Sway Social Introduces Web3 Protocol to Replace “Like” and “Follow” in The Open Metaverse

Sway Social is the first social protocol for “Metacreators” that uses NFTs to translate social capital into an asset class. It introduces a new web3 concept called creator pools, that, like the more familiar liquidity pools, requires value to be locked in the form of a stake that will later yield rewards based on the performance of the creator’s NFTs.

Instead of ‘following‘ a creator, participants stake against the creator in his liquidity pool. Value is established based on the pool participation TVL, with stakeholders providing a social underwriting facility for creators through a subDAO. Every time the creator transfers or sells an NFT, the participants get rewarded.

Social Capital: A New Asset Class

Every building block in the Metaverse, be it game item, avatar, collectible, social media post, or title, is an NFT. Behind every NFT is a creator, and behind every creator is a community that establishes the value of the creator’s social capital.

Social capital can be defined as networks of relationships among participants and their ability to engage and influence each other. In traditional Web2 social media platforms, the number of ‘Likes’ or ‘Followers’ is directly correlated with earnings potential. A creator is primarily valued by the number of followers they can engage with.

Sway propels social capital into the decentralized world of web3, transforming creator’s social capital into an asset class. Participants no longer “follow” a creator, instead, they stake in a staking pool for that creator, establishing a subDAO for their content.

Built For Open Metaverse

If the future is really to be decentralised, what will our online social experiences look like? “We look at this transition from three layers; social content, social value and social currency. It’s clear that NFTs will be the content layer of Metaverse – so that is solved. But social value and currency will evolve. Effectively, followers will become stakeholders and the ‘hearts’ on  Instagram photos will translate into actual value expressed in a form of some cryptocurrency,” suggests Zih.

Sway Social has entered into partnerships with a number of NFT marketplaces and minting platforms to bring on board the first creators and start establishing their creator pools. Zih adds:

“NFTs are the future and a core component of the Open Metaverse, but nothing can happen without the creators. We’re here to make sure they capture all the value they can.”