[Short #145] Communities and Wallets Pt. 1: Meta
PLUS: 🎭 Revisiting Instagram avatars
Wallets! At this point, we understand that a wallet is more than something you put in your pocket.
And as adoption for Web3 continues, wallets will grow in significance in terms of how they’re used, what’s in them, and how they provide access in novel ways.
On top of that, those that control wallets gain advantages in the form of better understanding their users, expanding their ecosystems, and strengthening their moats as the world adopts Web3 tech.
DCLBlogger sums up the take nicely.
So what’s going on?
It’s slow-moving, but there is a land grab happening behind the scenes for users’ digital wallets.
My coverage on this topic is not comprehensive since there are so many players. However, I hope to highlight and read between the lines the various approaches towards wallet adoption.
Meta
Instagram
No surprise that there’s a lot going on here. Instagram is the star of the Meta show as they recently announced new features allowing users to mint and sell NFTs. The platform is rolling this out by partnering with select digital artists.
As an example, Instagram partnered with famed generative artist Refik Anadol to drop his work. Apparently the work sold out in 1 second?! 😳
Currently, users have to connect an existing wallet in order to participate in these art drops.
Facebook
Meta recently announced new features for Facebook communities including points. That sounds familiar…
Whatsapp
Whatsapp recently announced Communities, enriching what group chats can be.
Wait, WTF does this have to do with wallets?
Meta’s social platforms (I’m not even covering their VR efforts) serve different use cases and will slowly converge into Web3 in different ways:
Instagram: Creators
Facebook: Communities
Whatsapp: Messaging
What might this eventually look like?
Instagram - Instagram has always been a visual-first platform to see what friends are up to, enjoy memes, and be inspired by others. Now Instagram is focusing on helping creators monetize their work beyond advertising sponsorships. This isn’t limited to digital collectibles.
I believe that subscriptions and digital collectibles will be on a collision course in the near future. Creators will be able to provide their subscribers special digital collectibles or tokens that allow for perks on (access to subscriber-only content) and off platform (VIP access to meet and greets).
Facebook - If we compare this effort to what Reddit has done with Community Points, we might be able to better understand where they’re headed.
Facebook may need more time to incubate their rollout vs. Reddit because Karma was a well-understood concept since Reddit’s early days. Points are a new concept for Facebook Communities.
Whatsapp - I believe Whatsapp is taking a similar approach as Facebook, but further behind. By taking learnings from competitors, Instagram, and Facebook, the rollout could be faster.
The other thing to note is the specific use cases Facebook highlights vs. Whatsapp for their examples.
Facebook Communities focuses on hobbies.
The Whatsapp Community feature focuses on use cases like neighborhood, school, and work.
Over time, features like digital collectibles, points, and roles can be ported over to these use cases.
So how do you put this all together?
Hell if I know. Zuck knows though.
He alluded to it back in June on a Facebook post, starting with the rebranding of Facebook Pay.
TLDR on this block of unsightly text (a very Zuck thing to do I might add):
Rebranding Facebook Pay to Meta Pay
Meta Pay will be a digital wallet for the metaverse
Meta Pay will be interoperable across FB, IG, Whatsapp, Messenger and beyond
The wallet will also let you securely manage your identity, what you own, and how you pay.
Proof of ownership will be important, and you’ll want to be able to take items with you across different services.
The wallet will create more opportunities for creators
Meta is currently using 3rd party wallets on Instagram. I have a feeling that Web3-enabled Meta wallets will be an option soon 👀
Also, remember Instagram Avatars?
I think these Avatars will increase in significance as Meta’s strategy continues to roll out.
See you tomorrow!
Great digging Tpan. Thanks