Castcle Podcast: How to Build Decentralized Social Media
Episode 1 of Castcle team’s roundtable
Evan: Welcome! Today, we have a very special guest, Mr. Woraphop. He’s the founder of a new decentralized social media app called “Castcle”, which will bring decentralization to the world of social media. How are you doing today, Mr. Woraphop.
Woraphop: Good, nice to have a chat with you today.
0:29–1:12
Evan: Yes, and thanks for coming. So, tell us a little bit about what IS “Castcle”
Woraphop: Castcle is a decentralized social media, a new platform that, when there is an advertisement, some of that revenue will be shared with every user who creates content, as well as the users who see the ads on Castcle.
Evan: So, when people use Castcle, they earn crypto from using the functionality of the site, the same as any other social media user
Woraphop: Yes, but, they will earn CAST token, rather than paying them money.
1:13–2:54
Evan: Ok, so you will have a blockchain asset called “CAST token” and its built on Solana Chain. So, what led you to make the decision to use a crypto token, rather than just using a fiat money like YouTube does?
Woraphop: There are 2 reasons we decided to use CAST token. First, it can be a unit of payment for global users from day one. The blockchain function allows us to do revenue sharing with users in any country without having to have bank partners globally.
Evan: So, you get both the advantage of unilateral currency AND the ability to transfer smaller amounts.
Woraphop: Yes, and it can be a medium for the user to benefit from Castcle’s success. Since we use CAST token to pay for advertising, that means more users attract more advertisers, which creates more demand for CAST token, which increases it’s value. Every user who uses Castcle to create or view content earns CAST token, more users increases the value of CAST, and everyone benefits together.
2:55–4:21
Evan: That’s good. Pretty much the whole crypto market is based on speculation. You’ve already got a plan for utility, so that’s a big step forward. What stage is the project in now? Can I start earning CAST token now?
Woraphop: Currently, we are in Beta. The beta version has no CAST token and no advertising, but you can post, like, share, comment, and auto-post. Castcle users can sync their account with their facebook page or twitter , so that every time they post, that content will be automatically published on Castcle. This way, we can gain more content partners. In about 4 months, we plan to fully launch our product. In April 2022, at the same time as the IDO. After that, CAST token will be distributed to the users who create content, seeing ads and content farming.
4:22–7:29
Evan: So, not only are you implementing the blockchain, but you’re integrating other forms of social media to be usable on Castcle. You also mentioned “content farming”. It sounds similar to DeFi. How does that work?
Woraphop: Yes, content farming is a similar adaptation to DeFi. In simple terms, you stake CAST token in content that you like, similar to upvoting. The users who stake (or farm) in that content will earn revenue sharing rewards from that content as well.
Evan: So, you see a Cast(A cast is a post on Castcle), like it, stake your CAST tokens, and that promotes its popularity by giving it more reach?
Woraphop: Yes. For example, on your Castcle feed, you might see 3 contents, then an ad. Castcle’s platform will take only 30% of that revenue, and 70% is redistributed to the users. 14% goes to those who see the ad, 35% is distributed to the creators of those 3 contents, and the remaining 21% will be distributed to the users who stake their CAST tokens to farm that content. So, if a user farms popular content, they can earn greater revenue sharing.
Evan: So, technically, if only a very few people chose to farm a Cast, they would share the full 21%?
Woraphop: Yes, something like that. If there’s only one farmer, they get it all.
Evan: Well, that’s a good opportunity. So, does every Cast earn an equal share, or do higher-reaching contents earn a higher percentage?
Woraphop: Of course, the creators earn 35% from the ads, and higher reach will earn more from revenue sharing. You need more followers or engagement so that you can earn more.
7:29–8:39
Evan: So, people are earning all of this CAST token, what can they do with it?
Woraphop: When we launch the full version, in the initial stage, you will be able to use CAST token for content farming and to boost your own posts on Castcle.
Evan: So, using CAST token to gain your own reach is the same as buying an ad?
Woraphop: Yes
Evan: And if you use CAST token to boost someone ELSE’s cast, that’s content farming?
Woraphop: Yes, BUT, for content farming, you only stake for 24 hours. After 24 hours, you get your tokens back, but how much you earn depends on the popularity of the Cast you farm. In this way, they are different.
8:40–11:07
Evan: That means a lot of Castcle’s utility will be based around advertising, and a lot of advertisers like to have data on their audience, so what kinds of data collection and analytics will you be employing?
