TL/DR:
In the inaugural episode of Creators Take Action, hosts Humpty and Pichi explore the creator stack and the potential of the creator economy on Farcaster. The hosts discuss their experiences with Hypersub.xyz, Rounds.wtf, and other Farcaster products. They highlight the importance of community building, monetization, and the ability to reward valuable contributions. They also touch on the challenges and improvements needed in the Farcaster ecosystem. The conversation covers topics such as using rounds for voting and rewards, the potential of channels and Hypersubs, the challenges of power badges and visibility, and the importance of sharing knowledge and resources.
The creator economy is rapidly evolving, and with it comes a new wave of opportunities for those ready to take action. In the inaugural episode of Creators Take Action, hosts Humpty and Pichi go into the exciting potential of the creator economy on Farcaster, highlighting the tools, challenges, and innovations that are shaping the future of this dynamic space.
Exploring the Creator Stack
Humpty and Pichi begin the conversation by exploring the creator stack—a collection of tools and platforms designed to empower creators. They share their experiences with Hypersub.xyz, Rounds.wtf, and other Farcaster products, shedding light on the importance of community building, monetization, and rewarding valuable contributions. The hosts add that while the creator economy offers immense potential, it also presents challenges that must be addressed for creators to thrive.
Humpty and Pichi discuss the current state of the creator economy and the impact of market conditions on creator engagement. Humpty shares his observation that there seems to be a drop in engagement for some creators, which they attribute to the removal of spam bots from metrics. They plan to discuss various topics related to the creator economy and welcome audience questions.
Community Building: The Heart of the Creator Economy
At the core of the creator economy is the concept of community. Pichi, a thought leader in the space, reflects on her journey from creating personal art on her phone to becoming a successful NFT artist on Farcaster. She highlights the freedom Farcaster offers, allowing creators to take risks, reinvent themselves, and connect with their audiences without the constraints of traditional platforms. The sense of community on Farcaster, coupled with its growth potential, is a key factor in its appeal to creators like Pichi.
Pichi expresses her excitement about the potential of the creator economy to take off and return the web to its open and free roots, allowing creators to reinvent themselves and take risks without high costs. She also shares her frustration with censorship on other platforms, particularly regarding her cannabis-related content, and how Farcaster has been appealing to her because it promises creative freedom. She notes how crucial it is that the Farcaster platform be the foundation of the Creator stack and looks forward to presenting and evaluating different products in this area.
Farcaster Ecosystem
Despite the promising aspects of Farcaster, there are challenges to be navigated. Humpty shares his experiences with Hypersub, a platform that offers unique opportunities for community engagement through NFTs and crypto-native rewards. However, he acknowledges the learning curve that comes with using these tools, particularly when it comes to understanding the platform's intricacies. Both hosts emphasize the importance of transparency and the willingness to experiment in this new and rapidly evolving space.
He explains how they joined Hypersub as an artist to avoid self-promotion and found it useful due to its clear identification of subscribers. However, they encountered some issues during their first drop, which were not intuitive and lacked clear documentation. They also noted the confusion of having, a subscriber and creator dashboard mixed into one product. Even with these issues, Humpty points out the value of doing new things in the cryptocurrency field and the capacity to be transparent about one's actions because of blockchain technology.
Innovation and Experimentation
Humpty spent a day researching various subscriptions on the platform, documenting their distribution strategies, costs, and rewards. They found Hypers Sub unique due to its potential for building community through NFTs and crypto-native rewards. For their Arts channel, the gated chat feature turned out to be the most rewarding, allowing them to connect with supporters on a deeper level and grow their community organically. They encourage creators to consider joining Hypersubs with gated chats to get plugged into a supportive community easily.
One of the standout features of the creator economy is the ability to innovate and experiment with new tools and platforms. Humpty's experience with Rounds on Farcaster illustrates this perfectly. Although he initially misunderstood the concept, he quickly realized the value of participating in rounds as a way to grow his audience and earn money from his content. Pichi, on the other hand, discusses the potential of channels, Hypersub, and community wallets to create a more dynamic and rewarding creator experience.
Pichi discusses her experience with running a logo contest for their community and the unexpected response they received. She was overwhelmed by the number of submissions and had to narrow it down to the top 10 for the final vote. She also talks about the potential of the platform "rounds" and how it could be used to collaborate and reward communities, even if they don't own the channel. She mentions the possibility of creating a discount or a "buy one, get one free" offer for subscribing to multiple channels and how this could help new channels grow.
Pichi also touches on the permissionless nature of channels and how one can create incentives for channels that aren't their own using products like Rounds or Stack. They believe that this is a huge unlock for channel growth and creating more comprehensive incentives.
Humpty discusses how he implements a point system using the Stack platform to reward the Crypto Sapiens community members based on their contributions. He explains that different actions, such as following their account or subscribing to their channel, have different point values, which are then aggregated to create a larger point system.
