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Instagram adds NFT toolkit 📱

NFTs + social media = the next big thing?

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William M. Peaster
Nov 03, 2022
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Metaversal is a Bankless newsletter for weekly level-ups on NFTs, virtual worlds, & collectibles


Dear Bankless Nation,

In my recent write-up on Reddit avatar NFTs, I speculated we could soon see other social media giants making big NFT pivots. 

It didn’t take long for that speculation to bear out, as this week Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta announced it would be launching an “end-to-end” NFT toolkit for Instagram users. 

Love it or hate it, the news is huge. 

By huge I mean the potential reach of this development is literally massive, seeing as how Instagram has +1.4 billion users. That’s 18% of everyone in the world!

Let’s dive into what we can expect from this NFT toolkit and also touch on the rise of web3’s native social media ecosystem for today’s post!

-WMP


🙏 Sponsor: Sorare - Collect, Play, Win. Own Your Game.✨


Instagram goes long on NFTs

Twitter avatar for @Meta
Meta @Meta
Soon you’ll be able to make and sell #NFTs on @instagram, starting with @0xPolygon. You can also now connect to @solana and Phantom wallet, and see information about @opensea collection: about.fb.com/news/2022/05/i… Comment your #NFT below 👇
Image
10:06 PM ∙ Nov 2, 2022
13,545Likes4,221Retweets

What’s new

This week Meta revealed it would soon introduce the ability for users to create, buy, and sell digital collectibles — i.e. NFTs — on Instagram. 

The announcement noted:

“[Creators will] have an end-to-end toolkit — from creation (starting on the Polygon blockchain) and showcasing, to selling. People can easily support their favorite creators by buying their digital collectibles directly within Instagram. We’re testing these new features with a small group of creators in the US first, and hope to expand to more countries soon.”

Little more is known for now. 

However, Meta has confirmed Instagram collectibles will be tradable outside of Instagram, for example on NFT marketplaces like OpenSea. 

Additionally, the metadata for these collectibles will be underpinned by Arweave, a decentralized data storage network that’s surged in popularity in the NFT ecosystem over the past couple of years.

Twitter avatar for @samecwilliams
🐘🔗 sam.arweave.dev @samecwilliams
📣 Major announcement: @Meta is now using Arweave to permanently store digital collectables from @instagram. Instagram users are now able to issue digital collectables for their posts, stored on Arweave. Some thoughts 👇
Image
10:40 PM ∙ Nov 2, 2022
3,418Likes680Retweets

The context

The news of the NFT toolkit rollout comes as Meta has been ramping up its digital collectibles plans this year. A timeline of the company’s prior collectibles developments is as follows: 

  • May 2022 — Meta started testing the ability to connect wallets and display Ethereum, Polygon, and Flow NFTs on Facebook or Instagram

  • August 2022 — Meta expanded its NFT tests to users in 100 additional countries, added support for new wallets like Coinbase Wallet, and activated collectibles crossposting across Facebook and Instagram

  • September 2022 — Meta opened its digital collectibles features to all Facebook and Instagram users in the U.S.


Why it matters

With nearly 3 million minted to date, Reddit Collectible Avatars have introduced a whole new “normie” audience to the world of NFTs. 

For perspective, though, Reddit has something like 50 million daily active users (DAUs) right now, while Instagram has 10x that reach at 500 million DAUs. 

That means Instagram’s digital collectibles program has the potential to reach an absolutely massive amount of people going forward. There are +200 million businesses on Instagram alone, for example! 

If even a fraction of these users and businesses embrace NFTs via Instagram in the years ahead, then the size of the NFT ecosystem and its user base is poised to swell rapidly soon. 


Who’s next?

Ark Investment Management CEO Cathie Wood recently told Bloomberg (~16:00 min. mark) that she wouldn’t be surprised to see Twitter start work on its own crypto wallet. 

I wouldn’t be surprised either. 

Of course, Twitter already supports adding Ethereum NFT profile pictures via wallets like Coinbase Wallet, MetaMask, and Rainbow. The platform also just began testing NFT Tweet Tiles:

Twitter avatar for @TwitterDev
Twitter Dev @TwitterDev
Now testing: NFT Tweet Tiles 🚀 Some links to NFTs on @rarible, @MagicEden, @dapperlabs and @Jumptradenft will now show you a larger picture of the NFT alongside details like the title and creator. One more step in our journey to let developers impact the Tweet experience.
Image
7:00 PM ∙ Oct 27, 2022
5,498Likes1,954Retweets

The crypto community is one of Twitter’s most active user groups, and the NFT ecosystem is a significant part of these activity levels, so Twitter’s leadership may eventually decide that offering even more direct crypto and NFT services — e.g. a native Twitter wallet — is a win-win for the company. 


