5 Lessons Cryptopreneurs Can Learn From Social Media

Social media has a history that predates the internet itself. Usenet groups were early decentralized messaging applications that utilized the basic infrastructure of the internet for one-to-many communications long before the World Wide Web transformed it into a commercial superhighway. When child pornographers and drug dealers took it over, law enforcement and ISPs effectively shut it down. ISPs were more effective in that regard because many of them simply stopped supporting usenet groups.

The real history of the internet is wrapped up in the lessons we can learn from the successes and failures of the pioneers. Here are five lessons crypto developers can learn from social media of the past.

Great Technology Will Not Improve Upon a Good Idea

MatchMaker launched in 1986 as a BBS-based matchmaking service. For those who don’t know, bulletin board systems (BBSs) were the early internet’s precursor to forums.

In 1992, the company starting providing its services by telnet, an early internet-based communications protocol that used the TCP/IP application technology on which the modern internet is built. In 1996, the owners acquired the domain name matchmaker.com and moved their match making services online. However, two other dating websites beat them to the punch.

Kiss.com had launched in 1994 and Match.com in 1995. Daters officially had their own social networks. Match.com is the only one of the three still operational.

While MatchMaker was able to parlay the internet infrastructure to pioneer online dating, being able to build a website using the tools of the World Wide Web didn’t help it succeed. In the end, the service was not able to compete with Match.com, which became the dominant dating website for several years.

Past Success is Not Evidence of Continued Success

MySpace is an example of a social media platform that rose to popularity very quickly. In fact, it was the first social media website to become an international sensation. New users were automatically connected to site co-founder Tom Anderson, known simply as “Tom.”

Launched in 2003, by 2005, MySpace was the largest social networking website in the world with more than 100 million accounts. Of course, a registered account does not necessarily mean an active account. Many of those accounts were likely fake or inactive. But that didn’t stop News Corporation, owned by Rupert Murdoch, from purchasing MySpace for $580 million in July 2005. One year later, it was the most visited website on the planet, stripping both Yahoo! and Google of the honors. But that status wouldn’t last. The site was overtaken by Facebook in 2008 as the most popular social media site in the world and MySpace soon faded into oblivion. Justin Timberlake purchased MySpace for a fraction of the cost Murdoch paid for it.

Murdoch should have known better. Past success does not mean future success and no social media website proves that more than MySpace. As important as Steemit it to the cryptosocial community due to its early rise to prominence in the space, I do not ever see it becoming as popular as it once was. It will always be hailed as a case study that proves crypto and social can go together, but it has only secured its place as a historic artifact.

You Don’t Have to Be Underhanded to Be No. 1

In 2013, Facebook acquired a company called Onavo. The company develops mobile apps and one which Facebook has found particularly useful is Onavo Protect VPN.

A VPN is a virtual private network that allows users to browse the internet anonymously. Facebook rolled the product into its own mobile app, rerouted user traffic through its own servers, and collected user data in the process. Facebook was then able to use the app to spy on competitors for the purpose of using that information to acquire them.

Of course, that is illegal. Facebook is now facing antitrust litigation for an unrelated matter.

I hope no founders of cryptosocial media platforms end up in that much hot water, but I’m realistic enough to know that it will at some point happen. Steemit was involved in a cockfight last year with Tron founder Justin Sun, an event which led to the Hive hard fork. Where there is power to be grabbed, you can bet someone is going to do something underhanded to grab it. Don’t let it be you.

If You Rely Too Much on Your Code, You’ll Die a Slow Death

Beginning in 2012, YouTube began to demonetize content for some YouTube channels. Over time, they’ve ramped up their efforts and demonetized more content and channels. Popular YouTuber Philip DeFranco, who has more than 6 million followers on YouTube, has been a vocal critic of YouTube’s policies. Here’s DeFranco discussing how YouTube’s demonetization policies affected one content creator:

The issue on the surface is demonetization, but the real issue is the technology because what undergirds the actual practice of demonetization is this thing called an algorithm. It’s a program. And it does whatever its programmer tells it to do. The downside is that a program can flag as positive an event that rational thinking would not consider a trigger for the actual event you want to occur. In this case, demonetization.

What am I saying? Computer programs do whatever human developers tell them to do, but they aren’t capable of rational thinking. So if you hard code into your technology something you want that technology to do, don’t be surprised if the nonrational code interprets something innocuous as a serious trigger event.

Smart contracts are great things, but they can be bitten by their own perfection. And if that happens, the human engineers behind them will take the fall. That’s why Facebook uses human moderators to sift through a gazillion miles of garbage to catch the trash no one wants to see.

You Don’t Have to Find Yourself Today

Sometimes, people know what they want to be when they grow up at an early age. Other people don’t find out until they’re in their forties. Then, one day they wake up, color their hair purple, pierce their nipples, and shack up in Soho with a surfer dude named Bob hoping their children and third wife will forgive them.

By the same token, the same thing happens with social media platforms. Some, like YouTube, know what they want to be on the day they launch. Others, like Twitter, don’t figure it out until they’ve been taken over by hashtags.

There’s actually nothing wrong with that. If your crypto development team isn’t sure what you want your platform to be when it launches, just launch. You’ll figure it out later. Of course, it would be better if you had a clear vision from the start. But you can still find success on the way to way to beach even if you never make it to the beach.

In the immortal words of John Lennon,

Life is what happens to you
While you’re busy making other plans

It’s true of platforms and protocols too. There’s plenty of time to find yourself.

DISCLAIMER

I am not a financial advisor, nor do I give financial advice. The above information should not be considered financial advice but is for informational purposes only. Neither I nor Cryptowriter are responsible for financial losses incurred as a result of acting on this information. Please consult a financial advisor before making any financial decisions.

This post is published for Cryptowriter in association with Voice.

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