Ship or Die at Accelerate 2025: Tokenized Social (Dee Goens - Zora)

Zora co-founder Dee Goens unveils a groundbreaking approach to social media monetization, introducing the concept of "tokenized social" that promises to revolutionize how creators earn from their content and how fans interact with their favorite personalities online.

Summary

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Dee Goens, co-founder of Zora, presents the concept of "tokenized social" at Accelerate 2025. This innovative approach to social networking involves turning posts, profiles, and communities into tokens with open markets for participation. The system aims to redirect value from traditional ad-based revenue models back to creators and their audiences.

Tokenized social networks, as exemplified by Zora's platform, allow content creators to monetize their posts directly through content coins. These coins represent ownership in individual pieces of content, allowing fans and investors to buy, sell, and trade them. This model removes the restrictions and eligibility requirements imposed by traditional social media platforms, potentially democratizing earnings for creators of all sizes.

Goens also introduces the concept of creator coins, which represent investment in a creator's entire profile rather than individual posts. This system aims to align incentives between creators and their audience, fostering a more engaged and mutually beneficial relationship. The Zora token sits at the top of this ecosystem, uniting creators, content, and audiences under a single banner.

This new model of social networking has the potential to dramatically reshape the creator economy, providing unbounded upside for content creators and new investment opportunities for fans and followers.

Key Points:

Definition of Tokenized Social

Tokenized social is defined as a social network where posts, profiles, and communities are represented as tokens with open markets for participation. This concept builds upon the idea of meme coins, which proved that capital markets could form around internet creativity in new and unbounded ways. The evolution from meme coins to content coins and creator coins represents a maturation of the space, allowing for more defined and targeted investment in online content and personalities.

Zora's platform exemplifies this concept by allowing users to create content coins for individual posts and soon, creator coins for entire profiles. This system enables open markets at multiple levels - meme coins, content coins, and creator coins - which Goens argues are the essential ingredients for forming a new creator economy.

The Problem with Traditional Social Networks

Goens highlights the issues with current social media platforms, particularly their reliance on ad revenue. He argues that while users spend significant time online, only a tiny fraction of creators (around 0.1%) actually make money from their content. The majority of the value generated is captured by the platforms themselves through ad revenue.

Traditional platforms also impose strict eligibility requirements and earning caps. For example, earnings on Meta platforms are capped at $5,000 and limited to U.S. users. YouTube requires a high level of content creation expertise, while TikTok necessitates a minimum of 10,000 followers for monetization. These restrictions prevent many creators from earning through these platforms, limiting the potential of the creator economy.

The Solution: Open Markets

Zora's solution to these issues is the implementation of open markets for content and creator profiles. By allowing anyone to create and trade tokens representing posts or creators, Zora aims to unlock new market participation and value. This system allows the billions of dollars currently trapped in ad revenue to flow directly to creators instead of corporations.

The Zora app provides users with the power of a stock exchange combined with the simplicity of an Instagram-like interface. This allows creators to capture value from viral content and remixes, as demonstrated by examples like the "viral horse" post that gained attention from major brands.

Benefits for Creators and Traders

For creators, tokenized social offers several advantages:

1. Unbounded upside on content
2. Uncapped earning potential
3. No eligibility requirements
4. A new way for audiences to participate
5. A fresh platform without established expectations
6. Incentives for wider content distribution

For traders and fans, the system provides opportunities to benefit financially from early engagement with content. By investing in posts or creator coins early, users can potentially profit as the content or creator gains popularity.

Creator Coins and Ecosystem Value

Goens introduces the concept of creator coins as the next step in tokenized social. These coins allow fans to invest in entire creator profiles rather than individual posts. This system aims to drive value from individual posts to the creator level, with activity on any post contributing to the overall value of the creator's coin.

The Zora token sits at the top of this ecosystem, aligning the interests of creators, content, and audiences. This structure creates a new creator economy powered by Zora, with value accruing at multiple levels from individual posts up to the entire ecosystem.

Facts + Figures

• Zora is a platform that allows users to create content coins for individual posts and soon, creator coins for entire profiles
• Traditional social media platforms cap earnings; for example, Meta platforms limit earnings to $5,000 for U.S. users only
• TikTok requires a minimum of 10,000 followers for monetization eligibility
• A creator named "Walking Me Home" has earned approximately $11,000 in six months by posting lifestyle content on Zora
• The "viral horse" post on Zora has been remixed by major brands like Pokemon and Pizza Hut
• Zora's platform looks similar to Instagram but incorporates open market features for each post
• Creator coins are designed to drive value from individual posts to the creator level
• The Zora token aligns the interests of creators, content, and audiences in the new creator economy
• Zora's app combines the power of the New York Stock Exchange with the simplicity of an Instagram-like interface
• The tokenized social model aims to redirect billions of dollars from ad revenue to the creator economy

Top quotes

1. "We're all way too online to not be making money."
2. "Open markets unlock new market participation, new value, and allow the billions of dollars that are currently trapped in ad revenue to flow into the creator economy."
3. "It's a social network where every post and soon to be every profile are a coin."
4. "Coins actually create an incentive for people to rapidly distribute content across the internet."
5. "Creator coins are a fundamental shift in the way that value is driven from the post to the creator."

Questions Answered

What is tokenized social?

Tokenized social is a new concept in social networking where posts, profiles, and communities are represented as tokens with open markets for participation. This model allows creators to monetize their content directly through content coins, which can be bought, sold, and traded by fans and investors. It aims to provide a more equitable and lucrative platform for creators compared to traditional social media networks.

How does Zora's platform work?

Zora's platform allows users to create content coins for individual posts, similar to posting on Instagram but with the added feature of an open market. Users can buy, sell, and trade these content coins, potentially profiting from popular or viral content. The platform combines the power of a stock exchange with the simplicity of a familiar social media interface, making it accessible to a wide range of users.

What are the benefits of tokenized social for creators?

Tokenized social offers several benefits for creators, including unbounded upside on content, uncapped earning potential, and no eligibility requirements. It provides a new way for audiences to participate financially in a creator's success, offers a fresh platform without established expectations, and creates incentives for wider content distribution. This model allows creators of all sizes to potentially earn from their content, unlike traditional platforms with strict monetization criteria.

What are creator coins and how do they differ from content coins?

Creator coins represent investment in a creator's entire profile, rather than individual posts (content coins). They allow fans to bet on or invest in their favorite creators as a whole. Creator coins drive value from individual posts to the creator level, meaning that activity on any post contributes to the overall value of the creator's coin. This system aims to align incentives between creators and their audience, fostering a more engaged and mutually beneficial relationship.

How does tokenized social aim to reshape the creator economy?

Tokenized social aims to reshape the creator economy by redirecting value from traditional ad-based revenue models back to creators and their audiences. By implementing open markets for content and creator profiles, it allows for more direct monetization of content and creates new investment opportunities for fans. This model has the potential to democratize earnings in the creator space, allowing a wider range of creators to benefit financially from their online presence and engagement.