Humpty has used this system to distribute retroactive rewards to early supporters of their community and tokens. They also mention the possibility of using Stack to create retroactive rewards for other communities and onboard new members to their community. They express their excitement about the potential of Stack and other platforms to create composable communities and interoperate with each other, allowing for more efficient and effective community building. Humpty also mentions his plans to create a leaderboard for their community using a plug-and-play product, as they are not tech-savvy enough to code it themselves.
The Future of the Creator Economy: A Positive Outlook
As the episode concludes, Humpty and Pichi express their optimism for the future of the creator economy. They believe that, with the right tools and a strong sense of community, creators can overcome the challenges they face and thrive in this new landscape. The hosts are excited about the potential of platforms like Farcaster, Moxie, and Stack to empower creators, distribute value, and build composable communities that are interconnected and supportive.
Pichi discusses the importance of social capital and engagement in the new creator economy, specifically for the platform Moxie. Older accounts and interactions with top accounts heavily influence the algorithm, leading to a "social score" that doesn't necessarily reflect the value of a creator's content. Instead, she highlights the significance of building a dedicated community and engaging with top accounts to increase a creator's Moxie score, which can lead to compensation and success on the platform.
Pichi acknowledges the challenges of growing an account and the importance of adapting strategies to the current algorithm, comparing it to Facebook's warp cat algorithm. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, recently shared similar thoughts on the relationship between AI and humanity, emphasizing the need to ensure the security and success of these models for the benefit of all.
The new creator economy is not just about creating content—it's about building relationships, experimenting with new ideas, and embracing the freedom to innovate. As Humpty and Pichi's conversation demonstrates, the opportunities are vast, and those who are willing to take action and engage with their communities will find themselves at the forefront of this exciting new era.
Humpty points out the importance of sharing knowledge and experiences openly in the creator community, particularly as new tools and platforms emerge. He believes that those who came late to the creator economy or lack the same resources may be at a disadvantage, and it's essential to help them succeed. He shares his personal experience of learning the ropes and receiving support from creators and founders and encourages open dialogue about the challenges and opportunities in the evolving creator ecosystem.
Pichi discusses the challenges of engagement and visibility on the platform Warpcast, specifically regarding power badges and tagging. She explains how spammers' indiscriminate tagging led to user feedback being overlooked by founders, resulting in a negative user experience. The team addressed the spam problem by turning off priority mode for everyone, but this also meant that genuine user feedback from those without power badges was less likely to be seen. She expresses her frustration as a user who had a positive experience when they first joined due to having a power badge, while she recognizes the challenge for new users in understanding the algorithm and separating legitimate engagement from spam. Pichi thanks the creators for bringing this issue to light and encourages those struggling with power badges and visibility to turn off priority mode to increase the visibility of conversations they might otherwise be missing.
Humpty shares his experience using different clients on the Farcaster platform, specifically comparing Warpcast and Supercast. They praise Supercast for its open feed and ability to see hidden comments on Warpcast due to spam filtering. The creator also mentions alternative free clients like Jam, Wildcard, Hero Cast, and Noun Space, highlighting their unique features and benefits. They encourage creators to explore different clients to discover new communities and enhance their Farcaster experience.
Stay Connected and Final Resources
In the end, the message is clear: the creator economy is a journey of growth, learning, and endless possibilities. Whether you're a seasoned creator or just starting, there's never been a better time to dive in and explore what this new economy has to offer. So, take action, build your community, and watch as your creativity flourishes in the thriving landscape of the new creator economy.
Key Takeaways
Creator Economy Evolution: New opportunities are emerging for creators as the economy rapidly evolves, with platforms like Farcaster leading the way.
Essential Tools in the Creator Stack: Tools like Hypersub.xyz and Rounds.wtf are pivotal for community building, monetization, and rewarding contributions.
Community Building as the Core: Farcaster empowers creators to connect with audiences and reinvent themselves without the constraints of traditional platforms.
Navigating Challenges with Transparency: Success requires transparency and a willingness to experiment with new tools, despite the learning curve.
Innovation and Experimentation Drive Growth: Creators are encouraged to experiment with tools like Rounds and Hypersub to create dynamic, rewarding experiences.
Market Conditions Impact Engagement: A drop in engagement may be linked to changes in metrics, emphasizing the need for strategy adaptation.
Social Capital is Key: Building a dedicated community and engaging with top accounts is crucial for success on platforms like Moxie.
Knowledge Sharing is Crucial: Openly sharing experiences helps support newcomers and fosters community growth.
Platform Challenges to Overcome: Issues like spam and visibility on platforms such as Warpcast need creative solutions, including exploring alternative clients.
Optimism for the Future: With the right tools and strong community support, the future of the creator economy is bright and full of possibilities.
