The case against traditional social media for creators and influencers

Today’s social media platforms are failing content creators. Creators and influencers are essential to the success of social media. They draw interest and drive traffic, which allows for increased user participation and most importantly increased revenues. But these same social platforms throw up significant and unnecessary challenges to these same creators when it comes to capitalizing on their own clout and fame. While some influencers may have amassed a substantial following over the years, there are limited incentive mechanisms on these platforms for them to monetize their influence effectively. Instead, they often find themselves relying on third-party brands or companies that pursue influencer marketing.

For those fortunate – and few – creators that work out a relationship with a brand can often find themselves in less than ideal situations. Content creators can sometimes feel made to promote products or services that might not align with their interests or the interests of their audience. For example, people are not following someone like NBA star Spencer Dinwiddie on Instagram because he endorses Nike or is endorsed by them; they follow him for his compelling content. As a result, promoting products from influencer marketing deals may feel forced and inauthentic, which can lead to potential backlash from their audience, or worse loss of some of that audience. Also, relying on these third-party brands for revenues can be inconsistent, leaving content creators uncertain about their income stability.

For creators there is another challenge, the sheer number of platforms that creators feel compelled to establish a presence is untenable. Each with their own, specific functionalities and capabilities has a profound impact on the success of content creators. On one hand, this abundance of platforms allows creators to reach a broader and more diverse audience. However, managing multiple platforms and adapting content to suit each one can be time-consuming and resource-intensive, challenging creators to effectively balance their time and energy. But it’s almost a never-ending game as the average consumer participates on seven different social networks per month on average*. How are creators expected to keep up with this level of fragmentation?

Further, creators must constantly be dealing with algorithmic changes on these platforms that affect content visibility and reach, requiring them to stay informed and adjust their strategies as needed. Additionally, monetization options and community building techniques vary across platforms, requiring creators to be familiar in navigating each platform's specific opportunities. For creators, they are stuck in a perpetual cycle as 70% of content creators today say they feel social media platforms put them at a disadvantage, but 60% say they are reliant on those platforms to showcase their work**.

Goodbye social media channels, hello social media revolution

The team at Calaxy are truly disrupting the social media landscape. With the Calaxy platform, they are launching the next evolution in social engagement, and putting the audience at the center of all action by empowering content creators to engage with them like never before. How are they doing this?

One way that Calaxy differentiates itself is by creating an environment that does not limit how creators can engage with their audiences. The platform breaks down the standard, siloed experience where creators need to tailor their content to each social channel and users then need to then move from channel to channel in order to consume different content or receive different experiences.

Instead, Calaxy has created a digital "work, stay, play" environment that offers a comprehensive and engaging online experience that caters to different aspects of a user’s interests. This goes well beyond traditional social media platforms by delivering a diverse range of functionalities and features that provide an all-in-one destination for both creators and their fans, catering to their social interactions as well as content needs. This holistic approach seeks to offer users a seamless and immersive online environment where they can fulfill a variety of needs and interests without having to switch between multiple platforms.

“Calaxy, in a way, is a marketplace that doesn't feel like a marketplace. What is meant by that is that we’ve built a platform that not only offers the ability for users to have their typical social experience where they follow certain individuals or creators as well as their friends and consume content in a way that is familiar, but then expands that experience to include opportunities to get closer to creators in a meaningful way” says Solo Ceesay, CEO and co-founder of Calaxy. “Creators on the platform have artistic license to create unique experiences that resonate with their fans, and these can be monetized, giving them a frictionless way to realize revenues from their work.” Content creators and influencers no longer have to feel compelled to align themselves with outside brands and associated interests in order to hopefully see some level of income from their work. They can go directly to their fanbase and deliver content that they know will be appreciated and highly valued.

Bringing web3 to the masses

Another way that the Calaxy differentiates itself is by embracing web3 technologies for each component of the platform. But the beauty of the platform lies in the overall user experience – both for creators as well as consumers. “The platform is designed to bring creators and fans closer by offering a decentralized social media experience that is elegant, very easy to use, and abstracts the web3 features in a way that they are completely relatable to a web2 user.” The team at Calaxy have achieved this with incredible effect. We’ll start with the user journey in order to explain.

