Besides being a spiritual person, I am also interested in what is going on in technology. I enjoy reading about it and talking about it. Recently, I have been researching specifically on blockchain blogging platforms. There are several out there, which just doesn't seem to cut it. I mean as a writer, I want to have a platform where I can lay my eggs properly and let them hatch without any friction.
I have already listed some of the blockchain platforms that I think have good potential, you can read about them here.
After a long search of trial and error, I have come up with a Wishlist that will guide many who are seeking the same thing. So here is what I wish for a blockchain blogging platform to have for writers, bloggers, content creators, and influencers.
A must-have feature on a blockchain blogging platform
Before I list these features, one of the most important things before all, on which all of you would agree with me, is:
Put food on the table. The truth is everyone is in for the money unless you are a Buddha, Mother Teresa, or Jesus Christ. Jump up and down all you want, but this is the simple fact that determines success on anything. So, what does this mean for blockchain blogging platforms? it simply means the system should be able to sustain a person on a financial level, to make them want to contribute and remain loyal to that system.
That means every person should have the potential of generating enough income if they put their effort into creating valuable content. I have seen a lot of developers abandon their projects simply because of this. And a lot of projects fail because of 'It doesn't put food on the table' syndrome. So, the earlier we deal with this situation the earlier we will attract useful content creators. Now that we have successfully seen the "WHALE in the room", let's look at who else is in the room.
Pay people by the mileage. With the money problem out of the way now, let's talk about how it can be implemented to solve the issue. On all these blockchain platforms, the most common way a user generates income is through tipping and voting. However, we must consider the fact that some people might forget to pinch the tip button, or voting button or whatever, then the content creator is discouraged. Even worse on Hive.blog, your post is only valid for seven days then it can't be voted for anymore and besides that, you must wait for big voters to sprinkle you with their blessings by voting on your post, if average guys vote for your post, it's worse than eating peanuts for lunch.
So, what I suggest is to pay people based on how much time a user spends on their content. For example, a post's reading time is 7 minutes. Then if a user comes and reads all of it, then if a rate is one cent per minute, then regardless of tips or upvotes or whatever the post should generate those 7 cents per person, and if that person decides to tip then it's more. Because if I spend two days researching a well-written post that is over a 12-minute read, and another just posts a random post of less than one minute, the rate should never be the same. So, whether it is a video or an article they should be paid based on mileage. You simply can't open a cupcake, eat all of it then decide you didn't like it.
Subscription model. I believe the proper way for any platform to generate income is through a subscription. Like medium, there should be premium content that is exclusive to premium subscribers and the public. When you publish a post, you should have the option to make it exclusive to premium members or regular members. This will encourage content creators to create more authentic and original content. This should be easy because it can also be subtracted from the generated income. So, users won't worry about using money from their pockets.
Referral program & sharing. A better way to grow blockchain blogging platforms is through an automatic referral program. Here are two ways that should be implemented. The first is a referral link, a program where if a user shares a link of any of their content on any other social media account, they get rewards, if an incoming link is from a potential new user, they will get a referral reward if the user registers. The link should be automatically embedded with the user referral link.
The second one is that of sharing rewards. This means that all other links from this platform shared by any member on other social media accounts should reward users based on incoming traffic. What I mean is if a content creator is willing to reward readers who share their content.
If I have created content, I can check "reward incoming traffic shared by users" then verified traffic will automatically reward users who share my content. So, then money generated from a reader of shared incoming traffic will be split between the content creator and the person who shared it, either out of the platform or inside like [reblog] or something like that.
Coauthoring. One of the cool features I like about the blockchain platform mirror.xyz is the ability to co-author a post with another user. This is a very cool feature because, one could be an editor and another one a publisher, where two parties can decide how to split the generated income. Amazon has not even been able to do this. Through collaboration, both parties will walk out after the project is done. This will invite professional editors who are not content creators but can edit and proofread content and get paid for it.
Sponsorship & Boosting content. A lot of people are annoyed by ads. So based on the category or tags of the content, a user can decide whether to sell ad space or related content in their published post. So, if someone is a new user who doesn't have lots of followers, they can pay to promote their content on those who have lots of followers.
NFT - Royalties. Besides just selling your NFTs, wouldn't it be nice for them to be paid if users decide to embed this NFT in their post? Think of sites like Pexels, Pixabay, and Unsplash. A lot of people embed images from these sites, if they were getting paid even a small portion or there was a way to tip them from the posts then it would make their life easier.
Publishing books. I know we can already mint our posts and sell them to someone, but it would be nice to be able to publish an entire book and issue a limited amount for people to be able to buy and resell them. Publishers can get paid based on mileage. On top of that, a book could be co-authored for split pay and royalties.
Tags & #tags. Don't underestimate the power of tags, no social media or blogging platform cannot survive without them. Tags where users can tag other users for various purposes like, tag them on the post, tag them as coauthors, or contributors where people can tip them. Hashtags are just as important because besides following specific hashtags, organizing content, and bringing relevant content, they can also be used to raise funds, competitions, or challenges, donations, charity, and events. So, when a special hashtag is generated, if it is a challenge or donation, a special wallet is created for a limited amount of time or forever where people can donate by using these tags. If it is a challenge and a deadline is met the funds will automatically be sent to the winner based on the votes.
Reactions and Curations. Sometimes the best way to moderate content is through the users, instead of spending a lot of money and resources to find plagiarism, NSFW, spam, and such, why not leverage users to do this for the system? So, if someone finds out that the content is not useful, it is not suitable for children or everyone, they can just curate content by using reactions, where these reactions can also be used to rank the relevancy of content.
Follow & Subscription. A lot of Blockchain blogging platforms don't have this awesome feature, where you can subscribe to things like Specific tags, subscribe to the author, subscribe to a specific series of stories, and even the ability to build an email list.
Super awesome profile. Now there is a new niche in town, like linktree, mine is https://solo.to/muangakili and many others, so why not cut down the middleman and give writers a super awesome profile where they can list every other link they want to. A profile with history, reviews, and even a marketplace where a content creator can sell things directly on that profile.
How do we conclude this?
I am a man with itchy hands and a giant keyboard. It is always easier said than done. But, if you don't say anything, nothing will happen, so here I am writing what is at the tip of my mind before it disappears forever. If there is anyone reading this, it can inspire them to act to come up with such a platform, what remains is time to unfold these things.