Welcome to Social Media and the Blockchain. I am your host, Jennifer Navarrete. This episode is the fifth in a 30 part series and the second on the topic of curation.
Goals
Now, the goal of this show is to demystify the Blockchain as a content creation destination, simplify the onboarding process, and encourage you to learn more about Web 3.0. This week has been about demystifying the Blockchain. In episode four, I laid out the basics of being a Curator on the Blockchain. How upvotes, comments, and shares can be rewarding for both Content Creators and Curators. With yesterday’s explanation of curation, I thought today we would give a basic understanding of the value of being a content curator.
Disclaimer
This is the part where I remind you that this is not financial or investment advice. I am sharing my personal experience with creating and curating content on the Blockchain. This show and supporting blog post is strictly for educational purposes. Do your own due diligence before taking any action on something that may have financial ramifications. I am not a financial advisor. Nor, to the best of my knowledge, have I played one on TV.
Same Behaviors Different Results
In previous episodes, I’ve mentioned the same behaviors we do on traditional social media (like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube) are the same behaviors we can do on the Blockchain. But, with the potential for rewards for both Content Creators and Curators.
When I find a post or video or photo that I like, learn from, am inspired by, or entertained by I will either upvote, comment, or share that content. Sometimes I do all three, but that content has to be top tier for me to do that. I am more likely to upvote than comment and I am especially selective of what I reblog. After all, each of these steps is also a reflection of my role as a Curator.
If this sounds serious, it isn’t that much different than going on Twitter and liking a tweet or retweeting or simply replying to a tweet. However, when I do these actions on Twitter. there is not a built-in opportunity for me to be rewarded like there is on the Blockchain. Now, these are only a few examples. This does not mean every time I curate I earn a reward. Not at all. There are plenty of times when I comment on a post and receive no return engagement. Not every post or every comment is found by others to be worthy of their curation.
Explaining Rewards…Simply
So how exactly does curation work as far as rewards go? When a post reward is paid, the value of that reward is split out between the Author and the Curators. How? Well, that depends on many factors. Generally speaking, the Author aka Content Creator receives around half of the value of the reward. And the Curators (all of the people who upvoted or commented or shared the post) will share in the balance dependent on even more factors such as influence, vote value, etc.
As we are only on day five of this series, this is purposefully vague as to not get lost in the weeds. Each episode builds nuggets of knowledge that are building upon one another. This will make more sense as we go. What I want you to take away from today’s episode is that you, as the Curator of content (through your participation either through upvotes, commenting, or sharing) can be rewarded. However, if a post does not receive enough upvotes, comments, or shares to earn value then there will be no reward for either the Content Creator or the Curators. Why doesn’t every single post or comment receive a reward? Well, this is to encourage folks to make good meaningful informational, educational, inspiring, or entertaining content as opposed to just posting to post. What you create should have value, and who gets to determine that value? The Curators do.
In essence, this is a sort of checks and balances between content creators, content curators, and the community at large. And with that, I will bring this episode to a close.
Thank you for joining me for another episode of Social Media and the Blockchain. In the next episode, we’ll take a look at communities on the Blockchain.