Social Tokens are rapidly becoming a rising trend in the blockchain and crypto world. In this article, we'll delve into what Social Tokens are, and how they are disrupting traditional methods of monetizing creativity.We'll also examine how they are creating more direct ways for creators to connect with their fanbase and reward them for their support. <h3>The Need for Social Tokens</h3>The entertainment industry has always had a significant gap between creators and their fans. Creators such as artists, musicians, and writers are the primary revenue drivers for the industry. However, they are often not adequately compensated for their efforts due to the involvement of several intermediaries. These middlemen, such as music labels, agents, and streaming platforms, extract a considerable amount of value from the Fan/Creator relationship, sometimes even more than the content creators themselves.Social Tokens are a direct response to this challenge. They provide a way for creators to be rewarded directly for their work and create their economies around their community. With Social Tokens, creators can monetize themselves beyond traditional means and also share value in a more meaningful way with their biggest supporters. <h4>Early Experiences: Bowie Bonds</h4>David Bowie was one of the pioneers of finding ways to connect directly with his fanbase for engagement and fundraising. In 1997, Bowie launched an exciting financial innovation, the "<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-35280945" target="_blank">Bowie Bonds</a>."<img src="https://taikai.azureedge.net/hatCxZ8IP_l2tJWeZ_GO7Q0bVglEefOPtZKDY-iPIIM/rs:fit:800:0:0/aHR0cHM6Ly9zdG9yYWdlLmdvb2dsZWFwaXMuY29tL3RhaWthaS1zdG9yYWdlL2ltYWdlcy80ODc3YWM0MC1iMzg4LTExZWQtOTBjMy0zYjJlY2Q1NmYyODFkYm93aWUud2VicA" style="width:800px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" />These were a type of bond backed by David Bowie's royalty streams, and they marked the first security backed by a performer's cash flow potential. Bowie used the bonds to raise $55 million to buy back his music rights.In a sense, Bowie Bonds were an early form of Social Tokens. Bowie created the Bonds in 1997, which was the mechanism he found. But back then, the entire process was not easy and was still highly centralized and managed by institutional middlemen. <h3>The Power of Blockchain: Issuing Your Tokens</h3>In 2023, artists and creators have in their hands a much better set of options to accomplish their goals: blockchain-powered tokens. One of the most significant impacts that blockchain brought to the digital world is its removal of intermediaries in many different areas of activities and industries. Nowadays, anyone can issue tokens in popular permissionless blockchains like Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, or Solana.With this, creators can issue their own fungible or non-fungible tokens, and supporters can give something back to show their loyalty. Tokenomics for each Social Token varies depending on the objectives of the creator. All participants have financial exposure and share in the artist's growth, and Social Tokens make the fan relationship a two-way street with the artist. <h3>Uses of Social Tokens</h3>Creators can use social tokens in various ways to reward their fan community. These include:<ul><li>Gated Access: Fans can buy tokens for the access they provide. Depending on the number of tokens a fan owns, a creator can give them access to specific benefits, such as special editions, invitations to events, or backstage access.</li><li>Payments: The coins can be used as a medium of exchange, and creators can create their websites where they accept their tokens as payment.</li><li>Investment &amp; Speculation: Tokens can also be used for active trading or speculation. With the token supply limited, rising demand increases its value. Fans can redeem and lock coins, treat them as an investment, and speculators can create a market to establish a fair value for the token.</li><li>Composability &amp; DeFi: Social Tokens can also be applied to blockchain interoperability and composability, particularly for DeFi applications. With DeFi, fans can soon be able to ask for loans using their favorite artist tokens (or their own!) as collateral.</li></ul><h3>Smart Contract-powered Social Tokens</h3>Social Tokens are usually issued on top of Smart Contract-enabled blockchains, such as Ethereum or Polygon, which are also called Web3 or decentralized applications (dApps).Smart contracts are self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement between buyer and seller being directly written into lines of code. Smart contracts allow for trustless transactions to occur between two parties, without the need for intermediaries or middlemen.In the case of Social Tokens, Smart Contracts handle the logic behind the tokenomics, distribution, and management of the tokens. In this way, creators can automate many of the processes associated with their Social Tokens, such as the distribution of royalties, voting rights, or buyback schemes.Social Tokens also open up new ways for creators to raise capital, especially for those who were previously excluded from traditional fundraising models, such as venture capital or angel investing. By issuing Social Tokens, creators can raise money from their own communities, with the added benefit of having their most loyal fans financially invested in their success. <h4>Social tokens have endless use-case scenarios</h4>One of the key features we've covered about social tokens is their community-centric use. But social tokens are not just meant for artists or solo creators. Take, for example, our own $BEPRO token.