Exploring SOEX: Has it cracked the code of Web3 social interaction?

Social scenarios serve as an important means of linking relationships between people and promoting the circulation of information, resources, and goods, and their significance and universality are self-evident. Due to their immense potential and value, social products have attracted considerable attention in the capital market, and major blockchain ecosystems are actively embracing or integrating social elements. In the current context where Web2 platforms frequently encounter data breaches, privacy scandals, and algorithmic biases, the Web3 social ecosystem has become a hot topic. "Native crypto social applications" have become a key focus area for top institutions like Paradigm, while Messari has listed "Decentralized Social (DeSoc)" as a core area to watch in 2024.

Although the Web3 social ecosystem may not represent an entirely new narrative, it has always been highly anticipated and continues to be viewed positively. With characteristics such as decentralization, censorship resistance, user-centricity, empowerment of digital assets, and identity interoperability, the Web3 social scene has become a field for various projects to explore and innovate, especially following the rise of DeFi.

1. Value Capture and Redistribution in the Web3 Social Ecosystem

1.1 The Value and Reshaping of Power

The Web3 social ecosystem aims to uncover the value overlooked or monopolized by Web2 social platforms and redistribute it more fairly through Web3 mechanisms.

User Sovereignty

The Web3 social ecosystem returns true ownership to users. Through on-chain data and decentralized nodes, user sovereignty is guaranteed, including aspects such as consumption preferences, privacy, digital assets, and identity sovereignty.

Reshaping the Creator Economy

Web3 social empowers content creators, making them "true owners." Through models like "Write to Earn," creators can monetize their work based on quantifiable metrics such as clicks and shares. Additionally, platforms like Lens provide creators with extra income sources. Furthermore, creators can tokenize their content as NFTs for copyright protection.

Decentralized Governance

Unlike Web2 platforms with absolute governance power, the Web3 social ecosystem decentralizes governance, placing it in the hands of the community. Content moderation and ownership are determined by the community, and users can allocate governance rights by holding NFTs or tokens, making the entire process more democratic and transparent.

Decentralized Identity with Interoperability

In traditional Web2 social networks, digital identities lack interoperability across platforms, which is a major pain point for users. In the Web3 social ecosystem, efforts are being made to build a unified digital identity system, allowing users to participate in various scenarios within open and interoperable protocols. For example, users can use the same Decentralized Identity (DID) to engage in diverse social activities on platforms like CyberConnect and Lens Protocol.

Exploring SOEX: Has it cracked the code for Web3 social interaction?

1.4 New Asset Forms and Collaboration Models

Web3 social can transform behaviors or outcomes into new asset forms, giving them trading value or specific rights. This also facilitates richer collaboration methods and value distribution mechanisms. For instance, Mirror allows shared content owners to earn royalties, Chiliz enables token holders to participate in sports club decisions, platforms like Debank Hi offer paid chat features, and Friend.Tech allows group access through purchasing "Keys."

2. Exploration of Web3 Social

2.1 Diversified Landscape

In the Web3 social space, whether it’s dedicated chains, protocol layers, or applications, each project is striving in its specialized direction to truly open the door to Web3 social. This includes L1 platforms like Deso, protocol layers like CyberConnect (a leading project in this space, consisting of three core components: CyberProfile, CC Social Graph, and Cyber Wallet), Lens (with over 100 ecosystem products), Farcaster (reportedly used by Vitalik Buterin), and representative platforms like Mirror, Damus, Friend.Tech, Debank-Hi/Stream, Debox, and Etherscan's Blockscan.

While each Web3 social project has its unique characteristics, advantages, and application scenarios, their core mainly focuses on the functional implementations brought by underlying technologies. In a sense, these projects have reimagined or introduced new concepts based on the needs of social scenarios, combined with the development of internet civilization and technological iteration, undoubtedly marking an important step in the right direction. Ultimately, time will provide the answer.

2.2 Facing Challenges

Currently, Web3 social faces several challenges regarding user base and project data.

High Barriers for New Users: Understanding concepts such as private keys, public keys, and mnemonic phrases, as well as the differences in gas fees across chains, poses obstacles for new users.

Lack of Viral Applications: Web3 social products have poor marketing effectiveness, with few open applications and insufficient community promotion. Overly aggressive marketing strategies have led to negative reputations. Additionally, users accustomed to free usage on Web2 social platforms lack awareness of payment models in Web3 social interactions, such as purchasing Profile NFTs or paying gas fees.

Imitating Web2 Social Platforms: Most Web3 social applications replicate the models of Web2 social platforms, lacking significant innovation, which results in a lack of user appeal. This leads to lower levels of FOMO (fear of missing out) and urgency among users.

Strong User Stickiness of Web2 Social Applications: Web2 social platforms, benefiting from first-mover advantages, have a large number of long-term active users. These users have established mature social circles within Web2 social products, making it difficult for them to abandon their existing social capital in favor of unfamiliar products in Web3 social.

For native Web3 users, unless there are other significant needs, using Web2 social applications like X, Discord, Telegram, and WeChat can also meet their requirements.

3. SOEX: The Key to Unlocking Web3 Social Challenges

SOEX is a newly launched Web3 social application currently in public beta. Due to its unique approach, practicality, and airdrop incentives, it has attracted the attention and usage of numerous KOLs, communities, and Web3 digital nomads. Next, let’s briefly analyze whether SOEX has found the correct way for Web3 social.

