A few days ago, our team & Thea-Mai Baumann hopped on a Live AMA where we dove deep on the incident Thea experienced — on top of discussing many different topics regarding Web3, the creator economy & the Metaverse.
So without further adieu, here’s a quick recap of the key points discussed in the call.
#1. The Forecast
One would think that the sudden news of losing one’s digital identity would come as a complete shocker. After all, imagine you have dedicated 10 years to document the journey in your line of work, and then poof… all gone.
Yet ironically, Thea expected something like this to occur. As she states:
“I guess I was pretty surprised but I kind of had a feeling something would go down. A couple of days before my account was disabled, I got a lot of people reaching out to me, asking to buy my handle and other people saying that I had turned into a millionaire overnight”.
Within this collective group of potential buyers, was one random stranger who, with one single comment, perfectly encapsulated what would go down in the following days to come.
“Facebook isn’t gonna buy it, they’re gonna take it.”
So being well aware of Facebook’s shady reputation — plus armed with all-powerful knowledge of Web3 & the blockchain — what does she do?
She goes protecting the ownership of her asset the best way to could think of:
Reaching out to Clout.art & minting an NFT of the first picture she took under her @metaverse handle — a photo of an alluring flamingo inspecting a plant.
“I just had a feeling that the @metaverse handle was going to become quite pervasive in the media landscape. I mean, it’s actual digital real estate” Baumann said. Adding, “I wanted to create a digital record of my account and prove my ownership over the @metaverse handle.”
Now, believe it or not, this decision holds particular relevance for you.
But more on that in a minute.
#2. The Aftermath & A Huge Realization
Finding herself in the midst of the incident forced Thea to reflect on the state of art in the web 3.0 world & digital disappearing acts.
She expressed some growing concerns about artists & creators. They often worry about being left out of the equation for not being as technically savvy as needed — as the time passes & big tech companies such as Meta take over and pave the way for the Metaverse. Stating:
“I feel like the metaverse is a pretty powerful concept. I mean, we’re already entering this next evolution of the Internet. But unfortunately from my perspective, artists and women aren’t really centered in that design or engineering process”.
Even with the big boom NFTs are having in the art industry… it’s safe to say artists are still highly marginalized and not being looped into the whole creation process of web 3.0 and/or the Metaverse.
And truthfully, the concern is justified.
Who would want their years of work to randomly vanish out of nothing? Absolutely nobody. As she added:
“I didn’t want to have my work in that space erased by big tech.”
Of course, we may think the Big corporations have our best interest at heart. But as experience has proven — this is far from the case.
“I feel like if I hadn’t reached out to the media … I probably would have been forgotten in the whole process, just completely ignored. I would have easily disappeared in the whole Meta rebrand” Baumann added.
Which would be terrible. Especially considering the big strides Thea has taken in the space the last few years.
#3. What She’s Doing Now
On top of clearing out the details regarding the incident, there was also talk about the amazing work Thea created during her stint with the @metaverse handle — right before it got stripped out of her hands.
Over the years, Ms. Baumann created several brands under the scope of @metaverse, all inspired by the concept of augmented reality. One of these brands called Metaverse Makeovers, which its site describes as ‘wearable appcessories’, paved the way for a small but ambitious project titled Metaverse Nails — an app that allows its customers to adorn his/her digital and physical self with customisable holograms.
Along with Metaverse Pix, a future-forward studio fusing film, 3D, AR, VR, and immersive experiences to envision new types of engagement for the Post 90s mobile generation.
Being a big player in the tech world herself — and having so many creative entities under her handle — it is not only natural to expect ownership over her own work, but also have a way to validate said ownership convincingly.
“I use @metaverse as part of many creative entities that I’ve founded, so I feel like I have ownership over that handle in the social media space, the tech ecosystem and in the metaverse,” Baumann said.
And that… takes us to the next point.
Big News: The Metaverse Flamingo Is Now Live! (48 Hours Only)
That’s right!
Remember the wacky flamingo picture we talked about earlier? Well, the original version of this NFT was finally put on auction on December 21st at 10 am UTC. For the next 48 hours, you’ll be able to bid & make your own dent on the digital creator landscape.
See, we planned to drop the auction for this NFT in early November. But when we were about to revisit the page to get more info on the post, we noticed the account had disappeared. And all the aftermath that unraveled did nothing but shake Thea out of her feet — and open her eyes to the critical state of the entire creator/artist community.
So in order to leave her footprints for the better, she decided to do the following:
Proceeds from the auction will go to a fundraiser called Punk Fund — dedicated to the sole purpose of backing & liberating artists through education about NFTs. This will be a big step to raise awareness about the monetization opportunities this technology can offer to creators, so any bid you make on the Metaverse Flamingo (regardless of how small) will help put forth this reality.
Creators need a way to own & back the authenticity of their work — and not fall prey to the shady practices Big Tech has become famous for. That said, this window of opportunity is limited.
The auction will only be live for the next 48 hours. So if you’ve been meaning to hop on the NFT bandwagon — and are compelled to support thousands of creators in the process — then we highly encourage you to go over to Clout.art & get your hands on the original, first-ever @metaverse Instagram post NFT.
The clock’s ticking.
