The Positive Cultural Impact of Web3

Technology has influenced humans in more ways than most care to admit. But perhaps none of the technological innovations have had as much impact on our lives as the internet. Almost everything humans do revolves around communication, and since this is what the internet focuses on, it is not surprising how much we have learned to rely on it.

The impacts of the internet touch on nearly every facet of human existence and have defined popular culture for a long time. Since 2004 when the first social media apps started emerging and user-generated content became the standard, the internet has shaped culture in a way different from previous technological innovations. These social media platforms represented borderless communities that transcended geographical space, becoming a cultural confluence that influenced what happened in the real world.

However, while these platforms served as communities for participants, the tech companies that created them saw them as more of a marketplace. The internet finetuned the attention economy, and the social media platforms focused on how much of the user’s attention they could get and turn that attention into profits. The communities and creators still mattered, but they were not the center of the ecosystem.

These social media platforms have evident flaws due to the gatekeepers that controlled them. But leaving social media was not exactly an option in the past given the role it plays as an intermediary between creators and communities and the ease of cultural interaction offered, at least not until there was a better alternative. That alternative comes in the form of Web3.

Web3 is set to be the latest iteration of the internet — this time enabled by blockchain technology. While there are different ideas of what Web3 means, everyone agrees that it is decentralized and takes power away from the gatekeepers that control social media platforms and the other mediums of cultural interaction. Instead, Web3 gives that power to the actual participants in the cultural economy — the creators and the community.

I believe the signs of the cultural revolution that Web3 could birth are already evident. There are now applications and use cases for cultural mediums, such as art, music, fashion, and all things entertainment could benefit the creators and communities. At the center of Web3 is active participation and that is where its cultural impacts stem from.

With Web3, communities can be more than just consumers of culture — they become active participants in the creator economy. They can become owners and decision-makers in that role instead of just being fans.

This has been playing out in several ways. We’ve seen this with NFTs through Discord-based communities. With Web3 technologies, access to the community is physically gated to holders of that NFT, and creators can incentivize engagement with their brand using gamification of roles, participation itself in that community and ownership of multiple NFTs. 

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This is an efficient way for the creator to connect to their audience directly, and owners of these NFTs have direct access to the project and other community members. A culture of sorts starts to develop inside and outside these communities.

Beyond NFTs, Web3 makes it possible for fans to obtain ownership directly in a creator’s projects. This means intermediaries, such as museums for artists, record labels for musicians and film studios for actors and producers, might not have that much power in the future. While crowdfunding for an artistic project is not new, Web3 gives fans the chance to do it and potentially get financial benefits.

For instance, Royal is a music royalty project that lets musicians sell part of their royalties in a song to fans by minting limited digital assets. This means musicians can generate revenue for an album or song by simply selling future royalties to their audience. This might be ideal for upcoming and independent artists and gives core fans a chance to be involved.

Fan tokens in Web3 are also becoming popular among sports teams. It allows fans to engage with the team and vote on decisions such as music to play in the dressing room, kit designs, team preseason locations, etc. The sports leagues are capitalizing on NFTs to give fans a chance to own a record of important moments in their favorite sports. Dapper Labs and the NBA partners for the NBA Topshots. Even FIFA announced it would sell NFTs of important moments from the world cup.

Web3 offers opportunities for creating communities with a common cultural cause and for users to be active participants and make decisions. It also breaks the barrier between creators and communities, allowing for better ownership structures. But that is not where its potential for cultural revolution ends.

Web3 has shown that it can influence and drive cultural adoption, which means it can offer relevance. Popular culture is based on relevance, and this use case, more than the NFTs, tokens or technology, might be the most important benefit of Web3. This can only happen by making consumers active participants and allowing them to benefit directly. The sense of ownership that Web3 can create provides a common ground for creators and consumers to work toward the same goal. It stimulates the conversations necessary for improving the existing culture.

The cultural relevancy and economic potentials of internet communities have become more evident with Web3. For instance, the exclusive clubs created by different NFT collections are now more than just another random online forum. Each NFT represents ownership for the holder and has turned these exclusive online forums into economic powerhouses. The Bored Apes Yacht Club is an ideal example of how technology and culture can interface and benefit the two major participants — the content creators and the content consumers.

The cultural impact of Web3 is also reflected in how brands incorporate NFTs and metaverse into their products. It shows how significant the movement is for even global brands such as Nike, Adidas, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, etc., to believe that they need to incorporate Web3 to maintain their cultural relevance.