CEO Today Magazine September 2019 Edition

23 www.ceotodaymagazine.com SPECIAL FEATURES None of Facebook’s super profits are accorded to the everyday user. Users have diligently supplied data and engagement time to platforms but received none of the revenue benefits or a utility-based reward system that goes beyond the actual access of the platform. This model of playbor – where the user community is equated to a voiceless labour force toiling on to the digital platform and driving their revenues - is a decade old now and is ripe for change. We have seen how existing social media and video content platforms such as YouTube fail to deliver the services required by most of the world’s population. Their centralised business models which collect your data and “sell you” to advertisers is increasingly unattractive. They are unable to mobilise the community to self- censor and moderate to commun i t y - de t e rmi ned standards. In short, many centralised social media platforms of today exist to profit from their users, not to serve them. This is where decentralisation of our current media and finance sectors can assist in remodelling the industry. In short, many centralised social media platforms of today exist to profit from their users, not to serve them. Therefore, when Mark Zuckerberg claims to be the true upholder of privacy, it does not change the model of Facebook’s personal profits – user data owned, controlled, packaged and targeted by the ad engines for the benefit of the company. The social media company which controls a vast pool of user data across its multiple free to use platforms – Facebook, messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram, reported annual earnings of $55.838 Billion in 2018, a formidable 37.35% increase from the year before – revenue funded primarily by targeted advertising. This data driven profit model is part of the wider industry that reaps benefits from users’ contribution of personal information (akin to digital shares and stocks), to generate revenue, without reward sharing. For this to change, we need to create a decentralised ecosystem which places consumers and platform participants in the core of business. This is where the blockchain can support in fostering a community centred around the values of transparency, collaboration and innovation. Platforms which place emphasis on a sharing economy can also benefit from the application of cryptocurrencies or digital tokens in creating a thriving rewards-based ecosystem. This is where the failures of the crypto-bubble of 2018 can be reversed. Fostering a digital rewards economy would require a common acceptable currency to transact – and by assigning tokens a value on the platform, where by users are rewarded a share of ABOUT THE AUTHOR Christel Queck is the Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer at BOLT – the decentralised mobile focused, video content ecosystem serving Emerging Market interest users, founded in 2017 with global tech-entrepreneur and innovator, Jamal Hassim. The company recently launched the BOLT Token, paired against the US dollar, Bitcoin and Ethereum on the BitMax.io Exchange, for decentralising the financial model for their unbanked and underbanked users, and rewarding content creators and platform participants. the profits, and content generates are provided a due for their work, we can bring a value and purpose from digital currencies. Otherwise they stand redundant and useless as a 2013 Canadian penny in 2019 Bali. The value wouldn’t last. I truly believe the digital content economy will now have to reinvent their model to include the users as stakeholders, not free contributors. By injecting digital tokens on platforms, there can be a new stream of exchange rate mechanisms that can allow for token exchanges and parities – a new digital financial ecosystem by itself. The possibilities are endless. www.bolt.global