<a href="https://www.bepro.network/" target="_blank">Bepro Network</a> is a bounty network created to help organizations manage their decentralized development. Organizations can publish bounty-like tasks that need development, and developers can submit proposals in order to complete the tasks that have been outlined. If their work is approved, they then receive payment for completing the assignment.<img src="https://taikai.azureedge.net/GR18Oga3DuNInY35Xxm7CFYGq5evZIovc1YjKKKShEY/rs:fit:800:0:0/aHR0cHM6Ly9zdG9yYWdlLmdvb2dsZWFwaXMuY29tL3RhaWthaS1zdG9yYWdlL2ltYWdlcy9jODRjNmY1MC1iMzg4LTExZWQtOTBjMy0zYjJlY2Q1NmYyODFiZXBybyBuZXR3b3JrLnBuZw" style="width:800px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" />The <a href="https://taikai.network/en/blog/bepro-token-utility" target="_blank">BEPRO utility token</a> exists in order to coordinate and incentivize the use of the Bepro Network and to ensure community and developer adoption. You can use BEPRO to delegate powers or curate the network, for instance. <h3>How to issue your own social tokens</h3>Finally, if you want to know more and explore a few existing social tokens or even create your own, below are some examples of projects that allow creators to create and issue tokens:<ul><li>Bitclout (https://bitclout.com/) — BitClout is a new social network that mixes speculation and social media, and it’s built from the ground up as its custom blockchain. Every profile on the platform gets its coin that anybody can buy and sell. We call these coins “creator coins,” You can have your coin too simply by creating a profile. The price of each coin goes up when people buy and goes down when people sell.</li><li>Rally (https://rally.io/) — Rally is an open Ethereum-based network that enables creators to launch independent economies with their communities. In addition, the platform supports “creator coins,” which help to facilitate an economy around a creator or influencer by providing them with additional avenues to monetize themselves.</li><li>Talent Protocol (https://www.talentprotocol.com/) — Talent Protocol is a web3 platform where you can support the future. Undiscovered talent can launch a token to help their career, and users can back people they believe in.</li><li>Seedclub (https://seedclub.xyz/) — Seed Club is a DAO that builds, supports, and invests in tokenized communities.</li><li>Roll (https://tryroll.com/) — The Roll network mints branded digital tokens unique to your online presence, allowing you to own, control, and coordinate the value you create across platforms.</li></ul><h3>The Future of Social Tokens 🔮</h3>As more creators and web3 projects explore Social Tokens, we can expect to see many more use cases and innovations in this space. Some have even gone so far as to say that Social Tokens will revolutionize the media and entertainment industries, enabling creators to take back control of their work and connect more directly with their fans.Of course, as with any emerging technology, there are also challenges and risks associated with Social Tokens. One of the most significant challenges is ensuring that creators are able to maintain the value of their tokens over time, which requires careful management of the tokenomics and distribution mechanisms.Another potential challenge is regulatory, as Social Tokens may fall under securities or commodities regulations in certain jurisdictions. Creators must ensure that they comply with all relevant regulations in their respective countries.Overall, however, the potential benefits of Social Tokens are significant, and we can expect to see many more creators and communities exploring this innovative new way of connecting and engaging with fans in the years to come. <h4>New to web3 development? Here's a beginner-friendly educational list:</h4><ul><li><a href="https://blog.bepro.network/how-hiring-happens-web3" target="_blank">How hiring happens in web3</a></li><li><a href="https://blog.bepro.network/academy-series-13-web3-career-hackathons-grants-and-bounties" target="_blank">How to leverage bounties, hackathons, and grants in dev careers</a></li><li><a href="https://blog.bepro.network/decentralized-development-vs-traditional-Development-web3" target="_blank">Decentralized Development vs Traditional Development for Web3: Pros and Cons</a></li><li><a href="https://blog.bepro.network/dappkit-the-simple-way-to-start-your-web3-project" target="_blank">dappKit — The simple way to start your web3 project</a></li></ul>

Building a Thriving Web3 Ecosystem with Social Tokens

Social Tokens are a way for creators to issue Tokens in permissionless blockchains and then use them to reward their fan community in many different ways.