The way we interact online is undergoing a massive shift, away from an emphasis on creator-led content and towards more community-driven connection. Web3 is the next iteration of the internet, in which users will be the ultimate builders of content and experiences, and value is decentralised in the form of tokens, distributed ledgers, cryptocurrencies and computing power.
Web3 offers a more equitable and open web – one where “users” are people first, with rights and dignity. It has the potential to address some of the more negative aspects of online life, such as lack of privacy and the prevalence of disrespectful discourse. In this new phase, decentralisation, democratisation, and unfettered access will create an emerging community economy. In this new online landscape, brands have the opportunity to become community builders.
From the creator model to the community economy
The creator economy dominates much of the internet today. This model elevates one person above the rest, as the arbiter of conversation. Communication flows in one direction, from the creator down to followers; the creator acts as a celebrity ruling over a fandom, rather than a participating member of a collective. Under this system, we’ve seen power concentrated in the hands of a few Big Tech platforms.
The community economy, in contrast, is a product of the decentralized ethos of Web3. In this model, everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute to the conversation because the value lies in the collective community instead of the individual creator. The power and influence of each community, in turn, is based on the number of engaged participants. People are free to make their own choices about how they interact with brands and platforms – whether they’ll pay to access sites with limited advertising, whether they’ll register their information on an app for exclusive benefits or loyalty programs.
In the emerging community economy, all constituents – people, advertisers, publishers and brands – are on equal footing. Brands and media serve as the impetus or starting point for connection and can play an active role in cultivating the communities that build up around them. These are the three pillars brands need to adhere to in order to build a thriving, healthy community:
With its emphasis on a community economy, Web 3 has the potential to address some of the more negative aspects of online life.
1. Create a safety net for civil dialogue
People should be able to expect civil behaviour when they comment on articles, videos or social posts. In order to earn the trust of their customers and followers, brands must create safe places for quality conversations. They should maintain civility on their websites, on social media and in their comments sections by modeling good behavior and monitoring user-generated content.
2. Build systems to protect customers’ data
Users need to have ownership over their data. Under the current system, social media giants use data for gain, but a community economy allows users to decide what they are willing to exchange for access and operation. Brands that give users this freedom will be best equipped to build trust and encourage people to return again and again to their site – a foundational element of an active community. This might mean allowing users to replace subscription pricing with advertising, as Netflix has. Or consider Brave’s approach, which rewards users who watch ads with Brave coins.
3. Become a destination for diverse engagement
Media and brands need to shift their mindset away from a focus on content or product production, towards community building. After all, people don’t return to a publisher’s site simply because they like one particular writer, or repeatedly return to a brand simply because they liked one purchase. It’s about a bigger picture, involving shared values and interests. It’s about connecting with the community and trusting the brand.
Whether you’re a sports league or an ethical cosmetics company, you have an opportunity to make your brand a destination for engagement. Brands can create metaverse experiences where people can convene and connect; they can build spaces for their customers to converse on their own website or app. They can launch creative activations that merge the experiences of people at their physical locations with the experiences of customers online.
Imagine, for example, if the NBA chose to reclaim the center of conversation from social media and bring fans to its own website to encourage interactions. It could offer custom avatars, host virtual games and develop exclusive features, or create a rewards program for fans that build out their profile and network on the NBA’s website. I call this BYOW (“bring your own web”) and brands that adopt it will be at the forefront of building the decentralized community economy.
The community economy model promises a new chapter in online engagement, which is built on trust rather than authority. Now is the moment for brands to start mapping out their blueprint for the future.
Tiffany Xingyu Wang is chief marketing officer, OpenWeb.
This story was first published by the World Economic Forum and is republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License.
