Max Reisinger, Cherie Luo, Dulma Altan, Jim Louderback and Gabe Weis

Content creators from various platforms along with entrepreneurs sat together for a roundtable on May 30, 2023, in the San Francisco TechWeek, to talk about how Web3 is changing the content creator economy. It was hosted by Orbis86 and Virtualness.io, and sponsored by Hedera. The five-member panel consisted of influencers, content creators, and entrepreneurs investing in the creator economy.

Max Reisinger is a popular Youtuber with over 100 posts. He has co-founded Creator Camp, which helps like-minded creators to connect. He is also the co-founder of Circle Park, an advertising campaign agency for creator-led campaigns.

Cherie Luo is a renowned TikTok creator for educational content on product management. She is a former product manager for LinkedIn, and regularly publishes content as a learning instructor. She has created an NFT collection– Stay Hydrated.

Dulma Altan is also a popular technical-content TikToker, and has her own podcast.

Jim Louderback is the editor and publisher of the newsletter– Inside the Creator Economy. He was also the managing partner at VidCon.

Gabe Weis is the founder and artist of “The Stoic NFT” and has continuously ranked among the top-selling NFT artists for the past couple of years.

The Holistic Web3 Movement

Weis talks about digital assets and NFTs— “Web3 connects people all over the world in real-time, creating markets. I’ve been able to make a lot of people a lot of money, (also) making sure they understand that this really is a paradigm shift.

Web2 is buying (other) people’s things. Web3 is the first time when you have a vested interest. You’re almost like a gallery owner when you own one of my pieces, with vested interest to speak highly of me, share my work. Creating this symbiotic relationship between creators and the greater marketplaces is what’s going to keep us around for a long time.”

Dulma shares her experience with Web3— “I have partnered with Moonpay, and that was probably the deepest extent of my engagement with NFTs-and-creators. But it was a very open-ended sponsorship. It was awesome.”

Cherie shares the insights she gained as a content creator from selling her digital art NFTs, “I decided to create my own NFT collection to experiment. Through that experiment, I learned exactly what’s going on in the space, and learned that it’s not really what I’m drawing, but it’s the utility that my NFT can afford.

I can offer something of value to my community; not only through my videos, but also through a digital good they could buy. So it comes down to more access. I think the point question (that Web3 addresses is), what is the nature of the creator-audience relationship? How do we bridge that gap, bring them closer…”

Louderback explains his participation in Web3— “My wife’s an artist, so I’ve minted a couple of NFTs with some digital versions of her art. Then there are communities that I’ve gotten into via buying NFTs that give me access to information I wouldn’t otherwise have. I’ll point out one that I love— Jump.xyz.

As a VidCon manager, I wanted to start looking at how can we use an NFT along with a ticket to give some exclusive access like a VIP club, other special access…

Back in 2010, we were bringing creators into this network, Revision3, that I was building, and I really wanted to align their objectives, give them an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan)… I couldn’t do it. And as crypto came, I said, this is it.”

Reisinger talks about his experience— “As a creator, I’m fascinated by how Web3 can be used to help facilitate communities, bring communities together, engage better with the audience.”

Solutions in Web3 For the Content Creator Economy

Dulma has a great perspective for the creators adopting Web3— “A lot of creators care about the longevity of their careers, and preserving the trust and credibility they have cultivated painstakingly. With Web3, with their communities above all, they’re much more inclined to not grab anything they can monetize or experiment, unless they know they’re going to still be able to maintain their audience’s trust.

I’m really curious about how it can let me do community building, involving everybody, aligning incentives, and disintermediating from sponsors where I rely on them to monetize my creative career.

But an average person is going to face a little bit of a hurdle or friction… They’re like, okay, well, I do want to support you. Sure, I’ll buy your NFT, but how do I do it? They’re going to have questions.”

Reisinger seems very enthusiastic about the concept of Decentralized Autonomous Organization. Talking about CreatorDAO, a decentralized community of Web3 content creators, whose founder, Michael Ma, happens to be his friend, he says, “CreatorDAO brings together creators, and gives them ownership and collective growth. They lean on collaboration, where a lot of its founding principles were based on YC (Y Combinator, a startup accelerator), and how that can function with creators.

Being a creator, trust is a huge thing, trust with the audience, managers, people in the industry. I think the unique thing about a DAO is that the trust is universal because everyone has a stake together. DAO provides a unique opportunity to solve a lot of those problems (of trust, ownership, partnership, conflict of interest etc.).”

Louderback points out the lack of a direct connection between a creator and their followers in Web2— “Here’s another real problem that creators have; whether it’s YouTube, TikTok, SnapChat, whatever; you don’t own your audience. The platform is a proxy for your audience. So the point here is how do creators own the connection with their audience. Now this is where NFTs, cryptos, and Web3 make a difference.”

Web3 has great solutions for the creator economy and many extended offerings to empower creators and engage better with their fans, which weren’t possible before. It also helps eliminate intermediary, strengthens community building, incentivizes creators as well as consumers, and facilitates collaboration with vested interests.

Disclaimer: The article is a transcription of the interview conducted by RJ Soniya Ahuja. No statement or comment in the article is a direct or indirect portrayal of the writer’s views or opinions. The interview does not intend to promote, demote or demean any organization or community. It also does not intend to give the readers any financial or investment advice.

Soniya Ahuja, a respected leader in the Web3 and crypto community, empowers through Orbis86. With a background at Deloitte and Broadcom, her expertise spans two decades. Through initiatives like the 1111 Orbisons NFT collection, Soniya promotes diversity and community engagement. As host of “The Silicon Dreams,” she shares insights on AI, ML, and Web3, inspiring worldwide innovators. Passionate about educating and onboarding one million individuals into Web3, Soniya fosters adoption and understanding.