Phaver is taking the best parts of social media, and making them work in the global Web3 ecosystem. As one of the most powerful forces in the Web2 era, social media grew into a monster. Mega tech companies took over the space, and put profits in front of everything else.
People’s rights to their data were nonexistent, and personal data was abused to make big money for a few huge companies. Phaver is well aware of this problem, and its platform allows people to use social media in a very new environment.
Key Takeaways:
- Phaver is a Web3-native social media platform that prioritizes users’ rights to their data.
- Unlike traditional Web2 social media platforms that misuse user data, Phaver gives users control over their data and their digital experience.
- Phaver offers in-app gamification and rewards high-quality content creators. Creators can accumulate Phaver Points (in-app currency) which can be swapped for other tokens.
- The platform has over 250,000 installs and more than 60,000 connected third-party NFTs.
What is Phaver?
Phaver distills the best parts of the Web2 social media model, and adds the power of Web3 to the mix, giving people control over their data. The co-founders of Phaver, Joonatan Lintala and Tomi Fyrqvist, saw the need for a change in social media.
Both of the co-founders came from a strong background in the global technology space, and fully understood that Web2 technology was being used in a way that put huge companies first, and users, who actually created value for the platforms, last.
Instead of working in the Web2 paradigm, Joonatan Lintala and Tomi Fyrqvist opted to start from scratch, and develop a Web3-native social media platform. The project they envisioned became Phaver, and today it has more than 100,000 weekly average users.
The platform also has partnerships with Lens Protocol and CyberConnect, which will grow as Phaver offers its users even more social media and Web3 options, like NFTs and data decentralization. Phaver has also created a solid footing in Asia, where the average user in South Korea spends at least 6 hours per week on the platform.
The Value of Data
Facebook, now called ‘Meta’, is a perfect example of why a platform like Phaver is coming along at the exact right time. While the format of Phaver is different from Facebook (Phaver is similar to Twitter from a UI perspective), the way it handles data is where its value truly shines.
Social media platforms in the Web2 era felt like a friendly place where people could share ideas and connect with their friends. For many people, they felt like the platform allowed real connections, and gave them a place to ‘live’ online with their communities.
The idea of Facebook or Twitter as an impartial social space is a nice idea, but in practice, these Web2 social media behemoths were data mines that both exploited user data, and the users themselves. There is a long list of Facebook’s transgressions, with the Cambridge Analytica scandal standing out as an especially egregious example.
Then there was the hack which compromised data from more than 500 million Facebook users. To add insult to injury, Facebook decided it would not share any information about the hack with the users who lost their data to hackers, which seems a lot like an abusive relationship.
Social media in the Web2 era at its finest!
Driving Value
The Phaver platform lends itself to in-app gamification, which both drives the value of the platform, and encourages users to create high-quality content. Anyone on the platform that creates value in the form of great content will be rewarded, while spambots aren’t likely to get much in the way of engagement, and thus, will not be financially viable.
In fact, great creators can build their follower base by adding their content to Premium Topics, and earn Phaver Points – the in-app currency that would be swapped for other tokens if the creator wished to. The creator would also gain more visibility, which helps them build a personal brand in the Web3 space, beyond the Phaver platform.
Phaver is also building partnerships that want to take full advantage of Phaver’s existing 250,000 installs and over 60,000 connected 3rd party NFTs.
The platform is a great partner to have in the evolving Web3 space, and other platforms and companies that want to enter Web3 with crypto-native campaigns can help Phaver monetize its growing users base, and offer them unique promotions they won’t find anywhere else!
Phaver has already created value by working with The Smurfs, Korea’s Lotte Groups Bellygom NFTs and other Web3 projects, so there is no doubt that the platform has the potential to grow its own brand along with its partners’.
The Advertising Angle in Web3
Any social media platform can be used for advertising, but Phaver understands that in the world of Web3, users have control over their data. For this reason, Phaver is working on a multi-faceted advertising strategy that gives users the ability to opt-in to sharing data for targeted adverts, or paying with Phaver Points to be left out of the advertising economy altogether.
For example, if a person doesn’t want to deal with ads on Phaver, they would have the ability to swap Phaver Points for a totally ad-free experience, and Phaver wouldn’t have to offer its platform for free (which is a money losing situation).
On the other hand, Phaver users could choose to see generic ads and be rewarded, or also share their data, and gain even more from seeing targeted adverts. This is also a great strategy for advertisers, as they can be sure that the people who are seeing their ads are open to advertising, and their message will be delivered.
Advertisers would also be incentivized to use Phaver tokens to pay for advertising on the platform, which is good for the liquidity of the token, as it creates organic demand. Data privacy and advertising in the Web3 world can work together, and Phaver is creating the tools to make it all happen.
How To: Connect With Phaver
Phaver is simple to use. Here is how anyone can get started with the platform:
- You just sign up with email or a Web2 login, no wallet is required – but a wallet login is coming soon.
- Set up a Web2 Phaver profile.
- If you have a Lens Protocol profile you can connect it during signup and get all the Lens content and followers populated immediately.
- Enter the app and choose to either subscribe to relevant topics or follow interesting users to start curating the feed. If neither is done the feed is based on recent popular content.
- To start earning Cred and leveling up, you can connect one or multiple wallets (in-app or at connect.phaver.com) and any qualifying NFTs in those wallets will start earning Cred as well as Points yield on days when you are active on Phaver.
- Each day you return, you earn Cred and Points based on their NFTs but you can also earn points by posting content or staking on good posts (free stakes renew daily for level 2+ users).
Bottom Line
Phaver is a whole lot more than a reboot of Web2 social media with Web3 elements. It is a holistic change in the way social media works that leverages partnerships and next-generation blockchain technology to deliver a great user experience, and a new level of data privacy for anyone that wants it.
