This article is for anyone asking themselves, “what the heck is BitClout?” I was asking myself the same question when our founder pointed me to the site a week ago or so to check it out. (The site, by the way, is only a few weeks old, so don’t worry if you haven’t jumped on board yet.) Here’s a bit of a BitClout review for those who aren’t familiar with the network yet.
At first glance, it feels like you’re using Twitter. But what I quickly noticed that there were no petty arguments or political posts, which was refreshing. I did see a lot of funny and creative posts in my feed from relatively unknown people like me, which was encouraging. And then there was the early engagement: not only can you gain followers quickly, people can also “invest” in you by buying into your Creator Coin using the platform’s native cryptocurrency, $BitClout. You can watch your coin value rise (or fall), but as of yet, there’s no easy way to extract currency. (Actually, the only way to perform a withdrawal appears to through the over-the-counter trading desk on the BitClout Discord chat.)
When I first joined, I noticed right away a lot of people had bought a small amount of my Creator Coin, which got me hooked. I already have about 150 followers on BitClout in the short time I’ve been on, which doesn’t seem like much. But considering I’m at about 930 followers on Twitter after 10 years, it’s not bad. (Not to mention, no one has invested in me through Twitter.)
From someone who has no background in cryptocurrency, BitClout seems pretty straightforward and easy to navigate. But…
Is BitClout a Boon for Artists?
The short answer to this question is: I don’t know yet. I tell people in my profile bio that I’m a writer/photographer. But as far as what content of mine has resonated so far, it hasn’t been anything about art. In fact, my most engaging post as of yet has been about… chocolate. I’m now trying to think about ways to offer more value in exchange for coin buys – like giving away hi-res photographs for personal use to my most loyal fans (more on this in the near future.)
CulturePledge has its own account on BitClout (we’re actually the first online arts publication on the site) and is getting steady support. And while the top weekly Creators on the platform include big names who haven’t claimed their reserved profile yet (like Elon Musk, Ariana Grande, and Logan Paul), others on the leaderboard like @WhaleSharkdotPro are among the world’s top NFT collectors. That’s encouraging for crypto artists who are selling exclusive digital work.
Speaking of artists that create NFTs, @NeverEngine is an entrepreneurial duo (Trevor and Alyssa Scott) that is also experimenting on the BitClout platform. “We are having a lot of fun being on the ground floor. It’s an exciting privilege to see a brand new social media platform and creator economy grow in real-time,” they told us via the CulturePledge Slack artist hangout. (Disclaimer: we hold some of each other’s coin.) “The BitClout culture is very positive and accepting, even though there’s money at stake. It seems counterintuitive, but it’s working! Our investor list is growing slow and steady, and we are enjoying chatting with people.”
In terms of whether the BitClout network is driving more traffic to their NFT collections so far, they offered, “We haven’t seen much engagement on our NFT posts thus far, but once a hashtag type system is implemented on BitClout we expect that to change.” Meanwhile, they have been getting the most engagement from discussions and memes about BitClout.
Offering a Personalized Experience
I do see some artists presenting “Patreon-like” perks to followers (without a subscription.) For example, music group @echosmith is offering digital meet-and-greets and signed vinyl albums for $250 in BTC or $BitClout. The pop act is also offering a “private acoustic show” on-site for those who have passed COVID-19 screening, which runs $50,000 (plus expenses) in BTC/$BitClout.
Meanwhile, other NFT artists such as @MashaHafner are creating custom portraits for investors that buy one of her coins (as of the time of writing this, her coin price was at $604.97.) I’ve seen some other approaches from BitClout users in general that could be adopted by artists, like offering exclusive perks to their top 3 coin holders, for example.
Give Artists a Shout with Some BitClout
But aside from all that, it’s tough to say so far who will fare well on this platform. It seems to value ideas and personalized rewards more than the traditional ways some people get followers – namely through being a celebrity or influencer (or both.) Not to say talent has not earned anyone followers on Twitter or Facebook or anywhere else, of course it has – but BitClout seems to value it even more so far.
For now, it’s a lot of fun to buy the coins of smaller-name artists I come across whose work I like, which carries more weight than a simple “like”.
That’s our BitClout review for now, but definitely not the last on this topic!
Did You Like Our BitClout Review?
If so, be sure to let us know how your BitClout experience has been so far as an artist. Who knows, if you like our BitClout review and we like your work, we might even invest in you!
