Social Live Stream Shopping Is Coming in Hot (Again?) - Does It Need Web3?

A web3 iteration of media has creators owning their audiences

Two recent news articles about social livestream selling, as well as TikTok’s renewed interest in the space, got me excited about an aspect of Web3 I hadn’t been thinking about lately - creators owning their audiences.

I’ve heard it said that new B2C platforms require 10m users to achieve scale. As I read this article about social shopping app Bond, a social selling platform hoping to capitalize on the popularity of the medium found in Asia (gosh, I wish I could watch these ladies shill!), I wondered about their route to this elusive 10m users. In Vogue Business, the founders detail that they want to convert audiences from the apps du jour, e.g., TikTok and the ‘Gram, to this new, more commercial medium.

(apparently this was a multi-hour discussion of art as it relates to make-up colors. Can I learn Chinese and get wechat? credit JingDaily)

Successful Algorithms Feed off Volumes of Content

For now, the success of Bond or other platforms relies on their algorithm's success. When I log in, is it slamming me with enough dopamine to keep me coming back, eager to see what my favorite forty-something upper-class erstwhile-mummy blogger is doing next? Algorithms, which necessitate a LOT of content from which to cherry-pick, are necessary to keep the content at the level of interesting that we expect. 

There’s another solution. We could follow fewer, better people and pay for the privilege. But where’s the fun in that?

Step One - Towards Decentralization, A Substack Story

I’m sure all of you dear readers have noticed a trend amongst influencers of a certain genre, I’m looking at you Courtney Grow and Leandra Medine Cohen, moving their viewers on the ‘Gram to a substack. I also follow a couple of newsletter-first fashion publications, like Laura Reilly’s Magasin. A newsletter, paid or not, is a far more direct relationship with your fans. Courtney and Leandra and Laura are holding on to my email address at a minimum, maybe my cc info. And they deserve this because they are putting out choice content. They deserve to own their audience.

(even headless, she’s still cool)

While Substack is still the middleman, they are not (currently) selling ads against the newsletters or (to my knowledge) taking a cut of affiliate revenue. They could (and should?) since they are a centralized player, and that’s the name of the monetization game, BUT most crucially, the creators have the email lists and a direct way to monetize. This is an excellent move for savvy creators.

Step Two - Actually Decentralize Using Web3

When I think about the next-gen of platforms, given the power of some influencers, their ability to monetize will eventually come back to Web3 principles. The future is about direct, decentralized, pseudonymous relationships.

Maybe I will watch Leandra Medine livestream on Bond, but given her ability to move merch without any fancy tech, creators like her shouldn’t be settling for bringing their audience places and then making affiliate money. She and her ilk should own the audience by issuing tokens in their brand, either subscription or permanent. Power to the creators! This shift will take time. Web3 tech isn’t easy enough yet to make this seamless. But newsletters are a good first step towards this essential diversification of media. Instagram is amazing for one type of content, TikTok another, but they aren’t as shoppable or long-form as sometimes you need. They form a top-of-funnel intro to a creator’s brand that ends up in a place the creator can control and monetize.

Incentivize Platforms To Create The Best Experiences

In the end, that place might be Bond or another social selling app. But the power of a centralized platform to take the lion’s share of the profit, when creators are providing the content value, should be left behind in Web2. Where does this leave platforms? Iterating on customer experience, not figuring out how to hoover up your data. Now, that being said, I love Instagram ads, and there has to be room for platforms to monetize. But the beauty of Instagram ads is how much value they provide and how seamlessly they fit in my feed. This should be the bar for all platforms, bringing that value to the commercial enterprise of content.

Stay tuned for next week when I tie this to the LIV-PGA golf kerfuffle while laying out a new paradigm of content ownership.