I have been using ReadON app for the last week, and despite some of its deficiencies, I am quite amazed by such a product. Now is a good time to spread the word about the project and discuss where the project might go in the future.

How is ReadON different?

First, let us talk about the elephant in the room, the money. ReadON has been proposing Read-to-Earn and advertising upon the very idea. Many would perceive it as a Gamefi project involving real-life activities, and the app fundamentally assembles STEPN. The key differentiator, however, is that reading in ReadON is a form of consumption of others’ production, and the production-consumption relationship has a manifestation in real-life. Whereas if we look at existing GameFi projects, players are not consuming any product, hence there is no drive for people to acquire other gamers’ production, which results in token/NFT depreciation.

The nature of ReadON is not a GameFi project, but a content distribution center. It has a similar structure to many Web2 content distribution hubs, a news outlet. Based on previous successful projects, this model will let money pour in as long as the project has a solid user base.

So how does ReadON attract users? First of all, ReadON targets readers. For reading platforms, rarely do we hear users use one platform exclusively. The reading ecosystem is much more open compared to other forms of media, for example, streams, podcasts, TVs, etc.

The competition is even weaker in the Web3 Space. Medium and Mirror are two prominent players here, but they are not particularly unique in the sense that ReadON will be able to do whatever they can offer but more. ReadON provides incentives to users, which is something that none of the platforms have done and could attract users to the ecosystem. On the writers’ side, it also grants content creator access to promotion, which is a huge temptation for all influencers.

In general, Reading and Writing have been critical skills in the crypto space, it is how most people produce and absorb information. As one of the first profitable platforms, I am confident that ReadON will make a name for itself in the crypto space.

To Where?

Now, let us talk about something ReadON might/should do in the future. Of course, the most critical one is to get as much content up there as possible. In the WhitePaper, ReadON demonstrated an easy fix for claiming ownership - embedding a string in the original text. Details of how it works have not been disclosed in the WhitePaper, but this is a brilliant idea as it eases a lot of burden for multiplatform writers from adjusting fonts and tunning formats.

Nonetheless, I wonder if writers can bind the string with their accounts. There has been a lot of fantastic content in the space already, and some writers have been prolific for a long time. It would take loads of time even doing simple interactions such as editing a string into an article thousands of times. That time cost might discourage many from onboarding ReadON.

Another dilemma for ReadON is to find the balance between Game & Read. Reading, in nature, has a side against fast pleasure, especially with knowledge-related reading. While tokenomics and NFT mechanisms provide users pleasure by rewarding reading. No matter how good is the writing, if the same amount of reward is distributed to readers, they might be indifferent to quality reading. If ReadON is trying to create a platform that harbors good content, we need to be cautious with the NFT mechanism and the content.

In-App Experience

During my experience with the ReadON app, the scrolling feels smooth. The format and font are quite comfortable. I am a little picky about the background color. White background with black letters is more of my type, but I am sure there will be night/day mode once the app is officially online.

It is just in alpha test now and many features have not been installed yet. Would love to try incoming features, especially on the writer end.

Have a good life and READ ON!