NFTS and Community Tokens Are Shaping Web3 for Creators

The economy of creators is booming thanks to the advancements in the Web2 space, which inevitably progressed into technologies that are shaping the future of Web 3.0..

YouTube has been one of the main catalysts for the Creator Economy ever since its inception. It all began with a single video uploaded by the co-founder of YouTube Jawed Karim in 2005 titled “Me at the Zoo,” in which he described elephant trunks for 18 seconds.

Because of the success of YouTube and other current juggernauts such as Facebook (Meta), Instagram, Twitch, Twitter, TikTok, and OnlyFans, the industry has grown, allowing previously unknown individuals such as YouTube’s Paul brothers to build their own billion-dollar empires. Essentially, the internet and tools for content creation have propelled individuals to heights that only Hollywood stars could attain back in the day.

However, one question lingers: who benefits from the content the most? Is it the creators themselves or the platforms hosting them?

What are some problems in the creator’s economy?

In web 2.0, an era when social media platforms rule the world, the current landscape is where content is driven by how great the algorithm will rank it on search sites at the creator’s expense. A YouTuber, for example, will devote time and resources to creating content that the YouTube algorithm will find useful, and as a reward, they will pocket 55% of the revenue.

That’s not all, though.

These platforms have become extremely unstable for today’s creators. They are constantly in a state of panic, since these platforms are constantly changing their policies. For example, when OnlyFans banned NSFW (not safe for work) content in October 2021, many adult content creators, like Tristan West, @dreamboytristan, felt threatened by the prospect of losing their primary source of income. As Tristan said, “This is going to shatter many people’s main source of income… A lot of work has to be done, including moving our content to a new platform, which is a major setback.’’

When big tech platforms wield a lot of power and influence, they maximize the value of creators’ work at the expense of the creators. On the other hand, Web 3.0 aims to shift power and influence back to creators to achieve a stable creator economy.

How to achieve a ‘stable’ creator economy?

A stable creator economy is born by migrating to Web3-powered platforms like BitFans, where creators create content, host their communities within their own DAOs, and connect with their most loyal members without fear of losing access to them. After all, it does take time to build up an audience, and the last thing they want is for their channel to be shut down unexpectedly, their content taken down and losing valuable potential consumers along the way. YouTube creators are prone to suffer from suddenly being notified of copyright claims and have their content be removed before they even have a chance to investigate the claim!

BitFans lets creators relax without worrying about community bans or regulations. Creating community tokens for one’s brand essentially allows them to ‘decentralize’ their community, meaning that no matter where they are or what platforms they use, as long as you hold community tokens, you have ‘proof’ that you are a supporter. By effectively removing the third party involved in the fan-creator relationship, one is able to think of new ways to create value and generate more revenue as they are able to align incentives closer with their fans rather than being concerned with the algorithm.

As Web3 continues to take shape, tokenization is the future of the creator economy, where the power balance moves towards both the creator and their communities. With major technologies like the Metaverse, NFTs, DeFi and Community Tokens, they make it possible for anyone to create their own digital fan clubs and use community tokens as not only a way to prove loyalty, but as a way to build more intimate relationships with fans through experiences designed by the creator and their communities.

How crypto technologies are shaping the future of the Creator Economy

As more and more people use the blockchain, developers can create applications and platforms that cater to the needs of content creators. This is one reason why Facebook rebranded as Meta. They realized that the only way to keep people engaged on their platforms (Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp) was to develop many features that benefit and generate more income for creators, such as digital tokens which they are currently working on as we speak.

NFTs and Community Tokens are two technologies that will shape the future of the creator economy. One driving factor that enables these technologies to be bullish is Crypto Twitter, where many creators take deep dives to explain everything crypto. For example, Camoufly used his Twitter account to create an in-depth guide about music NFTs and the new opportunities they can provide.

As part of the Web3 movement, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are being used to give creators more freedom from big tech platforms and make monetization easier.

Loyal fans will enjoy new and exciting opportunities because of this. For example, loyal fans of Gary Vee get gifted with a three-year access pass to attend VeeCon in 2022, 2023, and 2024, as long as they own his NFTs.

To put it simply, if you create more opportunities for the people who own NFTs, you’ll be able to generate demand for the secondary markets, opening up opportunities for others to discover your work. On January 11th, Grammy-winning rap legend Nas sold the royalty rights to his two songs, Ultra Black and Rare, as NFTs. While trying to buy the NFT, fans brought down the website, delaying the sale until January 27.

On the other hand, using community tokens, fans can invest in the growth of their favorite creator besides simply consuming their content or commenting and liking their posts.

This means that a creator like Tristan West doesn’t have to worry about his cash cow running dry while engaging with his DAO and his loyal token community. The success of his community and the effort he puts into ensuring that his fans love his content essentially becomes proportional to how much he could make. For the first time ever, fans are directly involved in the growth of their favorite creator’s brands. The more they grow, the more leverage they have and they are no longer tied to obligations from major tech platforms as the community is in full control.

Why BitFans wants Creators to Tokenize

BitFans has created a Creator Launchpad that will allow anyone to mint their community tokens. Using the launchpad, influencers will learn to create their tokens, set up their Community DAOs, and design incentives for their followers.

The value of community tokens will be proportional to how much effort a creator puts in making their community valuable. An influencer can develop digital assets and create experiences specifically created to reward their fans for their support to make it worthwhile for them to stay and get more people onboard.

A community token also grants access to a DAO, which will enable fans to interact on a much more personal level with their favorite creator due to its nature of exclusivity. Other functions for community tokens include involving fans in decision-making processes, whether they’re for-fun or important for the brand moving forward.