Ad-free decentralized social media platform Niche goes live in public beta
Niche, a new social media platform that operates without ads and allows users to own and sell their own content through user-owned clubs, has unveiled its public beta launch.
Launch celebration with an NFT giveaway
The beta phase is the ideal opportunity for users to form clubs based on shared interests such as travel, tech, fashion, media, wellness, and food. Additionally, Niche is offering a special NFT giveaway to the first 5,000 members who join. The official launch date is slated for March 2023.
Niche Protocol was established by Christopher Gulczynski, serving as its CEO, and Zaven Nahapetyan, acting as its CTO. Prior to co-founding Niche, Gulczynski was involved in the creation of Bumble and also played a crucial role in the development of the popular “swipe” function on Tinder.
Nahapetyan, on the other hand, held a senior engineering management position at Facebook, overseeing projects such as Facebook fundraisers and anti-misinformation efforts. The technology firm takes pride in its diverse workforce, with over half of its development team being composed of female professionals.
Niche explained
Niche offers a revolutionary take on social media through its decentralized setup, where users hold sovereignty over their own content. By promoting interaction and content generation, Niche rewards its users with tokens they possess. Each member is given a personalized digital membership card that grants access to exclusive events, discussions, and other perks. These memberships can be bought and sold for real-world currency, and the platform is designed to be user-friendly, requiring no prior knowledge of blockchain or NFTs.
The protocol sets itself apart from other social media platforms by doing away with metrics like friends, followers, and likes. This shift prioritizes meaningful engagement and eliminates the pressure to compete for online validation. Niche has formed partnerships with a wide range of companies, including Refraction, Space10, Hit of Happiness, Los Siento Tequila, Gluten Free Follow Me, and Jess Baumgardner.
Niche is designed to empower its users, providing them with a means to monetize their content and build connections with others. The platform prioritizes meaningful interactions, content ownership, and discovery while also offering a secure environment free from the distractions and manipulations of advertisements and biased algorithms often found on other social media platforms.
“We’re 9thrilled to launch our public beta and bring Niche to a wider audience (…) Our goal is to revolutionize social media and create a more equitable and user-centered experience, and we’re excited to see how the community grows and evolves during the beta phase.” – Christopher Gulczynski, CEO of Niche.
The growth and challenges of SocialFi
Decentralized social media and SocialFi, which is the integration of DeFi (decentralized finance) elements on social media, have been gaining immense traction as of late.
Recently, a decentralized social media platform called Nostr officially launched on Apple´s App store. The project is backed by Jack Dorsey, co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, and was financed by public donations.
Although Nostr is still a nascent project, it offers a promising, open, censorship-resistant, and permissionless communication protocol. With its recent inclusion on the App Store via Damus, Nostr now has the potential to reach a broader audience and further propel the growth of the web3 space.
However, both Nostr, Niche, and other decentralized social media platforms face the tall task of competing with giant corporations such as Twitter, Google, and Facebook’s Meta.
