IAN: Improved Social Media, Improved Decentralization
Although the concept of getting paid for online activity is as old as Web 3.0, the criteria for getting paid by internet companies being bringing the most advertisement revenue, launched a new career path called internet celebrity and reduced the majority of online contribution to shallow attempts to get the most views. It was the rise of blockchain technology that brought hope for a change of path with the possibility of a Web 3.0 solution where the funds are controlled by the contributors as well as the content. However, this possibility remained a theory so far. We’ve witnessed the launch of a few platforms in the last three years but none of them was a solution for our major issue for one simple fact: they all sucked. Even though they did give the control of the funds to the contributors, the social media concepts were so poorly developed and the cryptocurrency integration was so complicated, they were unsuitable for mainstream usage; thus after an initial bloom, they slowly started fading away. Combination of a well-thought social media platform, a decentralized revenue distribution system and user friendliness might be asking too much from a single project, but success doesn’t come with a simple recipe and that’s the recipe our project today, IAN, has figured out.
IAN stands for Intellectual Asset Network. If you are an avid reader, you’ll find the whitepaper quite enjoyable; it is comforting to see everything fits in its place and IAN succeeds this despite being extremely complicated. Just skip the standard introduction and start with page 7. The bottom line is that IAN is a cryptocurrency integrated social media platform with decentralized revenue distribution system that features a Q&A network, a talent marketplace and a community zone. Let’s start on IAN with its Q&A solution. The most crucial shortcoming of current Q&A platforms is the lack of community. These platforms are either local or field-specific, in which case a community might be established by the effort of certain individuals, or international and field-over, on which, due to massive size, a community can only be established by a well-thought system. Without a community, there is no way to assess the quality of information, which ends up with a platform filled with junk. Earlier examples of cryptocurrency integrated social media platforms thought that this could be achieved just by paying contributors cryptocurrency, but they were wrong. Though the decentralized revenue distribution is still a key component, the social media concept must be designed in a way to nourish the community and direct them in a way to nourish the system. To accomplish this, IAN includes the talent marketplace which ensures the interest of people with knowledge in IAN platform. On the talent marketplace, users can offer their knowledge for sale just like on any other similar crowdsourcing solutions, but to increase their success, they can benefit from the Q&A platform and community zone to present their knowledge. As a freelancer myself, I found the most difficult aspect of crowdsourcing platforms is the lack of any incentive to help beginners to gain experience points within the system, as getting points requires getting jobs and getting a job requires points. The Q&A platform combined with the talent marketplace might be “the” solution that crowdsourcing and freelancing industries are waiting for. IAN completes the milk stool with the community zone which is a free forum. This would be an opportunity for users to be present on the platform even when they are not selling or buying talent or asking or answering questions. To ensure the health of the network, IAN operates on a system of experience points in which more community approval gives users more points and more points gives more rights to approve or disapprove contributions. The point system is widely explained on the whitepaper. On the front of the social media platform stays IAN Hall of Fame which is where the most approved contributions are saved and pinned for display. The outcome of the point system is getting paid by the self currency IAN Coin.
IAN features a PIVX based blockchain for its self currency IAN Coin. As 2018 left behind, PIVX became the industry standard with many use cases and variations. IAN also has a unique blockchain structure which actually might be the next industry standard. Instead of using a single type of masternode with a certain collateral, IAN features three with increasing collateral and rewards. Because each masternode requires an additional set up with a separate IP address, the current scheme is more difficult and costly on big holders where IAN’s model provides better results for large investors and makes no difference for small investors. For actual information on three masternode types(or tiers) see here: tier1, tier2, tier3. But it doesn’t end there. IAN masternodes also has a unique system which provides increased ROI based on the experience points of its owner thus further rewarding favorable contribution to the platform while encouraging hodling. Which means even the smallest investor can get a high ROI based on its activity on the platform. IAN is also planning to open its blockchain as a decentralized base for applications. This can be done on the platform by using IAN API or developing self dAPPS operating on IAN blockchain.
If there is one thing for sure, it is that perfection comes in milestones. After all the try-and-fail on web, social media and decentralization; this might be the right time for an overall solution. IAN certainly has the potential for it and it is certainly the project of 2019 that needs to be followed. Check the project on its website and meet the team and the community on Discord.
