Photo by Warren Wong on Unsplash We need a map -- a set of instructions -- of how to get from Web2 to Web3. For this article, I 'interrogated' Ipshita Kumar, co-founder of Lemonade Social which provides a revolutionary approach to supporting creators digitally, physically, and monetarily. Ipshita comes with a background focus on hyper-growth startups in building partnerships, product monetization, and event-led brand activations. Her experience varies within the creator economy (as the co-founder of Lemonade) and within the hospitality sector where she led event designing for restaurants like Bread Street Kitchen by Gordon Ramsay and properties like Ritz Carlton, Atlantis the Palm and Renaissance Group. In her free time, she loves to drink champagne by the beach and host dinner parties with friends. What are the Main Disadvantages to Web2? If we look at broad pillars that differentiate between Web2 and Web3 - the themes that are often brought up are privacy, access, and choice. Data is controlled by providers on their own servers and users don’t often have a choice on how their data is being used. In terms of access, the service providers hold keys to your accounts and can cut users from their service whenever they want Finally, an important concept frequently discussed is 'choice,' -- Mega-platforms don’t allow . Meaning when you decide to move to a new platform you need to abandon your data on those platforms, therefore you are not given the choice. data portability These are some [definitely not all] of the prominent disadvantages of Web2 that Web3 promises to solve amongst many other things. How were creators corralled in web2? The most unfortunate part of this is that while 50M people recognize themselves as creators, only 1% of them actually make money. Meanwhile. all full-time creators spend 40 - 50 hours a week juggling creation tools along with 4+ distribution platforms with different audiences. So instead of spending all their time creating, they spend all their time managing and growing their presence and communities on different platforms. And in the end, you have no ownership of that community neither. Web3 has lots of Promises - What are the Main Ones? Going back to the first question, Web3 promises to have a fairer digital ecosystem that puts the power back into the hands of its users. This impacts every single type of user - creators, consumers, brands - everyone. Some of the promises are: Web3 allows you to move your data wherever you go, which is currently not possible on web3. Your identity stays within third-party websites. Control of your own data: Think of all those memes that are used repeatedly or in fact that form the internet culture and have gone all these years without giving credit to the creator. Ownership: The technology also allows lifetime royalties each time any work is sold in the secondary market, again, something that is currently not possible on Web2. Fair pay: A great example is - Artist A creates a digital art piece where 10% of the total sales go to a nonprofit of their choice. Once entered in the secondary market each time the art piece makes a profit, royalties are paid out for life and no one can change it since it’s secured by the blockchain. Web3 recognizes skillsets that are currently being ignored by the members of Web2. A perfect example for this is the new evolving gaming industry. Future of income: Earning models like play to earn, learn to earn, create to earn, train to earn allow opportunities for the new generation or let's call them Gen G [generation gamers] give the free-to-play model a run for their money. Another use case for this are DAOs that are built on the basis of a decentralized organisation and a token economy. All these above are a few concepts that you see taking shape and a firmer structure since the last 24 months. What Web3 Promises do you see Being Broken? There are several gaps still to be met in this - we still haven't hit mass adoption of this technology and there is still a lot of work to be done. That being said, we see innovation in this sector every day. I would say no promises have been broken, there is simply time as a guiding factor that dictates the speed at which we can fulfil those promises. Sooner or later, we will fulfil those promises. The space is moving fast which also means we learn from our mistakes very fast and iterate! How Does IRL Fit in With Web3? I can speak on the utility of NFTs - as the NFT market progresses, users/buyers have become increasingly aware that what makes an NFT worth is their utility. While of course, other factors do play a big role - the utility is still the guiding principle that buyers look into before buying into an NFT. Just like you wouldn’t invest in gold if it didn’t have any utility nor would you invest in a high-priced sneaker or a membership at Soho House if it didn’t have utility. The unique utility of each NFT fits seamlessly into IRL. My favourite use case is when artists enter the NFT space. NFTs allow artists to have a direct relationship with their fans. Musician A designs a limited 500 NFT collection which includes the original track of their latest single. As a utility for the 500 NFT holders, the NFT also includes front row tickets to the musician’s concert tours for 2 years, a signed physical album mailed to buyer’s address and a 20 minute fan-meet video call with the musician. So you can imagine, these NFTs are priced rather high for the value they provide to the 500 holders. While it's also possible and free to listen to this music on a streaming site, their tangible utility makes the NFT’s worth high. In turn, it also directly empowers the musicians monetarily which is simply not possible in the Web2 era. Not just that, each time this NFT is resold, the musician receives royalties from profits! This is a very top-level use case of IRL Web3 but think about all the other ways artists can engage their core fans, fashion designers can engage their top buyers, brands can engage their community, even companies can engage their employees just with the power of NFTs- the possibilities are endless. How Does a Creator Build a Large Fanbase? If you look at other platforms - let’s say Instagram - no two accounts can collaboratively create content, sell products and split revenue while sharing their following base. This in itself makes it hard for creators to sustain their passion. And this is the state of 90% of the creator platforms today. The key to growth is through collaboration! To overcome this challenge, at Lemonade we launched a very important feature within our MVP in 2019 : the co-host feature. Verified creators can set up their Lemonade stands that include pop-up shops, events, NFTs and donations to monetize their passion through a small group of fans. Creators can collaborate with unlimited Lemonade stands around the world by splitting payments and co-hosting a collaborative event and expanding their audience base thanks to the community of other Lemonade stands. How Important are NFTs to Web3 and How Will They Be Used Going Forward? NFTs are simply a way to express yourself in the Digital world. If I ask you to open your wallet or your asset locker, you would be thrilled to show me the different loyalty programs you’re a part of, perhaps what kind of credit card you have, what painting you bought or even that bracelet you received as a gift from your great grandmother. These are your assets that form a part of your identity. Now let’s go a little further where every day the way you dress, the mobile you carry, the handbag you choose, the perfume you choose to put on is an extended form of how you express yourself. With an entire generation [and more to come] interacting 8+ hours a day digitally, NFTs become an integral part of who you are in the digital world. What Artworks do You Own? What music NFTs do you have? How many avatars do you have? What skins do your avatars have? NFTs are no longer limited to the digital artwork scene - their utility expands every single day. A use case that will soon take the market by storm is using NFTs as a CRM tool because they store critical data within their digital certificates, which can include not only ownership information and history, but also proof of authenticity and proof of attendance. How do Artists Use NFTs on the Lemonade Stand? Lemonade allows creators to position their work [NFTs] within relevant events. As a creator from the moment you connect your wallet, your NFTs show up on Lemonade which can then be attached to any event you are co-hosting. Attendees of those events can then bid for your NFTs without needing to go to the platform that was minted on. This way your NFTs also receive more context for the buyer. Let's say you’re a handpan player and selling your album as NFTs. Your work might be lost in an ocean full of other NFTs on generic platforms. However, if you collaborate with a yoga teacher while she hosts her virtual yoga workshops on Lemonade, the attendees of the workshop would be more inclined to buy your album within the event. What Kind of Champagne do you Like to Drink ? I am a big fan of sparkling wine. You gotta blame it on my studies as a Swiss hospitality graduate. For every celebration [which was weekly] we celebrated with the local sparking wine there. I’m a big fan of artisanal brut cava [Sparkling wine from Catalonia, Spain region]. When I can’t find artisanal cava, my go to Champagne is Vueve Clicqout. Sparkling wine and stinky cheese is all I need to be happy! This article is part of our Web3 Writing Contest. Read more about it here.
