If there’s one word to summarize the social media experience for both creators and consumers, it’s “out of control.” Most individuals learned how little control they had over their social media experience only a few days ago, during Facebook’s most prolonged outage to date.
Creators can decide what content they want to provide to their audience, but not who will consume it. On the other hand, consumers have far less control since they are only fed what the algorithm serves them. Not to mention the intrusive adverts that creep into every corner of your devices’ screens like a virus, forcing social media users to consume content they may not be interested in.
There are other challenges to be encountered across legacy social media platforms. Censorship, creator blocks, constant demonetization on apps like YouTube, third-party gatekeepers interfering with revenue inflow, and so much more are just some of the other challenges attributed to legacy social media.
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While the majority of these challenges affect virtually every user, it is arguably even worse for those who end up creating tons of content with a near-zero reward at the end of the day.
A couple of blockchain projects have also felt the same way about these issues for a very long time and have been experimenting with new approaches to solve them.
One of the very few that has made it into the spotlight is Only1. With the help of blockchain technology and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), it wants to redefine the social media experience for both creators and consumers.
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In an exclusive interview with Daily Coin, Leon Lee, the founder and CEO of Only1, discusses what the barely one-week-old startup means when they say “NFTs have gone social.”
Social engagement platform
Only1 is an NFT-powered social engagement platform built on the Solana blockchain. Like the legacy, social media platforms allow users to engage with each other but using a slightly different structure.
Most notably, the NFT social platform allows fans to connect with creators, interact with their content, and earn rewards through a reward system that benefits both creators and end-users.
When asked why the platform went through the NFT route, Lee explained that there are huge prospects in the emerging NFT market, adding that the future of NFT is “utility-driven,” which further suggests that a successful NFT project thrives where there is a true need for it.
"Users want to feel through ownership of their in-game items, for example, their armor, swords, shield, and whatever that may be. In summary, I think the future of NFT is going to be utility-driven, and instead of just being a collectible, NFT is a feature inside a product. It shouldn't be just the product,"
Lee noted.
According to Lee, NFTs as a collectible is nothing more than a mere bubble, especially if they’re just a digital collection of JPEGs. Instead, Lee posited that NFTs are “essentially a unique digital identifier that can be applied to different vertices,” such as applications in the gaming and DeFi industries, among others.
Beyond just rolling out an NFT project like everyone else in the market, Lee explained that Only1 wants to solve real problems inherent in the legacy social media platforms. As a result, the startup is on a mission to disrupt the social media space, leveraging the benefits of NFTs, staking pools, and a few other elements of DeFi, in creating an overall new experience for creators and consumers.
"We looked at different vertices, and one of which we stumbled across was the social space. You will agree that there's been a lot of problems with current social media. So we try to disrupt the social media space using NFTs, staking pools, and other elements of DeFi to create a new way for creators to monetize and a new way for users to consume content,"
Lee said.
Issue of Centralized Control in Legacy Social Media Systems
The issue of centralized authority is another crucial challenge that Only1 is attempting to address. Notably, user data is stored and tracked by social media platforms which, according to Lee, act as judge, jury, and executioner over everything, including the algorithm that determines the type of content a user is fed, or, in the case of a creator, whether or not content will be monetized.
In addition, the market is seeking decentralized alternatives, which is a fundamental solution offered by Web 3.0 and hosted applications. According to Lee, the underlying technology of Web 3.0, blockchain, does the exact opposite of what the centralized system does.
However, while there have been efforts from the first generation of Web 3.0 social media platforms like Steemit, Mithril, Gifto, among others, they have failed to flourish due to various factors including, but not limited to, tokenomics.
On the contrary, Lee underlined that the new wave of social media requires more than decentralization to thrive and not operate a central authority.
"Today, creator tokens are the most important aspect of Web 3 social media. And, in essence, it's a solution to the hyperinflation of tokenomics, which has plagued the last generation of social platforms on blockchain. You keep paying content creators until the token no longer has much utility,"
Lee noted.
Lee is excited because each content creator will have their own set of fungible tokens by creating creator tokens. Users will be able to exchange to gain access to their favorite creators. This will decouple the platform from the inflation problem. Lee believes that from a financial standpoint, it is a fantastic solution.
Finally, given that Only1 is still in a pivotal stage, the company wants to focus on a creators’ economy, which is about helping creators monetize their current social media activity. As a result, Only1 currently provides supplementary solutions to creators rather than disconnecting them outrightly from their existing social media behavior.
On The Flipside
- The social media market is not fully ready for the widespread adoption of decentralized applications, making the onboarding process slower.
- Understanding and using dApps is still considered complex for most mainstream users, who are the primary driver of widespread adoption.
Why You Should Care?
For a long time, social media users have had little to no control over their data; offering them a much more decentralized alternative means giving them the genuine freedom they desire. Hence, it is only a matter of time until a platform like Only1 achieves mass adoption.
Watch the full interview here:
