Twitter Tips
Now Twitter is rolling out tipping in Bitcoin using a Bitcoin address or Lighting-enabled wallet (e.g. Strike). While the ability to tip in crypto (Bitcoin for now) is a great feature, more people will likely link to their Venmo, Cash App, or Patreon accounts.
While Twitter Tips will hopefully enable more creators to directly monetize their social capital, I’m skeptical the U.S will fully adopt the Twitter Tip feature. Ironically, while tipping is ingrained in the U.S. service culture (servers, drivers, etc), it is absent in our digital services. Conversely, China has a robust tipping culture for online services and streamers. However, in the U.S some Twitch streamers earn meaningful amounts in tips/donations and I expect the same will be true for prominent users on Twitter.
Twitter’s Next Killer Feature
More interestingly, Twitter announced future plans to integrate NFTs into its platform. Twitter first launched its NFTs via Rarible in late June.
Now, Twitter has apparently taken the cue from its crypto-savvy users and plans to allow NFT owners to connect their Web3 wallets(e.g. MetaMask) to Twitter, in order to verify and showcase NFTs on Twitter.
One immediate NFT integration that has users excited is NFT avatar or PFP (profile pic) verification. With the integration of wallets, users will be able to verify they, do in fact, own the jpeg that they are using as their Twitter icon.
To date, NFT avatars and PFPs (profile pics) are (mostly) status serving symbols that identify an individual is:
early to a trend
wealthy enough to buy the NFT
a member of a community (because they were early or wealthy)
all of the above (must be nice)
Some NFT avatar projects like Adam Bomb Squad provide greater utility and some recent launches have opted to add this type of utility.
In the first half of 2021, NFT avatar projects facilitated over $600m in sales.
However, year to date, Bored Ape Yacht Club has garnered over $500 million in sales and the total avatar sales likely surpass $2 billion. PFP or avatar NFTs are now an established asset within the NFT sector. Ultimately assets that derive their value from exclusivity and social perception will face power-law distributions, some will be worthwhile while most will be worth much less.
The Dawn of the Twitterverse
All of NFT and crypto Twitter is foaming at the mouth. The ability to verify and showcase their NFTs will further entrench the social value behind avatar NFTs and open the floodgates for other brands to try and create these types of non-fungible tokens. But there are other interesting applications of NFTs if Twitter can integrate crypto wallets.
Some potential ideas:
Verifying how long a user has owned an asset
Recommending follows based on NFT owners
Selling/auctioning NFTs from Twitter profiles
Combining Twitter’s newsletter (Revue) with NFTs (e.g. Mirror)
Creating social graphs by NFT owners
Beyond just the ability to provide value to consumers, Twitter will be able to further enhance its advertising business. Imagine knowing that an individual has verified their Punk or other expensive NFT. What type of monetization premium would brands pay to advertise to those individuals?
Humans have a strong desire to assign status. It’s part of our culture. The value proposition of these status-based NFTs is greater when combined with social media. Once individuals have verified NFTs, there are groups, tiered perks, Spaces, and other features that Twitter can combine to build an even greater platform (read monopoly). So far, most social media platforms have failed to implement crypto. If Twitter can integrate NFTs and build greater social utility into its platform, many users might be spending even more time in the Twitterverse.
