Can social tokens compete with Meta and TikTok?

Social tokens are one of the many layers of the metaverse (something I wrote about recently).

Some argue that a blockchain-domiciled structure might be a better system, with creators and consumers getting a bigger slice of the pie than the current system, dominated by big players like Meta, TikTok, etc.

P00ls is a platform that expects Web3 to disrupt the space. They have a platform that allows creators and brands to launch their own social tokens and distribute them among their communities, becoming currency for each respective ecosystem.

Today we interviewed Hugo Renaudin, CEO of P00LS, asking him some questions stemming from the ambitious project, as well as questions about his new Creator World and his token.

(CoinJournal) CJ: Creator Worlds seems like an interesting concept – what is your plan to attract users to it, rather than competitors that exist in the space with similar protocols?

I think the key here is that we are building for hobbyists and not speculators, whereas the previous generation of hobbyist token platforms were aimed at cryptocurrency traders and speculators. This means we focus on creating experiences that allow people to earn (rather than buy) and use (rather than sell) social tokens from their favorite creators to access meaningful experiences and interactions. When you think about creator worlds, this is where this interaction between the community and the creator happens, and where people can easily use their social tokens to gain utility. This is the core of the relationship between fans and creators, where a social token unlocks levels of community participation and involvement not seen in similar fan token protocols, or even with web2 social media platforms.

CJ: Given that much of social media and Internet content is controlled by large companies (TikTok, Meta, etc.), do you think their influence and network effects could carry over into the Web3 space in the future? For example, what would prevent Meta from launching a centralized version of something like Creator Worlds?

You’re right, legacy Web2 platforms have a competitive advantage because they already have a massive audience and user base. Some have made very successful forays into Web3, such as Reddit, which has created millions of portfolios for its users.

That said, for Meta and Tiktok, creating social tokens would go completely against their current model. If you think about what a social token can do, it’s an amazing way to meet and interact directly with a community of fans. If you launch a social token and distribute it to your fans, you will know who your most engaged fans are (they have a lot of tokens) and you can interact with them directly (through P00LS worlds or a tokenized Discord channel, for example). In addition, Meta and Tiktok’s business model is to charge creators and brands for this information.

What is interesting is that we can use Meta and Tiktok to create value and meaningful interactions for social tokens. We can use these platforms to deliver content directly to social token holders. For example, we just launched a private Instagram account for one of our designers, Hugo Comte, which can only be accessed by having some of his social tokens.

CJ: How hard is it to launch zerozeroDEX, in terms of attracting cash in the first place?

Actually, we are very happy to launch our DEX with low liquidity. The way we envision a healthy life cycle for a social token is to launch it with zero liquidity first and just make it available to a community through participation and iteration, and then gradually introduce more and more liquidity.

Right now we’re in the early stages, so we don’t need too much liquidity because fans can still earn their social tokens. Our bet is that as these communities grow, demand will grow, which will naturally lead to liquidity.

CJ: The P00LS token was recently launched in the midst of a bear market. How difficult has it been to build while the market has plummeted this year?

I think it’s a much better time to launch than to have a launch at the height of the bull market and now have a token priced well below the launch price.

That said, I like to build in bear markets. People are much more focused on building than speculating, and community members are here for the long term, not just short-term speculation.

CJ: Most social tokens are down 90% or more. In previous bear markets, many low liquidity currencies fell so much that they never recovered those highs, do you think we will see the same here?

Again, the previous generation of social tokens was designed for speculators and cryptocurrency traders and we are focused on amateurs. This makes a big difference: no matter the price of the tokens, there will always be fans who earn tokens through engagement and use them to access utilities and experiences that allow them to be closer to their favorite creators.

This will never change, regardless of token price, which is why we place as much emphasis on the adoption of social tokens by true fans as we do by speculators.

CJ: Have you ever considered operating without native tokens? For example, have you considered using $ETH to exchange them for creator tokens, instead of the native P00Ls token?

No. From the beginning, we wanted to build a community, a collective future where we could make users and creators participants in our protocol on the same level as our team or our investors. For that you need a token, otherwise we are just another Web2 company.