Woraphop: We believe that a user’s data is their property, and they have the rights to it. So, they can consent what data they allow to be used for targeted ads. The more they allow, the more they can earn from ads they pay more for targeting accuracy. For example, if someone is interested in GameFi, they might follow GameFi pages. Advertisers want to target the audience that will get them the most engagement….
Evan: When you say “consent”, you mean users can turn data collection on or off, right? We’ve seen Facebook and Tiktok under a lot of scrutiny for having very difficult or nonexistent privacy settings…
Woraphop: Yes, so we will allow users to turn off things like location, interest, or wallet data(we also plan to allow users to connect their wallets). An advertiser might want to target someone who holds GameFi tokens, maybe 5 or more. Since that ad might cost a bit more, the user would earn a bit more. So both the users and advertisers benefit.
11:08–13:25
Evan: Well, that’s great. Well moving on, we all know that you can very often join Crypto-related groups or comment on crypto-related posts without being bombarded with spam and bots, what is your plan to combat that?
Woraphop: Well, first of all, we offer no incentive for simple engagement such as commenting. There is no reward, so we chose the content farming model because you must use CAST token to do it. It also Is the mechanism that helps our feed algorithm to learn which content is good quality. The most important mechanism for bot detection will also be machine learning, similar to Google’s. When we see an ad on social media, it means our data is being used for that targeted ad. We won’t trade the majority right for minority fraud, so we think machine learning is the best way.
Evan: Seems like a good way, they have nothing to gain, and integrating blockchain wallets will help a lot of people “get their foot in the door” in the blockchain world.
13:26–14:38
Evan: So, tell me, why did you start Castcle?
Woraphop: When I started Castcle, I came up with the idea that social media is created by the user. They generate the content, and every time we see an ad, they exploit our free data, so I think now we should have the right to some of that ad revenue as well, rather than ONLY big tech benefiting from it.
Evan: True, in the early days you use the website for free and they get your data, but, they’ve become so big they’re almost at the point of public utility. The trade-off isn’t as equal as it used to be, so we all see the unfairness of modern social media. But, being that it IS going to be a social media platform, it’s going to be necessary to moderate things.
14:39–16:28
Evan: How are you going to approach moderation with regards to a blockchain?
Woraphop: Well, I must clarify that we will not be storing all of our content on a blockchain. It’s not practical, and users would have to pay gas just to post, plus it can’t be changed. So, we will use traditional servers, but for transparency will we have an open-source algorithm so that people can check our systems. I think this should be the norm for social media. In terms of content moderation, we will have community governance, so that, in the case that content is not outright illegal, users can appeal takedown to the community using CAST token, and they can make the final decision.
Evan: Right, so that should give the community the ability to decide what is fake news and what isn’t. Well, Castcle’s beta should be coming out this month, CAST token and the full app are scheduled to release within the next four months.
16:29–17:37
Evan: what else do you have planned for the future? How will you expand Castcle.
Woraphop: Well, the second half of next year, we will add group functions so that people can join groups, we will roll out short-video features so that users can also sync their TikTok, and content NFTs. Meaning uses could mint content NFTs and sell to other users in our NFT marketplace.
Evan: You heard it here, if someone creates a viral meme you could have blockchain ownership of it. That sounds great.
17:38–19:12
Evan: So, right now you want a lot of users for the beta, why should they join?
Woraphop: Well, during the beta there is no advertising and no CAST token, so we created the Early Caster airdrop campaign to thank users who create a page or sync their Facebook or Twitter. So, after the idea, we set 1,000,000 CAST as an early caster airdrop, and we will prorate it to beta users based on their content reach.
Evan: So, you set aside 1,000,000 to share amongst your content partners, so the more users on the beta will mean they get less…but a more successful IDO launch means those tokens will be more valuable.
Woraphop: The objective is quite clear that we want to thank content creators, as well as invite new users to follow Crypto, DeFi, and GameFi trends on Castcle.
Evan: And then you plan to expand to other interests, right?
Woraphop: Yes.
19:13–21:05
Evan: And you also have a referral program?
Woraphop: Yes, during the beta we will develop the referral program, so we also have a referral reward. Any user who refers a new user will earn a share of their revenue rewards, but that part is not quite finalized. We will keep the community updated, so please follow our Twitter and join our Telegram so you won’t miss out on news.
Evan: And all the tokenomics and explanations of the airdrops are available on their website. So, I’d say I’m bullish on CAST token. Anything else you’d like to share with the listeners?
Woraphop: We are believers in decentralization, and we think the world is on track to mass adoption of cryptocurrency and decentralization, and social media will be the next wave that brings people into the crypto space.
Evan: Well Great, anyone who wants to try Castcle you can download it on Google Play and the App Store.
