Taki : The "Social Media of Web3.0"
A Deep-dive into the future of Tokenized Social Content on Taki, empowering the Creators & Consumers.
All of us enjoy scrolling through TikTok, posting pictures on Instagram & listening to our favorite podcasts on YouTube. But have you ever wondered the enormous influence Social Media has on our lives? 🤔
Believe it or not, a lot of things happening around the world, Good or Bad are fueled by Social Media. One thing that we haven’t given much attention to, is that our present social media structure is quite centralized. It has resulted in concentration of power & control in the hands of few giants. A regular consumer like you & me hardly benefit from being a part of this ecosystem. 🙁
Do you believe you can be a Content Creator? Perhaps a Cooking Show on YouTube, streaming Games on Twitch or funny reels on Instagram? Are you discouraged because you may not find many viewers or not able to make decent money from your Content? 😕
It’s quite understandable to feel that way.
According to Alanspicer.com, out of the 51 million YouTube channels out there, only 0.25% are earning money for their content!
But there is no need to worry, because we now have “Web3” to our rescue! Today, we’ll discover one of the most promising Web3 content platform “Taki”, that believes in the potential of its users & creators. 😮💨
What is Web3 ?
I’m sure you must have come across this term all over Social Media & Tech Discussions these days. I will give you a brief overview of this concept so that we can understand how Taki is leveraging its capabilities to change social content.
Alright, as you know today’s internet, is majorly Web2 based, where we have large centralized companies that store and process our data and provide us services. Like Facebook (Now Meta) that stores all of our profiles, allows us to interact with others on their platforms and share our content.
In the Web3 space, things are based on the concept of Decentralization. No single entity has control over your data; No decision is made single-handedly and every participant in the ecosystem benefits based on their contribution.
Web3 uses a technology called “Blockchain⛓️”, which simply means that the record of your interactions with other computers is stored in forms of data chunks (Blocks) that form a relational chain over time (Blockchain). If the techno-blabber 🙄 confused you here is a simple Blockchain Explanation video.
Why do we need a Web3 Social Media?
In the current paradigm, there is no direct interaction between the creator & consumer of content. Companies like YouTube, Meta & TikTok act as intermediaries who decide how things happen. Hmm🧐…. Is that really a problem? I mean, we never notice any particular disadvantage. Well, here are a few to enlighten you😶🌫️
Creators don’t receive due credit, a significant chunk of revenue is taken by the platform, while the creators are under-compensated.
Regular Consumers like you & me, who spend hours of our valuable time on these platform are used as a Data source to generate ad-revenue but do we ever get a compensation for the time we invest in these platforms?
👆 These might not essentially be staunch disadvantages, but they are shortcomings that have scope of improvements. It was not feasible to do anything about this…… up till now. The Blockchain technology, has given rise to the concept of Tokenomics that is at the heart of “Taki” platform. Don’t worry, I’ll avoid all the tech jargon and ensure that you will understand the underlying working principle of the Platform. Let’s Dive in!! 🌊
Taki : Introduction
Taki, the engage-to-earn social network, aims to create a better community by rewarding users with a stake in the network itself. - Sakina Arsiwala (Co-founder, Taki)
Taki is a social network platform, that is powered by Blockchain Technology. The core principle, is that the community members must be valued and compensated for their participation. The platforms allows creators to share content and have complete ownership of it. It allows consumers to earn based on how they engage with this content. This model is referred to as Engage-to-Earn(E2E) model that believes in monetizing user interaction. We’ll discuss this in detail further down the Dive! Here is a quick summary of what we will explore about the platform today👇!
How did Taki start? 🤔
How does Taki Work? ⚙️
Where is Taki at it’s Development Stage? 📈
How to Access the Platform? 👨💻
Alternatives & Competitors. 🎭
How did Taki Start ?
Taki was founded by Kevin Chou & Sakina Arsiwala. The initial motivation to start the platform came from the increasing interest & participation in the Web3 space, alongside an opportunity to create an ecosystem or community where content receives the value it truly deserves. The founding team was formed in the fourth quarter of 2021 and then there was no stopping this revolution in the digital space!
How does Taki Work 🤔?
Alright, this is the crux of the matter. We’ll go step wise at understanding the basic principle based on which the platform functions. For clearer understanding, we’ll take an example of Khaby Lame (😎) who in this case is a content creator.
Now, the platform functions on the Solana Blockchain. It is one of the fastest, cheapest & most reliable blockchain available. Scaling on Solana is particularly easy and therefore several upcoming Web3 startups are leveraging this Blockchain’s potential.
Taki App📱 & Wallet💰 :
For you to either upload or view content, you would require an account on the Taki app which can be accessed on Android or iOS. It’s also available to access on web directly. Once you gain access to the app, you’ll create an account with your email ID. Then you’ll have to create a Taki Wallet. In this wallet you’ll be able to store, deposit & withdraw all your $TAKI tokens as well as User Coins (SOCIAL TOKENS).
Now let’s imagine that Khaby created an account, opened a wallet and started posting content. Now you & me, could view this content as posts. If we were to react, like or comment on these posts, we would earn a Social Token called $TAKI.
Presently, the platform supports text, images & GIFs. Video & other formats of content will soon roll out 📽️!
