Back in the day when Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the likes of them started emerging, no one knew just to what extent will these social platforms affect our daily lives. A few years forward and we can barely even make it through the day without scrolling down the feeds. The same level of doubt was evident when terms like “blockchain”, “bitcoin” or “cryptocurrency” started buzzing around, leaving everyone thinking - what are those, anyway? And yet again, we are witnesses to cryptocurrencies transforming huge industries without any sign of stopping.
So, where else do social media and crypto intersect? Is there a way blockchain can transform media? By the looks of things, we will soon witness a change beyond our wildest dreams.
1.No more click fraud
As businesses started utilizing social media for their marketing activities, they soon realized just how deceiving the data obtained from them can be. Online advertising allowed them to target specific audiences, reach more consumers, and pitch perfectly tailored products. However, along came the dreadful click fraud - biased representations of the number of ad impressions which provide falsely inflated results. Having in mind that there are billions of dollars at stake with these advertising campaigns, it seems only reasonable why more and more marketers and PPC specialists see blockchain technology as the next best thing to mitigate this problem.
2. Blockchain is cost-effective
One of the biggest challenges of online marketing is creating a buyer persona. Still, things tend to get a lot trickier if marketers have multiple sources to collect data from and they have to take it with a pinch of salt. The data collected for the purposes of advertising usually lacks accuracy because third-party agencies are only interested in providing the quantity, not the quality. Since blockchain denies the necessity for a middleman, the data is obtained directly from the users and thus, a more specific target market can be created. This can save marketers tons of money.
3. Less irrelevant content
We all know users are likely to share and interact with authentic content - the one that resonates with them on the emotional level. On the other hand, it is evident that there has been an increasingly high number of paid ads that seem to be flooding our screen, whether we want them there on not. Blockchain technology laid the grounds for filtering irrelevant content and making organic engagements enjoy a renaissance once again. Due to its ability to give the online community the power to estimate the accuracy of a piece of content, blockchain can prevent any other unverified piece of information to enter the chain whatsoever.
4. Protecting the users’ privacy
Remember Facebook data-breach scandal in 2018? If you do, then you are probably aware of the fact that our knowledge of privacy protection is rather limited. More often than not, social networks have our personal information at their disposal without our consent. It is in this field that blockchain can help through its decentralized system which uses unmodifiable encryptions. On top of that, in case there is any doubt something has been tampered with, you can easily check file signatures and make sure that nothing has been changed.
5. Social media users get rewarded
So far, social platforms reaped the majority of benefits from the traffic and engagement and when we say benefits, we mean money. This could easily become the thing of the past, though. If you are just an average user, engaging in social media has little monetary value or no value at all, apart from the fact that you share, like or comment something that interests you. Now, blockchain-based social media apps like Steemit or Sapien aim at bringing the power back to the people. Users can actually get rewards in the form of tokens whether it be for the time they spend on social platforms or for any other form of interaction with the content.
6. The fight against fake accounts
Although it may seem easy to spot fake news, everyone was shocked to see the number of people who were misled into believing everything that was published on social media during the last U.S. presidential elections. False content on Facebook and Twitter influenced voters by swaying their emotions and attitudes toward candidates. Not only can blockchain track identities on Facebook but it can also compare fraudulent activities across accounts and sanction them accordingly.
To sum up, blockchain not only offers solutions to combat existing problems but it also broadens the horizons of innovative ways to upgrade social platforms on multiple levels. This will definitely bring about a massive change in how people perceive social media and possibly even regain lost trust.
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