Another important point is what is your social app really about?
Is it about being natural like on BeReal? Or showing how cool you are, even if it’s staged like on Instagram? Is it a fun app like TikTok? Or an idea like Twitter (picrel)?
Your Vibes & Culture determine the way the Social Graph (creators and users) do the Proof of Work (posts, comments, DMs).
Farcaster did it with Twitter, where they cloned most of the features, had a similar Proof of Work, and some people from Crypto Twitter social graph. But they had different vibes and culture, which were more positive and welcoming than CT. That resulted in totally different types of content being shared there, compared to Crypto Twitter.
Vibes & culture can also differ between clients.Orb is a Lens client focused on artists and visual content in general. and it’s more about discussing art and supporting people by minting their work, than the latest Bitcoin price swings.
#8: Exchange
The last question to ask is “Can you exchange your social capital for something else?”
Instagram users can convert their popularity into dating opportunities.Twitter users could convert popularity into money from Substack subscriptions.LinkedIn users can convert their reach into job opportunities.
Sometimes this exchange is subtle. E.g., by joining a group chat you may one day get some job or investment opportunities. And sometimes it’s very straightforward - like on Twitch where streamers can easily convert their popularity into money.
Having the opportunity to exchange your social capital for things you want is important. One Kiwi user told me that he’d be more prone to use our network if they could show their project’s banner on their profile page. And that's because he could justify being active on Kiwi as contributing to his project’s success.
In crypto, there is a bias to make things too overfinancialized. This means a strong focus on exchanging social capital for financial capital (see: friend tech and its clones).I think it’s very short-sighted, especially since there are ways to integrate money in a smoother and more fun way - see what Unlonely is doing.
Summary
You can think of these 8 levers as a "Social App Canvas". It's a tool to help you analyze your social app ideas from different perspectives, and although I can't guarantee that you'd invent a breakthrough app thanks to that, your chances would be much higher.
And a great thing about social media is that it has a TAM of 5.45B people who are connected to the Internet.
This means there's almost unlimited space for niches and sub-niches, and in turn, for new apps. There are always new people coming.
Sometimes these are younger people looking for their digital home. Sometimes these are people who are looking for some new feature they can't get elsewhere. And sometimes these are people who feel like the game is rigged on the other apps, and they want to - like American pioneers - start fresh on a new land.
This is why - despite the powerful network effects of the Old Guard, I believe we will always see new social media emerging. There will always be an app that offers access to a new social graph or has some unique features, proof of work, makes it easier to stay active, keeps it more intimate, reaches a niche you want to reach, has better vibes & culture or just makes it easier to convert popularity into things you want.
That makes me confident that in the next 5 years, we are going to see a breakthrough web3 social app. And if you decide to follow this path please, don’t do another “Twitter but for crypto” app. You have so many dimensions to explore!