Why YouTube Is Moving For A Web3.0 Integration?
The platform executives know that a new internet era, Web 3.0, is coming. It has the potential to revolutionise the virtual world. The same way Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos have become successful billionaires during the Web 2.0 era, Web 3.0 presents new opportunities for those who are savvy enough to utilise them. Facebook’s rebranding to Meta is one example. YouTube’s quest to modernise its platform is another. Why YouTube Is Moving For A Web3.0 Integration?
The technicals: Web 3.0 runs on a blockchain
The distributed ledger of blockchain provides an exquisite solution to protect and maintain the transparency of transaction data. It also provides numerous opportunities to reward the user in various ways. Blockchain-powered protocols have the capacity to leverage communities, creators, artists, developers, designers, and organisations and businesses to experiment and evolve. Right now, new projects like citiesabc.com (creating a Metaverse for entire cities) and LynKey are creating virtual and real experiences with NFTs in property and smart tourism.
YouTube’s revolution
YouTube is known as the biggest content creator platform. Now, it is arguably the right time to grow the connection between creators and their fans, through NFTs. The top celebrities, including the social media artists, are constantly looking for innovative ways for expanding their reach with new audiences, and better engagement for the existing ones, thereby creating sustainable ways of generating revenue streams. Web 3.0 offers this new playground ecosystem for them.
The company is currently not only hiring an executive to lead its Web 3.0 strategy but also looking to add NFT integration, as per the CEO, Susan Wojcicki’s recent comments. A recent open letter by Wojcicki seems to outline the direction in which the company is headed.
“The past year in the world of crypto, non-fungible tokens, and even decentralised autonomous organisations has highlighted a previously unimaginable opportunity to grow the connection between creators and their fans,” said Wojcicki.
"We're always focused on expanding the YouTube ecosystem to help creators capitalise on emerging technologies, including things like NFTs while continuing to strengthen and enhance the experiences creators and fans have on YouTube."
A roadmap is not yet published, but it is likely that YouTube could allow content creators to issue their own NFTs and sell them to their audiences as an improved monetization model for the “Join” feature.
YouTube gaming
YouTube had over 800 billion gaming-related views, over 90 million hours of live streaming, and over 250 million uploads in the first half of 2021. The potential for Web 3.0 integration here is huge. Immersive gaming experiences have come a long way. As Dinis Guarda, the CEO of Ztudium and a Digital influencer wrote:
“Since its first presence in platforms like Second Life (2003), it has come a long way to today’s global-scale multiplayer online games like Fortnite, and even more popular Facebook’s rebranded, Meta. Many experts consider these platforms to be the pioneers in the world of multiverse gaming.
New players, like the Polygon ecosystem, use Blockchain to expand transparency for the community, deploy new reward systems, and offer possibilities to scale communities.”
For the gaming space, YouTube’s Chief Product Officer, Neal Mohan, has admitted that
“We’re thinking big about how to make viewing more immersive. The first area in which you can expect to see an impact in gaming, where we’ll work to bring more interactions to games and make them feel more alive”.
As far as the Metaverse is concerned, Mohan wrote,
“It’s still early days, but we’re excited to see how we can turn these virtual worlds into a reality for viewers.”
All of these are just plans, so we will have to wait and see what YouTube has in store for us. Although YouTube’s plans are not fully finalised yet, one thing is certain: with Facebook’s rebranding to Meta, other “traditional” Web 2.0 companies are going to try and keep up the pace. YouTube is just one platform that is looking to modernise. And modernise means surviving, with how fast the digital revolution is progressing.
References
https://coinscreed.com/youtube-to-explore-nfts-and-web-3-0.html
https://cryptobriefing.com/youtube-is-hiring-an-executive-to-lead-web3-strategy/
https://www.notebookcheck.net/YouTube-is-looking-to-add-NFT-integration.595650.0.html
https://thecoin.news/articles/youtube-explore-nft-features-creators-1643206193135