3.1 What is SOEX?

From its public website, X platform, and related materials, SOEX is a transaction-driven Web3 instant messaging (IM) platform built on the Nostr infrastructure. It integrates various scenarios such as CEX, DEX, other DeFi, and traffic-matching trading through IM, simplifying the trading process and lowering the entry barriers for users. Additionally, SOEX has an incentive mechanism to promote user trading behavior.

3.2 Highlights of SOEX Clever Entry Point Design

Unlike most Web3 social applications that start from concepts like ownership, decentralized identity (DID), or creator economy, SOEX chooses to begin with a common activity that almost every Web3 user participates in—"trading." This is indeed commendable and showcases the innovative thinking of the SOEX team. "Trading" is typically seen as occurring on centralized exchanges (CEX) and decentralized exchanges (DEX), which is often an area overlooked by many Web3 social application projects.

Imagine a scenario where a group of people is primarily focused on profiting from trading. For a project proposal, it should aim to provide better trading services for this group. Now, considering the concepts of data ownership, governance rights, content authentication/curation provided by Web3 social applications, how receptive would this group be? However, if a Web3 social application offers better trading support services for this group, such as timely information dissemination, community interaction, user-friendly trading tools, etc., enabling them to find like-minded partners, seize good trading opportunities, promote information dissemination and trading without switching applications, while building their trading DID profiles to earn more profits, then this group would easily accept and use the platform long-term. And if they could also receive airdrops without any losses? That would be even more appealing. If such incentive measures are sustainable, then this Web3 social platform is bound to thrive.

Powerful Marketing Effect

From a marketing perspective, meeting existing needs often yields better results than creating new demands. The intrinsic value of Web3 social platforms does exist, but it may not directly address the urgent needs currently prevalent, and capturing its value and expanding it takes time. The current priority is to meet the mainstream demand for "communication, trading, and value exchange among Web3 users." Although platforms like X, Discord, and TG remain the main social battlegrounds for Web3 users, if users can communicate and trade within a single Web3 social application without switching applications, while also establishing their absolutely private domains (profitable and monetizable), and receive additional airdrop rewards, then could such a native Web3 social application better meet the actual and spiritual needs of Web3 users? The answer is yes.

Vast Value Space

Currently, according to data from Triple-A, there are approximately 420 million cryptocurrency users worldwide, accounting for less than 5% of the global population. Compared to the global population of Web2 social media users, this number represents only a small fraction, indicating immense untapped potential. A key characteristic of Web3 users is holding tokens and earning from trading (whether through early token interactions, exchange trading, or secondary market trading). Despite being in a bear market in 2023, the average daily trading volume still hovers around $100 billion (according to CoinGecko data). Data from recent years shows that the types, frequency, amounts, and methods of user trading have gradually increased. With the stimulation of a bull market, trading volumes are expected to continue surging in the near future.

Accurately Seizing Opportunities

According to information disclosed by SOEX, it supports not only EVM but also BEVM scenarios, indicating its embrace of the BTC ecosystem. The strategic cooperation with BEVM suggests that SOEX's launch will leverage the explosive growth of the BTC ecosystem. In terms of timing, SOEX cleverly captures the rhythm of the BTC ecosystem and the bull market.

Currently, SOEX provides participants with rich short-term and long-term incentives. For ordinary Web3 users, exploration is now open, with opportunities to receive SOX airdrops. Interested individuals can come and experience it.

Ongoing Plans

From SOEX's development roadmap, it is evident that its initial entry point is to promote social trading, gradually expanding and enriching trading scenarios. Furthermore, SOEX relies on two protocols to achieve user incentive distribution in social trading scenarios and build decentralized trading identities. This helps match identities and traffic between users, communities, and projects. Of course, this is also an extension of trading. This matching method and scenario may gradually replace task platforms, as it provides a more direct way, a more precise trading identity profile, and more efficient feedback. Additionally, the roadmap mentions TradeDivi and Sketch protocols. If by then SOEX has a considerable number of users and its effectiveness is fully validated, the opening of these protocols and support for more application scenarios and ecosystem interoperability will hold significant value.

Conclusion:

Web3 social platforms represent a challenging yet highly promising field. Whether in blockchain, protocols, or applications, as industry observers and participants, we hope to see a project that truly meets the needs of Web3 users and brings them benefits.

SOEX's entry point is eye-catching, addressing the urgent needs of current Web3 users. From a product design perspective, it indeed meets some users' needs and lowers entry barriers. Considering its potential value space, marketing effectiveness, timing, and future narrative, it has the potential to gain favor from capital and the blockchain ecosystem. Currently, its financing status has not been disclosed, possibly because the project team has yet to announce it. Of course, in the current trend of fair issuance, as a Web3 social application with strong community attributes, SOEX may also choose a fair issuance approach. This would be a new revolution, and we are looking forward to it.

Of course, whether SOEX has truly cracked the correct path to open Web3 social media still requires time to verify. In addition to following its progress, experiencing SOEX is also a good choice. At the very least, one can chat with consensus partners holding tokens, obtain convenient information or news, receive analyses and insights from professionals, and more importantly, gain zero-cost SOX airdrops from the project. Why not seize this opportunity?