How Web3 Social Media Enables Better Creator-Follower Collaborations Than Web2 Counterparts
In the last couple of years, widespread access to smartphones and cheap internet has led to a massive boom in online content. For instance, data shows that creators upload more than 3.7 million YouTube videos every day with 30 billion daily views of Shorts.
But fans and followers remain passive consumers of web2 content despite being important stakeholders in the ecosystem. Passive consumption has multiple problems: it restricts collaborative opportunities between creators and fans, reduces revenue growth, and creates licensing problems.
This article will delve deeper into the problems and suggest how web3 platforms facilitate better collaborative efforts.
The Problem With Web2 Creator Collaborations
The two primary issues for content creators in the web2 ecosystem are as follows:
Lack of Content Tracking and Effective Monetization
Digital creators who post pictures and videos on web2 platforms don’t have ownership over their content. On one hand, companies earn a lion’s share of revenue from that content. On the other, fans and followers remix the content across multiple platforms.
It is difficult for creators to monitor how fans repurpose content on fanfiction websites, personal blogs, and other social media platforms. Sometimes, it also leads to duplicacy as creators have no idea what happens to their content after posting online.
With the rise of AI, creators are at further risk of content theft. Now, anyone can regenerate something from pre-existing content, pass it off as unique, and monetize it.
Thus, creators need innovative technologies to better track how fans engage with their content for fair monetization and revenue redistribution.
Difficulty To Obtain Licensing Agreements
The web2 space has enabled fans to contribute to their community through fanfiction, lore, and other creative forms. However, conventional intellectual property (IP) rights exist in a siloed environment that leads to multiple issues regarding fan contributions.
First, traditional IP structures consider most fan interpretations and creative contributions as direct copyright infringement. This might result in de-platforming fan content and other legal friction between creators and followers.
Second, creators also lack the freedom to collaborate with their fans and risk losing their license and IP rights. Unless the creators and their peers work under the same company, any collaborations can incur huge legal costs.
Therefore, digital content creators need platforms that can provide easy licensing, transparent attribution, and automatic royalty distribution between creators and contributors.
Web3 social media provide a space to address the shortcomings of web2 platforms and help creators easily collaborate with their followers.
Web3 Social Media: Enabling Better Creator Collaborations
Web3 ecosystem leverages the benefits of distributed ledger technology to build an infrastructure for content creators for seamless collaborations. Blockchain-based platforms empower the digital creative community to build on top of creators’ existing content, thereby protecting IP rights.
Most web3 social media platforms allow the content creator to retain primary ownership of their work. Thus, when followers want to repurpose a creator’s content, there are provisions to ensure the creators get their due.
Since the content resides on an immutable blockchain, content tracking becomes much easier. This brings more transparency as creators can trace who has remixed the content and on which platform. Blockchain apps also help with smoother revenue redistribution channels and better licensing regimes.
In a web3 setup, it becomes easier to harness the network effects of social media with every user adding value to the platform. A creator can post something and then followers can contribute through derivative content and creative adaptations.
The new contributions from fans add to the existing content’s value and expand the network effects. Eventually, more followers convert themselves from passive consumers to active participants, thereby leading to more revenue growth.
Web3 apps have the necessary technological infrastructure to redistribute the revenue to contributors who assisted in the platform’s growth. To understand the process, consider the following example.
Collaborating on Web3 Apps: Example and Possibilities
Imagine a content creator who wants to build a digital universe on a web3 app through his content. He can post the narrative outline and other information for collaborators to work on.
The creator’s followers can adopt a character and develop an additional plotline for a secondary character. Since creators have sovereign ownership over their content, they can decide how collaborators will build on top of the primary content.
Therefore, web3 apps facilitate fanfictions and collaborative projects where the contributors abide by pre-defined licensing terms to prevent undue violations. The creators can also track such collaborations and set parameters to get their rewards or royalty shares from secondary content sales.
For example, Tomo is one such web3 app that facilitates easy creator-follower collaborations.
Tomo: The One-Stop App For Creator-Follower Collabs
Tomo is a web3 social media application operating on Linea, a zkEVM Layer 2 blockchain. Its ‘Key’ system and ERC-4337 wallets empower content creators and followers to directly connect and monetize their virtual connections. The app offers tokenized access to creators’ private feeds and chat rooms.
Apps like Tomo are the future of web3 social media where creators will maintain complete content ownership. It will also provide the necessary tools for content monetization, collaboration, and transparent attribution.
Web3 social media has the potential to convert casual users to active contributors, thereby expanding the network and generating additional value. It will eventually lead to a sustainable community-led creator economy.
These web3 apps will provide an environment where content creators and followers can collaborate, contribute, and benefit from each other’s ideas. In this ecosystem, popular digital creators will harmoniously co-exist with new and evolving creators to unleash an unprecedented growth story.
About Tomo: Tomo is a web3 social media application that empowers content creators and fans to forge direct connections. The app runs on Linea, a zkEVM Layer 2 blockchain, and uses account-abstracted ERC-4337 wallets for a seamless user experience and easy content monetization.
Download the Tomo app from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store and start using it on your Android or iOS phones.
Get more updates by following us on:
- X (formerly Twitter): tomo_social
- Instagram: tomoinc
- Tiktok: tomoinc
- Hoo.be: tomo
- Youtube: Tomo_Social
- Website: Tomo.inc
