NFTs to access a Facebook Group? Maybe

Getting through some of that fad thinking and into a better look at the long-term impact of this technology on social media.

Greg Swan

Aug 12

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Most folks who pay attention to social media platform trends have a pretty good sense of what Meta is planning with NFTs in the short term for Facebook and Instagram. It’s expected stuff like: verified profile pictures, displaying NFTs you own in Stories and Posts, and clicking through on NFTs to bid on them. It all seems pretty straightforward and will have little impact on brands in the short-term.

But… there's a patent filing that says NFTs could serve as access tokens to Facebook Groups that is pretty interesting and worth paying attention.

Here's a good take from PATENT DROP (one of my favorite newsletters):

…Meta is looking into NFTs as a way of gating access to certain resources - this could be content, actions or portals.
So for example, imagine there was a Patent Drop facebook group for the readers of the newsletter to get to know each other, chat, share interesting links. One thing we might do is firstly gate access to the group for people who own a Patent Drop NFT. Now let’s imagine that the group becomes a home for incredible technology talent. We might setup another NFT collection that would enable companies to be able to post within a Jobs board. And lastly, imagine there’s a quarterly Patent Drop report that distills the patent analysis into a major trends report. In theory, this report could be gated for people who hold a Patent Drop NFT that has a 'VIP’ trait.

When you hear about NFT’s being used as tokens that unlock value, that’s what Neer is talking about here. A verifiable sign-in that’s also transferable and offers specific traits or access.

Then Neer goes further for why Meta being the one to share this, which I’ll go ahead and highlight for you, too….

Facebook communities could be an interesting accelerant for NFTs to be used by people outside of the tech twitter bubble. Sceptics might ask why NFTs are necessary for this. People could just pay a subscription for access to private communities - I mean, it happens already. I think the answer to this will be clearer over a decade.

But I imagine there are firstly lots of incentives as to why Meta would want to use crypto rails for in-app transactions - no fees to existing payment rails and complete access to users’ crypto transactions that make for deeper user profiling.

Community owners and members could both benefit from setting up groups with a scarce members. Conversations could be better and the ability to resell NFTs might incentivise members to create high value communities. Lastly, it’s easy for an ecosystem to build around NFT memberships. For instance, a new diaper start-up might emerge permissionlessly by offering discounts to people who own a NFT in a new parents facebook group.
While Meta is primarily talking about how NFTs will be integral to their metaverse economy, this patent filing shows that there is a more immediate use-case of NFTs being deployed in Facebook groups.

A company filing a patent doesn’t mean they’ll launch a product or service. But it does give us a window into where companies are making investments and placing bets. See the patent here.

In parallel, there’s a really interesting take on the potential of “subscription NFTs” in the tweet thread below worth reviewing through this same mindest. Here are a couple highlights…

cantino.eth @chriscantino

The future of subscription NFTs (and why you should give a s*** in the first place). 🧵

cantino.eth @chriscantino

“Why subscription NFTs?” Web2 subscriptions are rented, not owned. You do not own your Spotify membership. You can not sell it. And due to Apple’s 30% commission, you are also paying “platform tax.” But this is just first inning thinking. Here’s what they’re really capable of.

cantino.eth @chriscantino

Feature Unlocks and Exclusives Tesla NFTs that unlock access to premium features. HBO NFTs that let you watch new movies before release. Food Network NFTs that serve up interactive cooking lessons. By attaching scarce perks to NFT-based subscriptions, their value increases.

NFTs were never just “jpegs as investment,” despite the hype. But we’re getting through some of that fad thinking and into a better look at the good and long-term impact of this technology on social media.

📰 In the News

This week I was quoted in Digiday about Pinterest and how they hope to catch up to the ecommerce boom. From AR features to updated e-commerce and ad products to the new Shuffles app (in beta), it’s clear the platform is doubling down on the power of images and curation, even while video is 10% of time spent for users today and a lucrative opportunity for ad products. It is incredibly shoppable and has become a go-to search engine for certain use cases.

But at 12 years old, the challenge for Pinterest is finding opportunities for users to open the app and spend time there repeatedly and outside of those traditional use cases. Read the story via Marty Swant here.

Momentum! That's the story of The Social Lights and why we were covered in Adweek and the Minneapolis Egotist this week. Just look at these smiling faces + new clients joining such a stellar roster of current colleagues + client partners. I’m excited for this growing team and what we'll do next together.

I’ll be sharing the opening keynote of the PRSA Midwest District Conference on September 18 in Minneapolis. The district includes 12 Chapters: Central Illinois, Chicago, Greater Kansas City, Iowa, Madison, Mid-Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northeastern Wisconsin, Southeastern Wisconsin, Southwest Missouri and St. Louis.

My topic is The Social First Mindset: Today, Tomorrow & the Future We Craft Together, and I’m really excited to share some new thinking and examples as we reasses where we’re at today and where we’re headed. Here’s a short video promotion, and you can register here.