New technologies often don't unveil its full potentials when they first emerge. This very much could be the reflection BitClout mirrors at a first glance.
Bitclout from a vantage point of view reels in imitations of a social media platform, not just your regular old social media but one which is owned collectively by its audience and its creators.
However, on a closer glance it takes on a different look, as it attempts to redefine a new category of product—the creator coin.
You could say BitClout is a way better social network or not, but one of its attractive features is it's novelty relationship in bringing together blockchain technology and token economics.
And as such has attracted the passionate attention of creators, artists, investors and technologists, who have contributed and are still contributing to its current success.
But the fast and widespread attention it is garnering as the future of social networking may well be obscuring the staying power of something far more significant.
Hmm, i wonder?
Could it be creativity with content? Or could it just be a case of originality, Or dare i say it a case of plagiarism?
It has a creator coin, and the creator coin could someday become one of the most important use cases of blockchain technology.
Being the most important use cases as of blockchain technology? Hmm, that has a lot of hovering clouds of uncertainty around it, but hey if it can, then more grease to your elbows.
In as much as we could be seeing the emergence of the creator coin economy we could probably also be witnessing the birth of the Social Economy.
Say what now, nah i beg to differ, Uhive already have a head start on that...
How does it work?
On its surface BitClout looks and operates like a variant of Twitter: with user accounts, user posts, likes, sharing, and even reposts.
But there is one major addition that makes BitClout an entirely different kind of network: for the first time, it is not the social network or media companies that profit from user generated content.
Well you know that's totally out of proof, i could literally mention a ton load of social networking sites who are already operational with such services i will limit it to noise.cash, memo.cash and uhive.
And just like the above mentioned already existing social media platform with earning opportunities and tipping services, it rewards it's active users and audiences for their content and activity on the platform.
But one very clear and distinctive features of BitClout is that each creator (user profile) has its own unique creator coin. For example, Kim Kardashian has Kimkardashian coins; Elon Musk has Elonmusk coins; and Coca Cola has Cocacola coins.
Anyone can make a user profile and have their own creator coin. Similarly, anyone can buy, sell, or hold these coins based on their expectations or affinity for the user profile behind the coin.
The coins have a built-in appreciating price auction.
The first profile coin sold is less than $1. But each subsequent coin minted and then sold has a pre-determined step up in value from the coin minted and sold before it.
So, by the time the 1000th coin is minted for a given profile, it is approximately $500,000 — a cost that is substantially higher.
Despite this, the platform remains accessible: it is possible to buy partial coins as well.
This increasing price of each subsequent coin creates an economic incentive and alignment for the creator and his or her coin holders.
The early birds get the worm--early users are rewarded as more people buy a creator’s coin.
As a result, the early backers have an incentive to help share and propel the popularity of the profile they are supporting.
In practice this is already working—there is a cooperative spirit on the platform that is evident.
Coin holders are not only sharing their favorite creators to a broader audience, but they are giving advice to those same creators to help them build an audience for their content and a user base for their coins.
Be they celebrities, influencers, brands, or causes people want to align with, creators benefit from what is known as “founder rewards.”
Each time someone purchases a creator’s coin (say an Elonmusk coin) with BitClout, a new Elonmusk coin is minted and delivered to the buyer.
In addition, the creator (e.g., Elon Musk) receives a fraction of those coins.
Elon Musk has the dual opportunity to benefit: First, as more users buy his coins, the price of his coin rises.
And second, he earns more tokens from each additional purchase by one of his followers. The combined result can be a very significant. About a month after the launch of the platform, Elon Musk has already earned $2.85 million in his own coins.
And note this economic opportunity is not limited to creators. Participants—fans, followers, the audience—can engage too.
Buying the coin of another individual, a brand, or a cause is not merely an indication of support, it is an opportunity to share in the value creation.
This is clearly a fundamental inversion of the way social networks have worked till now.
The model we all know is one where Facebook, Twitter, and the rest ingest content, creativity, and the lion’s share of profit from creators and participants.
While thin slices of influencers and creators have been able to get paid for promoting brands and businesses, the vast majority of content and participation is essentially “donated” to the social networks, which in turn monetize it on a massive scale.
BitClout is not just another social network with a twist. It is a much bigger idea dressed as a social network.
And over time, its underlying concept could represent a profound shift from a social network to a social economy.
While it's still in its infancy, and there is no guarantee of their success, creator coins may well turn out to be engine of the Social Economy. But a big change would be required.
Today, these coins are only accessible on BitClout.
For more adoption, the creator coins would need to be accessible anywhere. I expect that will happen seamlessly as the community extends the platform and extracts features from it. If this happens, these coins will end up with a much broader use than the BitClout social network.
This could perhaps build into an NFT merch support platform for a musician in a small venue early in her career. Your purchase of her coin may support her ability to broaden her marketing, to hone her craft, or simply to support herself. You might be more likely to share how much you liked her on your social media.
And the beauty of it is that you are not only helping to encourage the growth of the musician's early career to stardom, you will also get rewarded for supporting you upcoming musical act.
Thus in a possibly close future musicians, artists and other creatives may someday soon incentivize this behavior by giving their coin holders VIP entry to virtual or in-person events, or access to limited availability content or merchandise. Special pricing. Early access. And so on.
BitClout looks and gives a feel of an investing model that allows people to buy into their passions and beliefs. To invest in ideas and talents they enjoy and engage with in the ordinary course of the day.
And it tends to align incentives by encouraging people to promote the people, products, content, and causes that they are invested in emotionally and economically.
One apparent, even glaring, limitation within the BitClout system is that right now you can only buy BitClout. There is currently no way to sell BitClout. But the business was designed with this in mind.
As envisioned, selling is becoming a reality off BitClout. There is already an emerging market for selling the tokens on OTC desks. And both Coinbase and the founders of Gemini—two key exchanges—are amongst the many early investors of BitClout. It is not unreasonable to expect markets to emerge on these as well as other exchanges and OTC desks.
Expectations of the challenge of converting BitClout back into dollars could begin to abate over the coming months as liquid markets emerge.
Like they say, there are no guarantees with start-ups. And BitClout is no exception. But it does seem to have captured the attention and enthusiasm of many. In its first few weeks, the site was so overwhelmed with traffic it had to be taken down on several occasions.
In conclusion, if it could transit from it's dream stage into the realm of reality, it thus would be something that would garner massive embrace. But from where i'm standing right now, sounds like a lot of sales of hollow dreams and bullsh!t.
All things been equal, i still believe when it comes to social media, twitter and Instagram still takes the cake. But hey that's just me, What you think...An unrealistic dream with Shitty coins about to tank before it even takes its turn on the steering wheels? The next bluechip ETF about to exit the S&P 500 index? Give a shout on the comment boxes below.
