, it now costs you money to show your affinity for something, but you can tip as little as you want, and it isn’t overly burdensome to do so. But it does cost you, so if you wanted to mindlessly tip everyone for things that don’t matter to you, there is a mechanism in place to deter you from doing so. This is what I see as one of the added benefits of tipping versus liking. Due to the financial nature of the action, people are likely to be more selective with their tips than they are likes, resulting in a post being rewarded more on its merit rather than the poster’s popularity. This makes perfect sense if you think about it. Normally when you think of tips, it’s for good service. Tipping is a function that's in place to motivate people to provide better service, whether it’s a waiter, or your hair stylist, or an Uber driver. Motivation is good. Incentives are good. It’s why I wrote this article. If there was no potential for financial gain, I would probably not be sitting here trying to gather my thoughts on this subject. Simply put, tipping on the internet encourages more valuable content creation.

In this new tipping world, we are now encouraged to promote something other than merely products, we are motivated to promote ideas. Everyone not only has a voice, but is encouraged to use it, to speak out, because they might discover that their voice is powerful, that their voice can create value. It is no longer about just being popular. There is no need to kowtow to the masses, or to middle men, or to advertisers in the tipping economy.

On the flip side, we can also now use our money to do more than simply buy “things”. We can buy into movements. We can donate to charities, to worthy causes, as well anyone who has a powerful idea. And we can give as little or as much as we want. People on Instagram might influence the way people dress, or where they eat; they can change trends, but they aren’t motivated to change the way people think.

This is why I believe read.cash and other platforms that include tipping are the future. We are now participating not just in a social network, but in social commerce, all of which is made possible through Bitcoin Cash. No other currency allows you to tip someone a fraction of a penny in mere seconds, right now, and also has the roadmap in place to scale so that we can continue to do so. This is why we need BCH for a better future, one in which people are motivated to bring new ideas to the forefront rather than just sitting in front of their TV. The BTC camp is all about store of value, hodl, moon. But those of us in the BCH community know that store of value only comes after a currency is used as a medium of exchange.

You might say but don't we already have money that performs well as a medium of exchange in the US dollar? The answer is no. The USD is prone to inflation, the dollar is not borderless, you can’t send a penny to someone halfway around the world at virtually no cost and in mere seconds. But with Bitcoin Cash, someone in New York can tip someone in Caracas as little as a penny, instantly, without asking for anyone's permission.

This is why I support BCH, and this is why I believe BCH can change the world.

Thanks for reading.