Experimenting with Alternative Marketing Platforms

In a world gone crazy, the run on decentralized marketing and communication platforms has intensified. Whether this is by accident or caused by the concept of freedom being the ultimate essential condition in life finally syncing in and awakening more and more souls around the world, remains to be seen.

As traditional marketing channels have become increasingly centralized, the urge to look for alternative marketing platforms has led to a bouquet of new networks competing for users and their precious time AKA attention.

In the previous months I covered the need for decentralization and shared with you several platforms that have embraced the blockchain technology to create crypto agnostic ecosystems.

After pulling out a lot of my resources from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Co. and allocating them to testing new alternative platforms, I’m happy to be able to share with you a few insights you might find valuable.

First off, let me start by addressing the elephant in the room. Clearly I’m talking about decentralization.

The two ecosystems I have found so far to be fully decentralized and censorship-resistant are LBRY and Hive.

Whereas LBRY is mainly known for two frontend platforms, LBRY.tv which is used by developers and more tech-savvy people, and Odysee with its clean and user-friendly design targeting the perfect YouTube consumer, the Hive ecosystem is extremely complex and sophisticated.

Here are some of Hive’s frontend networks that allow you to interact with the entire ecosystem:

• PeakD – https://peakd.com/@kriszrokk

• Hive.Blog – https://hive.blog/@kriszrokk

• LeoFinance – https://leofinance.io/

• 3Speak – https://3speak.co/user/kriszrokk

• DTube – https://d.tube/

For those of you looking to upload video content, LBRY / Odysee, 3Speak and DTube should definitely be something to consider. If you love to share your written content, PeakD and Hive.blog are a good option. Furthermore, if you blog about finance and crypto, you can also use LeoFinance.

Alternative Marketing Platforms that Aren’t Censorship-Resistant

While experimenting with some of the newer platforms, I came across another “ecosystem”. There is no big tech behind the system (at least not yet), nor is it censorship-resistant. You need to adhere to the platforms’ rules in order to post your content and not be banned.

Unlike Hive where you need to store your master key, posting key etc. in a safe place, which is often seen as an issue for mainstream adoption, the signup procedure, posting and interaction on these platforms is a lot easier and more user-friendly.

I present to you the Bitcoin Cash agnostic sites read.cash and noise.cash.

1. Read.cash

Read.cash is a blogging platform similar to Medium where you can publish articles with images and videos. If somebody upvotes your writing including your comments, you earn some Bitcoin Cash. The system uses on-chain transactions for peer-to-peer upvote payments.

Signing up is pretty easy. You pick a nickname, provide your email address and set a password. Next, you’ll be given a 12-word seed phrase for the read.cash native Bitcoin Cash wallet. Write down that seed phrase and store it in a safe place. Once you’re done with that you can practically start using the platform.

2. Noise.cash

Noise.cash is the Twitter alternative that rewards users in Bitcoin Cash.

It works as follows: Occasionally noise.cash will give you free tips which you can use to reward interesting posts or useful comments. You cannot withdraw these tips directly to your wallet; instead you give it to other users and keep a percentage to yourself.

“If you give it to spammers, to your own accounts or take too much yourself, we might never give it to you again.”

— noise.cash rules

Interesting concept, isn’t it?

Signing up is super easy. You pick a nickname, insert your email address and set up a password. Things are even easier than at read.cash as you don’t have an integrated wallet. The Bitcoin Cash payouts go straight to the wallet address you provided.

One more thing to know before you jump onboard: The project is in Alpha and therefore risky.

These are not the only two sites in the so called “.cash”-ecosystem.

Memo.cash for example is a blockchain-based social media network where you can post text, images, videos, tip and get tipped in Bitcoin Cash. The platform comes with an integrated Bitcoin Cash wallet where you can store and transact your BCH. The keys to your wallet are provided during the signup process, therefore pay extra attention where you store them.

Causes.cash focuses on uncensorable fundraising giving support to those who need it most while leveraging blockchain technology. Setting up a campaign is pretty straightforward and self-explanatory especially if you’re used to platforms such as Kickstarter for example. Obviously the entire system is based on Bitcoin Cash.

Adoption Is A Challenge

We tend to forget that Facebook, Twitter & Co. required almost two decades to become household names in the social media marketing space. Whereas they have paved the way to understanding how these platforms work, adoption remains one of the core issues alternative marketing platforms face.

To be fair, I’m still experimenting with the above-mentioned sites and I’m far from being a heavy user AKA investing vast amounts of time into them.

This being said, here are some of the challenges I reckon these platforms are struggling with:

AUDIENCE. The projects are in their early stages and therefore you’ll find an undistinguishable group of people who are passionate about cryptocurrency and everything that evolves around generating crypto. Often times you’ll encounter this very same group of people across several crypto-agnostic platforms. Obviously, you’ll also notice a lot of scammers although the teams in charge are doing whatever they can to limit their exposure.

Growing the user base while ensuring quality accounts is going to be of crucial importance to the survival of these platforms.

SUSTAINABILITY. Without hiding behind the bushes, I don’t see the current model that’s being deployed as sustainable. It’s a one-way journey.

A possible solution for closing the loop while keeping everybody engaged in the ecosystem would be to introduce an advertising project that is highly-relevant and appealing as an optional variant thus minimizing side effects.

SCALABILITY. Growth is non-negotiable. It can happen horizontally by enlarging the user base as well as vertically by introducing new systems that are interoperable and provide that specific twist needed to thrive in today’s age.

There are lots of obstacles that come with an immense array of opportunities if we allow our minds to open up to new ways of thinking and doing things.

In closing, I’d like to leave you with the following:

The Universe is not a hostile environment. Actually it takes tremendous effort to carry out negative actions, impose nasty restrictions and force users to leave a network they have built for big tech (not the other way around as Google, Facebook & Co. would like us to think).

Which one of these alternative marketing platforms that leverage cryptocurrency and content sharing have you tried so far?

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DISCLAIMER: Any advice given on my blog and podcasts is for information purposes only, and does not act as financial advice. Your financial decisions are your full responsibility, and if you are in any doubt, please contact a financial professional before undertaking any investment with your money or change to your financial activities.

Image: qimono / Pixabay.com

Originally published on my blog at StrengthInBusiness.com.