The Emergence of Mass Media, Culture, & Gen Z Consumer Engagement within Web3.
My musings on the future of the internet, culture, and technology.
“If royalties are enforced at the application layer, creators need to have leverage over the marketplace. the most leverage creators can have over the marketplace is to run the marketplace themselves, and create the incentive to exchange (exclusively) on it.” - Shayon Sengupta ( Twitter, October 10, 2022)
Cultural Impact of Corporate Institutions
Recently, an article was released about the cultural imprint that Nike, Inc. has left on the macroeconomic scale of business.
Nike is over 50 years old and the fact that another corporate giant, Apple, has established a financing deal with Nike's production studio is proof of how content, media, and culture intersect with one another to grow a brand is the future of enhancing the consumer experience.
Article: (https://lnkd.in/g9E2DbFK)
Nike NFT Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/26/style/nike-nft-sneaker.html
In April, Nike released its first collection of virtual sneakers, called Cryptokicks, which comprised 20,000 NFTs, including one designed by the artist Takashi Murakami that was bought by someone named AliSajwani for $134,000.
“The mechanics around NFTs and sneakers are pretty similar,” said Jurgen Alker, who runs the NFT studio for Highsnobiety, the lifestyle site that covers streetwear and sneakers. “Both are created around scarcity and drops. It is about community, status, and belonging to something.”
Consumer Adaptation and Observation:
The fourth industrial revolution and third tectonic shift of blockchain solutions are here ripe for disruption and now coming for mass adoption at scale. After the Web2 platforms and underground markets of SilkRoad - where consumers were able to buy prohibited items utilizing Bitcoin - there is an opportunity for companies to build more trust, transparency, and identity with consumers.
Especially with how consumers are interacting and embracing the phenomenon of Web3 when it comes to monetizing their own experiences and having deeper relationships with the creators they interact with on social platforms.
Typically, consumer giants tap into the core drivers of human behavior; belonging, creativity, sense of importance, status, fostering connection, and sense of security to establish relationships with their target customers. Pending the endless consumer cycle of “desire-buy-feel good-repeat”
This fleeting scenario is what drives revenues and production to higher degrees and margins; however with the new frontier of technology companies are realizing that there must be something that lasts more in order to drive retention, usage, and engagement. After all, human beings are an experiential species that value community, connection, and belonging more than stuff.
This leads to the prime nature of crypto-native companies, where their consumers are community-based, but had no real-life application until the late 2020s, with the emergence of Portugal-based Socios, a fan engagement platform that allows passive watchers to active fans by distributing fan tokens, collectible, digital assets minted on the Chilgiz blockchain, enable the world’s biggest sporting properties to plug into a fan influence and fan reward ecosystem.
Knowing how to establish this trust, an area where most crypto-native companies struggle due to concerns of (trust & safety, seamless user experience for the older consumer, and top-of-mind branding), presents an opportunity to expand their strong community base and sense of belonging that are already established within the ecosystem.
It is still early, but as history has shown, there always has been a strong indication that consumers desire a deeper connection with the organization they support, particularly when it comes to fandom and how one is able to garner relationships. Especially, with Generation Z digital natives and their embrace of technological advancement, particularly with investing in the digital asset class to generate higher returns for their portfolio, grow their wealth, and deepen their interests.
Is this saying that mass media adoption and fan involvement going to decrease the wage and wealth gap, especially during an eve of an economic recession the answer?
No, not at all, but rather it is an observation, based on how quickly things are moving and something to keep in mind with the use cases that will present themselves in the next 5-10 years and how consumers, fans, and companies are going to interact with one another.
Listed below is a diagram breakdown by Deloitte of the use cases that will be presented with blockchain-enabled technology.
As an individual who is an active participant in hypebeast culture, Mass Media, and engaging with influencers within the creator economy - it should be noted there will be risk and damage associated with this how things are moving.
Particular examples Kim Kardashian EthereumMAX, Floyd Mayweather, DJ Khaled, but nonetheless that does not hurt the excitement and growth of institutional investors from participating in the emergent rise.
Staples Center is now the Crypto.com Arena.
American Airlines Stadium in Miami is now FTX Arena
Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban making game tickets into NFT’s for fans post game.
Royal.io and Musical are reinventing music royalties and fan monetization.
Platforms like AsyncArt are allowing artists to collect royalties on future, secondary sales of artwork they create.
NFT ticketing + experiences drive utility by offering gated access to special events, as well as exclusive loyalty programs.
Coin Desk Consensus and WURST NFT Art Gallery Experience
Closing:
This blog does not answer how things will turn out but is only meant to pose more questions, spark curiosity, and display that the writing here is at least a competent level of understanding as I apply for this role.On a personal note, as a novice writer and an observer of the crypto ecosystem, I am primarily interested in how creators will establish themselves to become economic sovereign and not rely on record labels, entertainment conglomerates, and fear of missing out on trends to place themselves in position for generational success.
I am curious to see which product and consumer experiences will take innovation to a new level. One company that truly sticks out is Spatial Labs by Iddris Sandu, in which Marcy Venture Partners invested.The cultural zeitgeist and emphasis of blockchain ownership, verification, and the ability to trade consumer products on a chain (Polygon) with others are fascinating real-life application use and visionary insight by an African Founder and someone of my background. India and China are leaders in this and it is exciting to see where this will go.
Metamask’s 21 million monthly active users in November represent just 0.7% of Facebook’s nearly 3 billion MAUs, and 6% of Twitter’s 331 million MAUs. Collectively, most of us have only dipped our toes into the waters of web3 and its potential.
In conclusion, the space needs more innovators with experience building products that customers love. It needs people who know how to build a consumer company in this space — understanding behavioral psychology, designing delightful user experiences, and encouraging positive consumer habits.
I’m confident that in the coming years, strong UX, novel blockchain infrastructure, and curated community will supercharge and empower consumers/creators to own and share their identity on the internet like never before.