Web3 is set to change the internet. Not so much how it looks, but its mechanics. It’s core nature.
The current Internet – or Web2.0 – is based on a core principle that goes back to the early days when the world wide web was just a DARPA experiment: Information – digital content, brands – cannot be digitally owned and therefore is restrained from being displayed, transmitted, shared or transacted upon to their full potential.
This fact led to great things such as open source projects or the open spirit of collaboration, but also to negative things like digital piracy – mostly in the form of P2P and torrent. Not to mention other questionable “make money online” strategies like phishing or blackhat SEO.
This all stems from a fundamental problem: Once your content –or information in general– was made available on the Internet there was no real way for you to fully control or own that content. Therefore implementing or exercising licensing rights was extremely difficult.
This led to a change in paradigm. Newspapers used to cost money to read. Then all of a sudden they were free. Information was easier to get to, and it was very hard to impose any restrictions on the reader. Right after, social media came and made things even more complicated.
This led to two major business models:
- Selling user data to advertisers.
- Creating paywalls for content that was especially rich, deep, or exclusive.
Piracy led to millions of people sharing, viewing and enjoying protected content for free. That forced a major shift in content production, which led to great improvements like streaming on Spotify or Netflix. These services made it convenient and cheap enough that it is worth it for many people just to pay a subscription fee rather than to download and store content illegally. However, this business still only represents a fraction of what it was in the 90’s.
The only industry that managed to avoid these changes was the Gaming Industry, which was built in such a way that the strong marriage between platforms and publishers made it very difficult to circumvent.
Now, this so-called Content Economy is about to change. Though some people may have not heard of this term, it represents the economy behind content creation and distribution. From singers and actors, to Netflix, Disney+ or Apple Music.
Consider for a moment how many active subscriptions to content are you paying right now. I’ve calculated how much I’m paying monthly on content subscriptions, excluding SAAS for work. It’s true that I’m not a common case, as I’m subscribed to 4 newspapers and 2 magazines/websites, almost all on demand platforms available in the UK and EU (Netflix, Prime Video, Filmin, Disney +, HBO Max, Apple TV, Youtube, A3Player) and Spotify. All of these combined cost over 100 euros a month. I think of it as my main hobby, but it’s a lot of money every month. If you listed yours, you’re probably surprised as well.
This goes to show how the subscription model has flourished. And I was there (with my first company) when many producers and venture capitalists thought it was not possible. It was clear to me even then that the future was a subscription based world.
And it’s even clearer to me now that the future is a series of gated communities where content will reside with conditional access.
Web3 is not just about ownership of digital content. Yes, somebody will be able to publish a song or video and get paid every time someone sees it or plays it automatically and with no middlemen. Or forbid users from accessing it unless they hold certain credentials. Or sell the rights to it online to anyone anywhere.
But Web3 is really about a new type of ownership: Collaborative ownership. It's meant to blur the lines between owner and client or consumer, the same way Web2 blurred the lines between content creators and content consumers.
What we are witnessing is the rise of User Generated Capital. Because Web3 will not only allow for a secure exchange of rights and licensing, but also facilitate the distribution of value creation among those who are part of the community that consumes it.
This means users will be part owners of the newspapers they read, the music they listen to or the TV shows they enjoy. They will become partners to the creators behind these things. And this will give them greater access, but also a feeling of community like never before and the opportunity to benefit from that community’s growth.
That said, not all content will be consumed like this. We will not always need to be co-owners of it and people will still access and enjoy some content just by paying to see or use it. But the structure behind a lot of content will change drastically.
And this revolution will be less visible than before, because the surface-level interface of things will not change that much. Web2 was the revolution of the front end, Web3 will be the revolution of the back end.
And because social media and content are inextricably linked, Web3 will also change how we interact with each other and the content that creators produce at every level. Some videos will be posted “for free”, others will be behind a token wall, only for certain fans, friends or “core” members.
Likes and hearts don’t pay the bills and creators know this. Users are tired of superficial and shallow content, providing feedback and attention in exchange for nothing and paying for things that they don’t get to own.
Web3 will change how we own things forever.