$TAKI Token Explained 🪙:
This is where the Engage-to-Earn (E2E) concept comes into play. Since you’ll be engaging with the post, the platform will compensate you with a $TAKI token. It is a social token on the platform that can be used across the Solana ecosystem. You can buy User Coins, send Gold TAKI or get several other benefits from owning this token. Essentially, it is a form of native currency money that is given to you for participating which you can further spend on the platform or even withdraw to get back its worth in fiat currencies like Dollar, Euro, Rupee, etc.
The $TAKI token is currently valued at 1 $TAKI = $0.02 USD approx. This value will increase as the demand for the token will. ~Source
User Coins explained 🤑:
This is one of my favorite concept in the app, User Coins are very similar to shares in a public company. Alright, this is what happens :
Users Coins are issued for a creator just like shares are issued for a public company. If you own a user coin for a particular creator let’s say a “Khaby Coin” you will get a certain percentage of all Gold Taki (2 $TAKI tokens) that the creator receives from viewers.
The value of the “Khaby Coin” will increase as the popularity & value of Khaby Lame as a creator will increase.
These coins will always be tradable with $TAKI tokens.
User Coin offer an investment opportunity to consumers, who can buy User Coins for their favorite creators while it is a means of revenue generation for the Creator. When you buy a User Coin with the $TAKI token, these tokens are sent to the creator. This acts as a motivation and provides the creator with funds to invest in their content. See, how there is no intermediary like in Web2 Content platforms. 😲
Gold TAKI explained 💸 :
This is the reward mechanism of the Taki Platform. If you want to appreciate a particular post or content, you can do so by sending a Gold Taki, which is nothing but 2 $TAKI tokens to the creator of the post. It is comparable to “Likes👍” on present day platforms.
If you send a Gold Taki, 1 $TAKI token is directly sent to the creator while the remaining 1 $TAKI token is distributed proportionally amongst the people who own the User Coins for that Creator. This way, the User Coin holders generate passive income from their investment.
Let’s imagine Khaby uploads a particularly funny post, someone will send him a Gold Taki to show appreciation. Khaby will get 1 $TAKI token, while you & me, who hold some “Khaby Coins” will receive some of the remaining tokens. This will be a passive income for us. Cool Right!
In its essence, the three mechanisms ⬇️ :
$TAKI tokens
User Coins
Gold TAKI
are responsible for building an Engage-to-Earn ecosystem, that makes our content experience more valuable & rewarding. We receive due credit for our participation as a part of the community.
How is the Taki Platform progressing ?
Here is a simple info-graph that explains the chronological progress of events at the Platform since its inception :
Here are the core Taki platform metrics at the moment of writing📈 :
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How to access the Taki Platform🧑💻 ?
Currently, the Taki platform is in its Beta stage, which simply means is that it is still under development and testing and has limited access. If you go visit the Taki Website you’ll have to create an account with your email & join the wait-list for access…. alongside 600000+ others 😧.
Now, you can try working your way up this wait-list by inviting friends with a custom invite link you receive by entering your already verified email address. But, I found a secret technique to access Taki without the boring wait!! 🤫😃
The Super-Secret Beta Access Formula (Just between You & Me🤫):
Alright, here is what I did to get quick access to the app. You can try it as well:
Join the Taki Discord Server and reach out to people who already have access to the platform.
DM such a person and genuinely request for an invite to the platform.
You’ll definitely get an invite with a few tries. This way you don’t have to wait.
Alternatives & Competitors 🎭:
Now, Taki is indeed a brilliant idea, but there are several other upcoming platforms that have a similar vision. I won’t bore you with the details, I’ll just mention the platform and a short comparison. 👍
CrowdPad :
CrowdPad is in the process of building a Creator-Economy very similar to Taki.
They have started with the short video format, and allow creators to launch their own Coins (Similar to User Coins).
Unlike Taki, there is not a complete ecosystem that includes rewards & appreciation protocols (Like $TAKI tokens & Gold TAKI).
In its essence, it is a management platform for creator DAOs & Community.
Checkout CrowdPad - Deep dive to know more!
my2cents :
my2cents aims at creating a reward - based content economy.
Creators are rewarded with native tokens for posting their content by the platform unlike in Taki where the viewers do so.
Viewers can earn tokens by agreeing to view ads. Essentially, it isn’t an Engage-to-earn model.
Unlike Taki, you can’t invest in creators using Social Tokens, instead you can invest in particular topics of content and get compensated based on its popularity.
One advantage, is that their are several sub-platforms like myVid (Short Videos), myPodcast (Podcasts), etc.
There are several other similar platforms as well like Chingari, Minds, Mastodon, etc.
Conclusion :
In my honest opinion, this initiative is going to be a huge success. The interest of community lies at the heart of Taki. The platform believes in valuing your investment, be it Time, Content or Money. It is particularly compelling for individual creators, organizations & DAOs, because your connect with your own community is direct. User Coins offer a tangible proof of your progress, allow interested viewers to become a part of your journey and give you a foundational base to grow with your content.
If you are a creator, try posting on the platform. If you are a viewer, try scrolling through the app. Trust me, you’ll realize what you have been missing out all this time. Go check out the Platform right away! 🚀
If you come across any of my posts, don’t forget to send me a Gold TAKI😁.
References :
What a great piece of article! To be honest, I generally don’t read. But, this article caught my attention. You presented your ideas and thoughts on web3 based social media really well 👍.