Web3 Influencers: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

It’s often said that web3 is an attention economy. We can debate the extent to which this will be true over the long-term, but it’s undeniable that the space currently operates on drawing people’s attention to a project and keeping it there.

One of the most prominent ways to do this is social media. Web3 is an inherently online sector, so our social networks are how we find out about news and projects in real-time. This means those with the largest and most active followings have a lot of weight in the space. They can direct people to projects that interest them (and most likely are invested in), bringing energy to projects in the form of both creativity and capital.

But not all web3 ‘influencers’ are created equal and we’ve all seen the darker side of this process. Popular accounts that take money to shill projects that quickly disappear; or serve no other purpose than to funnel people’s money into the pockets of various teams, investors and whales.

With this week’s R Planet Together discussion, we’re going to take a look at web3 influencers and consider the good, the bad and the ugly of this wonderful world of passion, education… and shills.

Web3 Influencers: The Good

Let’s start with best practice. There are many people who see involvement in web3 as part of their purpose in life. They understand that this new convergence of technology, creativity and community can lead to many wonderful things and want to help the space as a whole progress.

Good influencers use their platforms in positive ways:

• educate people and spread awareness about new trends, risks and opportunities in the space;
• guide individual users to new areas, teaching them how to build;
• talk about the space in more conceptual terms, supported with technical knowledge to help navigate what can be confusing (and exploitative) activities;
• discuss the wider macroeconomic context and think about how mainstream adoption can be achieved;
• promote good causes and have a wider purpose outside web3, that shows they are having an impact on the world.
• provide inspiring content that is creative, uplifting (without hype) and respects the time and resources of all those listening.

The best kind of influencers are not trying to build up a false sense of urgency that causes so many to make bad decisions in this space.

Instead, they spend their time seeking to inform and educate people about the infrastructure and ideas on this cutting-edge of our digital lives. It’s clear they do it because they are passionate about what can be achieved, not just how much money they can make.

Web3 Influencers: The Bad

Unlike those seeking to evolve and develop the space, there are many others seeking solely to profit. These kinds of influencers aren’t concerned about contributing in meaningful ways, but rather spend most of their time directing attention to things they are positioned to profit from.

Bad influencers use their platforms in exploitative ways:

• direct attention only to projects they have already accumulated, directly profiting from (and selling into) the pump;
• see followers as wallets and don’t do much, if anything, to support their journey into web3;
• rely on insider information and early access to projects, increasing profit margins which they then boast about to self-promote;
• engagement traps (you know the ones) are constantly pushed out, that do nothing other than boost their follower numbers;
• no accountability for past shills or statements made that turned out to be wrong, showing little personal growth.
• position themselves as ‘marketing advisors’ without much professional experience other than generating short bursts of hype.

These kind of influencers are in it for themselves. They see everyone else around them in transactional terms and consider what advantage they can gain from every interaction.

Bad influencers in web3 take no responsibility for the behaviour they encourage in others, seeing the whole space as one big game through which to accumulate as much wealth as possible.

Web3 Influencers: The Ugly

Those acting in a negative way as described above, still tend to at least have a sense of integrity about their actions. Although they might happily promote and pump their own bags, they don’t usually engage in outright fraudulent or corrupt activity.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of so-called ‘influencers’ out there who will:

• push their own rug projects that they know there is no intention of following through with;
• will promote anything for a fee, without concern for what happens to those who participate;
• regularly attack and shame other projects they aren’t involved with (or have sold out of);
• conduct fake giveaways with no intention of paying out;
• pay for fake followers, use bot accounts and are ready to do anything to generate the perception that they have a large and loyal following;
• scam people through DMs and other traps outright designed to steal from people.

The nature of how social media works in web3 means that it is ripe for this kind of fraudulent activity. Learning how to spot these kind of influencers is an important first step, quickly followed by blocking them to lessen their reach and lower their weighting in display algorithms.

Ultimately, the only way to truly overcome these kind of ugly influencers in web3 is to drown them out with positive information — leaving them as much as possible to exist in their own little corrupt echo-chambers, with smaller and smaller audiences to take advantage of.

Conclusion

The most important thing to be aware of in web3 is that we are creating it together. Each of us have a role to play in the direction of these new technologies and the impact they can have. Unfortunately, the profit-motive has overwhelmed our collective sense of purpose and integrity — we are lost in the endless chasing of gains. But there are many glimmers of hope that change is coming. We can see that there are better ways to web3.

It’s our responsibility now to help build towards the positive future we want to see. For most of us, this means being aware of the information we are spreading and people we are supporting. It means turning away from those seeking to exploit people and send FOMO from project to project so they can profit each time. We can choose to amplify the best influencers in the space, ignore the bad and work against the ugly.

Web3 is about engaging with the direction the space is taking. So the next time we see a cynical giveaway, an engagement trap, or someone seeking to exploit others for their own purpose… hit mute. At the same time, be purposeful about where you put your time and energy in the space. Build for, create with and uplift projects working with integrity and purpose.

We make many small choices every day about who we support and why. By working together and seeing our time as meaningful, we can live up to the true potential of what web3 can be.