Decentralized social media rising, too

Twitter avatar for @StaniKulechov
Stani.lens (🌿,👻) @StaniKulechov
Cool tool to see @LensProtocol activity across different apps between web and mobile clients. It's easy to get permissionless data 🌿 Add your app for some grassroots vibes 🌱
Image
Twitter avatar for @Ttrader242
vojtechpour.eth/Ttrader.lens 🪐 @Ttrader242
My fren @0xadams_ made this super cool tool where you can check activity on all @LensProtocol apps in a custom timeframe. 🌿 https://t.co/qXTX8NEL8V 🌿 Might be interesting for @StaniKulechov, @dabit3, @fabriguespe
6:10 PM ∙ Oct 30, 2022
98Likes15Retweets

In web3, we use tech like blockchain and NFTs to further decentralization.

Why decentralization? Because the concentration of power in culture and finance leads to all sorts of top-down abuses and disparities. 

In building with blockchain and NFTs, we seek to level the playing field in bottom-up fashion to give everyone a say and access to open empowering tools they can use to take better control of their own journeys. 

All that said, decentralized social media — i.e. projects that are built natively on web3 tech — is one area of interest that’s seeing a tremendous surge of building and experimentation lately. 

Twitter avatar for @StaniKulechov
Stani.lens (🌿,👻) @StaniKulechov
Usage between permissionless apps build on top of @LensProtocol 🌿 mobile is represented by @orbwagmi and @phaverapp. Community build @lensterxyz represents most of the desktop usage. Most alpha in the "OTHER"
Image
12:25 PM ∙ Nov 3, 2022
136Likes18Retweets

No project exemplifies this recent blooming more than Lens Protocol, an NFT-based social graph system built on Polygon that’s designed to serve as a foundation for an ecosystem of decentralized social network apps.

Twitter avatar for @Crypto_McKenna
McKenna @Crypto_McKenna
2/ What is Lens Protocol? Lens is a social graph representing an Individual user and their network of relations. The Social Graph is not dependant upon any platform to maintain. Users own their Profile (messages & content) and their interpersonnel relations (followers).
Image
4:52 PM ∙ Nov 2, 2022
32Likes7Retweets

To be sure, Lens, its ecosystem, and the decentralized social media sector in general are incredibly early on. We’re still at least a couple years away from these solutions being able to handle massive user bases. Yet the early progress around these web3 social plays is encouraging and gives us hope they’ll be ready for the limelight soon enough. 

Twitter avatar for @0xChristina
Christina.lens | violetcrumble.eth 🍫 | DevCon @0xChristina
Community generated content ("CGC") will be the greatest flywheel for content creators, artists & musicians We're seeing early innings - NFT project IP, AI Art, CC0 & Nouns Web3 social will unlock its full power. Social fabric layer, attribution, distribution economies of scale
5:38 PM ∙ Oct 30, 2022
121Likes19Retweets

Polygon the home of web3 social?

Reddit, Instagram, Lens — what do they have in common? They’re all relying on Polygon, the Ethereum scaling solution, to support their early NFT efforts. 

Indeed, Reddit avatars are minted on Polygon, Instagram is starting its collectibles program on Polygon, Lens profiles and posts are minted on Polygon, etc. 

With its affordable and rapid transactions, plus its scaling roadmap and bizdev efforts, the Polygon team has been on a tear when it comes to locking down the early makings of a teeming social media scene. At this rate, don’t be surprised if other mainstream social media companies make their way to Polygon. 


Action steps

  • 📱 Check out Meta’s Instagram NFT toolkit news

  • 🧱 Read my previous post Zora launches Nouns Builder


Author Bio

William M. Peaster is a professional writer and creator of Metaversal—a Bankless newsletter focused on the emergence of NFTs in the cryptoeconomy. He’s also recently been contributing content to Bankless, JPG, and beyond!


Subscribe to Bankless. $22 per mo. Includes archive access, Inner Circle & Badge.


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Not financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This newsletter is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.


Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here.


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Zora V3 is 🔥
Zora’s new protocol infra is a step forward for the NFT space!
Jan 25, 2022 • 
William M. Peaster
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Bored Ape Mutation Madness! ⚗️
BAYC introduces Mutant Apes, leading to a fun NFT mutation frenzy!
Aug 31, 2021 • 
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Why Right-Click Savers Flunk NFTs ❌
French philosopher Jean Baudrillard would tell right-click savers they have NFTs all wrong!
Sep 8, 2021 • 
William M. Peaster
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