When users create an account on Calaxy, the process is incredibly intuitive and frictionless. They simply install the app on their mobile device and create their profile just as they would on any other platform, there’s complete familiarity. Beneath this is the underlying foundation of the platform, which is a distributed ledger, in this case the Hedera public ledger. This brings transparency, immutability, and trust to the platform by recording every single transaction and interaction in a decentralized and tamper-proof way. Content creators can showcase their work, receive tips, or earn revenue from their offerings securely, as all transactions are recorded on the ledger, ensuring fairness and accountability. All of this is provided from the outset and is transparent to all users.

If and when a user wants to set up a personal payment method, in order to purchase an experience, service, or product, they are able to provide credit card information. Again, very straightforward, especially for those users that are more comfortable transacting in fiat. That being said, if there is an understanding or level of comfort transacting in crypto, the ability to create a non-custodial wallet on Calaxy, complete with account ID, recovery phrase, and keys can be done just as quickly, and users have full control over their assets. This goes for creators as well who can choose to take their earnings or payouts in fiat, crypto, or both. Bifurcating account creation from wallet creation allows for a much simpler onboarding experience and appeals to the abilities and comfort levels of every type of user.

Another way that web3 technology is being utilized is through the use of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and smart contracts. NFTs are actually at the heart of everything happening on the Calaxy application as every single transaction is recorded on ledger as an NFT and driven by smart contracts. This enables content creators to tokenize their unique offerings and assign ownership rights to buyers. This approach to digital ownership is again, behind the scenes and really helps to normalize their use, which is nothing short of groundbreaking.

A typical user journey would be the following: a user is able to purchase a product, service, or experience from a creator, and can use any type of payment that makes sense for them. They can use crypto, USD Coin (USDC), or their credit card. Regardless, once the purchase is made, an NFT representing the transaction is recorded on Hedera’s ledger. As soon as the transaction between the user and creator is complete, the funds are unlocked out of escrow and sent to the creator who then fulfills the transaction. All of this is completely transparent, and each party can easily see where the payment is going and for what it is paying for.

Per Ceesay, “this is completely different from other social platforms that don’t have this feature and therefore offer less transparency around the fulfillment of transactions, and frankly even the kind of experiences to be sold in here. Obviously we are avoiding these issues. We have very strict content guidelines, we have strict privacy concerns, and we want to make sure that we protect our users and creators, and having the level of transparency into the operational aspects of our platform through the use of NFTs and smart contracts is a core pillar of it.”

By building their platform with web3 technologies (a distributed ledger, crypto wallets, NFTs, and smart contracts) in a way that is accessible and simple for users accustomed to the web2 experience, Calaxy is very cleverly initiating a "silent" paradigm shift that is modernizing the way they creators and users interact, monetize, and build on the platform.

How Hedera is helping Calaxy redefine social media

The Hedera network itself was chosen thanks to its ability to support highly performant, and low-cost transactions at any scale. The network supports over 10,000 transactions pers second with a completely predictable fee structure, so that costs are minimized, which is incredibly appealing to users and creators and enables more confident adoption. The Hedera network also provides enhanced security and stability, which are crucial for maintaining users' trust and safeguarding their digital assets. “A social media platform like Calaxy requires so much throughput, scale, and transparency that Hedera was the best choice for us – and it delivers all of this out of the box with the added bonus of incredible security” says Ceesay.

The Hedera Token Service (HTS) has been instrumental in enabling the minting and distribution of NFTs on Calaxy. HTS has allowed the platform to provide a seamless, efficient, and cost-effective token management system for users and creators alike. We’ve already seen how NFTs are automatically created to facilitate every transaction on the platform. Additionally thanks to HTS, creators have the ability to very quickly and easily create and manage their own tokens as collectibles or verify ownership of a digital asset.

Calaxy leverages the Hedera Smart Contract Service (HSCS) to facilitate the transactions on its platform in a way that is secure and hyper efficient. For example, HTS allows Calaxy to deploy and execute smart contracts that ensure the fulfillment of agreements between creators and their fans and provides a level of trust among users that is invaluable.

According to Ceesay, “the decision to go with Hedera was a conscious one and one that is going to ensure that the Calaxy platform delivers for content creators and their fans”

Calaxy is quickly establishing itself as the defining social media platform for creators. Calaxy removes the frictions of existing social channels so creators can get closer to their fans while also creating easier pathways to monetization of their work, and Hedera is proud to be a part of their success story.

Resources:

• * https://www.axios.com/2022/10/25/survey-patreon-creators-big-tech-social-media

• ** https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2023-global-overview-report