The Web2 social media network has a huge presence in our everyday lives. Statistics show that 58% of the global population spends over two hours daily on these platforms.
However, content creators and users hardly get a share of the platform’s revenue and are subject to the company’s opaque content moderation policies.
Web3 social network protocols emerged with on-chain asset tokenization to solve the problems of traditional social networking companies. But most platforms have yet to offer sustainable solutions or disrupt the Web2 model.
For instance, in 2021, BitClout gained traction with its tokenized social profile model. But it fizzled out due to its poorly planned economic structure as creators couldn’t convert their in-app profits to fiat currency.
More recently, in August 2023, Friend.tech stormed the Web3 social space with daily fees reaching more than $1.7 million. However, the platform lost steam as transactions declined by 90%. Coinbase’s risk manager blamed it on “poor execution”.
The web3 social media ecosystem needed a platform that could resolve these challenges and provide a long-term solution.
Enter Tomo.
Tomo is a Web3 social media protocol with a sustainable financial ecosystem and a ready-to-use app interface. Its blockchain-powered backend infrastructure provides token-gated access to creators and sovereign ownership of digital assets.
Content creators and followers on Tomo can simultaneously enjoy the seamless user experience of traditional social media and the benefits of blockchain-based apps without requiring any Web3 knowledge.
In this article, we’ll explain what Tomo is, its underlying technology, and how the Tomo economy functions to benefit both creators and followers.
What is Tomo?
Tomo is a Web3 social finance (SocialFi) protocol that enables content creators, influencers, and eminent personalities to forge direct connections with fans and followers. Tomo users can collaborate with each other to create content, have tokenized access to chat rooms, and direct messaging features.
How?
SocialFi combines aspects of decentralized finance (DeFi) with social media through tokenization and other on-chain value-generation techniques.
This implementation empowers Tomo creators and fans to have sovereign control over their digital data, have access to transparent content monetization policies, and prevent unilateral censorship.
Tomo runs on Linea, a zkEVM Layer 2 blockchain built by Consensys, which offers multiple benefits to users.
First, by using Linea, Tomo offers extremely low gas fees, making it 15x cheaper than if it were built on Ethereum. Second, it has a high transaction throughput with automated transaction signing, avoiding any form of congestion.
The platform also ensures a smooth user experience through frictionless sign-up options with your Google, Apple, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram accounts. Android and iOS users can download the Tomo app on their phones and start using it right away!
You can create an account on Tomo without having to worry about creating a Web3 wallet. The application automatically sets up a non-custodial wallet in the backend for its users, thanks to ERC-4337.
Tomo leverages the benefits of account abstraction and smart accounts to enhance the Web3 social media usage experience. Thus users can start using Tomo without having to interact directly with any Web3 technology.
In the following section, we’ll explain how ERC-4337 wallets help Tomo users.
Leveraging Account Abstraction for Tomo
Smart accounts are independent smart contracts that initiate and execute transactions without any externally-owned accounts (EOAs).
Note: EOAs are seed phrase-enabled non-custodial wallets like Metamask or Coinbase Wallet.
Since Tomo uses smart accounts, it offers multiple benefits to users.
Users no longer have to worry about storing their seed phrase. Besides, they can export or back up their Tomo wallet from their profile ‘Settings’. Thus, users can access their account and on-chain assets even after changing their phone.
Further, account abstraction facilitates easy wallet recovery. The smart account holders will be able to delegate third parties as wallet guardians. They can sign a transaction to issue fresh credentials for wallet access.
With smart accounts, users also don’t need to sign each transaction individually. The wallets will batch transactions and sign them together.
Tomo users can start using the platform by depositing a small amount of ETH in their ERC-4337 wallets. They can deposit ETH directly on Linea or from Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism or Base chain. Tomo offers automated bridging and can bridge funds to Linea if someone uses an EOA wallet like Metamask to deposit ETH.
However, users can still access Tomo even if they decide not to use or purchase crypto. Content creators can use their virtually gained fees to activate their ERC-4337 wallets and start using Tomo.
To better understand how the aforementioned system works, let’s explore Tomo’s economic model.
An Overview of Tomo’s In-App Economy
Tomo leverages a blockchain-based Proof-of-Support mechanism to establish direct connections between content creators and followers. This mechanism ensures transparency in the creator economy, facilitates collaborative ventures, and enables unique revenue-sharing models.
The platform uses ‘Keys’ linked to a bonding curve to connect influencers and fans with each other. Let us elaborate on these concepts to understand how they function.
Key
Tomo users can buy Keys to gain special access to a creator’s direct message, exclusive content and private chatroom. These Keys are applicable for content creators who are already using Tomo. Users can also sell their Keys if they decide to unfollow a creator and leave the chatroom.
Each Key’s transaction entails a 10% royalty fee. Out of this, 5% goes to Tomo and the remaining 5% directly goes to the creator’s in-app crypto balance.
This makes it possible for crypto-averse content creators to join Tomo and use their in-app crypto balance to activate the ERC-4337 wallets. They can start using Tomo without purchasing any crypto at all.
The price of Keys depends on the concept of a bonding curve. This means the price increases when more Keys are bought and decreases when Keys are sold.
The bonding curve ensures that the protocol always maintains adequate liquidity as users trade their Keys using smart contracts instead of traditional order books.
Exciting New Features Coming to Tomo
Our developer team is working hard to introduce additional features within the Tomo app for a better user experience. The following is a list of some of the latest in-app developments:
1. Tomo now has a separate public ‘Story’ page. You can tap left to view the previous story, tap right to view the next story, and swipe up to view the next recommended story. Users cannot comment on a Story but they can directly send a message. However, they need to purchase a Key to send messages.
2. Content creators can use the center ‘New’ button to publish public Stories or private Feeds. Tomo currently supports only private feeds but users can now comment on a feed.
3. Each user’s profile page also displays their public Story and private feed. Followers can now bookmark a content creator’s profile or share their Tomo link with others.
4. In the Chat Room page, admins can now mute everyone, appoint or remove managers, and delete other user’s messages. Moreover, members in the Chat Room can reply to and tag other users as well as delete or edit their own messages.
5. The DM page now supports voice messages and users can delete or edit their own messages.
6. Tomo now shows all the Keys together, sorted by price, 24-hour volume, and holding value. Users can choose if they want to show their holding value within the app. Tomo also has a Local page that sorts users by distance, a Following page, and a separate page for users to keep track of the creators’s Keys they hold.
7. Users can now display a custom link on their profile page. Tomo offers an exclusive affiliate link for all content creators from Satori, Amazon, Shopify, and eBay. If followers purchase any product with the creator’s affiliate link, Tomo will directly credit the commission to the creator’s ERC-4337 wallet. There will also be an SDK for partner companies to implement their affiliate link on Tomo.
As we head into the future, we will keep adding new features that will cater to the growing needs of users and creators alike.
New Tomo, New Possibilities
SocialFi is still in its very early stages and has a long way to go till it reaches the masses. Some platforms have scalability issues and buggy user interfaces and depend on speculative trading to sustain them.
Tomo is one of the few Web3 protocols in the SocialFi realm that is trying to establish itself as the future of tokenized social media. It’s robust technical infrastructure and a sound in-app economy has the potential to drive mass adoption.
Meet Your Next Tomo!
To get started, download the Android or iOS versions of the Tomo V2 app on your smartphones and start collecting Tomo points.
Get more updates by following us on:
- X (formerly Twitter): tomo_social
- Instagram: tomoinc
- Tiktok: tomoinc
- Hoo.be: tomo
- Website: Tomo.inc
