GWI reports consumers spend 2.5 hours on social media every day. That time is invaluable to social media firms. Companies and influencers profit from value creation, but users don’t.
Now the time has come for brand new Web3 startups to change that by letting consumers make money online. Let’s look at the ways people can earn within SocialFi today and see how the Attention Economy concept gives a source of income not only to content makers but also to all ordinary users of social networks.
How Do Earnings Work in SocialFi Applications?
A few crypto startups are establishing the Web3 social network ecosystem. Most notable are Cheelee, Steemit, Minds, Akasha, Synereo, and Indorse. Except for Cheelee, their users generate, curate, and share content to earn money, so monetization on these platforms requires content production. It’s strange that billions of people use social media, but only a small percentage (creators) gain money from it.
Ruslan Sharov, founder of Cheelee said that:
Attention is the most valuable currency of the digital age. At Cheelee, we believe that ordinary users deserve more than just mindless scrolling. They should have the opportunity to earn as they engage with social media feeds. By revolutionizing the attention economy, we empower individuals to transform their passive browsing into active participation, enriching their lives and making every click count.
Cheelee has gone far ahead because, in this social network, ordinary users have become beneficiaries. Following a philosophy called the Attention Economy, Cheelee pays them for watching content.
Why Does My Attention Matter?
Attention Economy refers to the concept that, in a world of information overload, attention is a scarce resource that must be carefully managed and allocated. This term was first coined by economist Herbert Simon in 1971, who argued that attention is a valuable commodity that can be traded like any other resource.
Cheelee is a short video platform that was developed with the Attention Economy in mind. The initiative tried something really different in terms of how it communicated with its audience. It refocused attention on a novel strategy for attracting new users. Cheelee decided to compensate viewers monetarily for their attention. You can earn money just by watching the feed on Cheelee. Let’s take a look inside and see how we can earn money here.
Cheelee Test Drive: How to Earn (Personal Experience)
The first impression of Cheelee is that everything is simple. The app resembles TikTok: you can scroll through the feed and create videos, but in addition to this, there are two menu points: NFT and Wallet. It is through them that earnings become possible.
The app is available for both iOS and Android. I have to go through a standard registration process, and here I am with Cheelee, watching a feed of short videos that adjust to my preferences. I like to watch mind-blowing videos with beautiful landscapes shot with drones, as well as videos with food and pets. Having put likes under such videos and watched them to the end, as well as scrolling through those that were not interesting to me, I watched mostly what I liked after a couple of days. This AI-based mechanic is what made the TikTok app so popular back in the day. In Cheelee, however, I have to be rewarded when I view the feed. Let’s see if this is all true.
The First Boxes with Free Tokens
Earning in Cheelee requires NFT glasses, which I kind of “wear” while watching videos. I go to the “NFT” tab at the bottom of the main screen, see the Starting box, open it, and claim my Starting NFT glasses. Okay, let’s start earning.
I go to the feed and watch videos. After 5 minutes, I get a box, open it, and LEE tokens “fall out” from there (or rather their hundredths). When I log into the app the next couple of times, I get two more boxes. No matter how much I watched the videos later, no more boxes fell out.
The 1st box with LEE tokens
Cheelee claims that Starting glasses are needed in order to understand the mechanics of token accrual. And yes, I realized that it’s impossible to earn anything substantial with them. They are for getting to know the app and its earning mechanics. It is impossible to withdraw LEE tokens earned with Starting glasses, but you can use them to upgrade your NFTs. LEE are utility tokens that the app charges for views. You can see the token price on CMC; today it’s 2.62. Below is how much I earned in free mode.
My earnings with Starting glasses: 0.12 LEE
Earnings with the NFT Glasses from the Marketplace
I decided to compare how much I would earn in the same period of time on Startings and on Rares. The high rarity NFT glasses are needed to earn some substantial money. The steeper the glasses, the more they attract. In its socials, Cheelee says that with high rarity glasses, I can make x2 of their value. They even showed one of their users’ maximum daily earnings in May, which was 600 LEE ($1560 at LEE`s rate on that day). I would not refuse such an additional income!
Here’s what community shows in Cheelee socials
The mechanics of earning with the help of high rarity glasses are simple: charge on time and don’t forget to upgrade. And, as I see it, we’re talking about quite substantial amounts of money. Doubling is >$900 I can get for watching clips in Rare glasses for $463. And if I invest in Uniques, which cost $1854, I can earn about $3700!
Creating a Wallet and Buying NFT via Bank Card
The first thing to figure out to buy the high rarity NFT glasses is the crypto wallet. There are two wallets: internal and external. The internal one stores CHEEL, LEE and USDT, and the external one is for withdrawing, receiving, and swapping tokens. The external wallet can be created in the app, or I can import my own one. I create a wallet from scratch: connect 2FA, write down the seed phrase and password, and save them carefully, of course.
I bought the Rare glasses by going to the Marketplace tab in the NFT section. Their price is 463,5 USDT, and Cheelee allows purchasing them via bank card.
Purchasing NFT glasses via bank card
There are two options for buying in fiat:
- Pay by card: mine automatically offers to charge in EUR.
- Pay by P2P: depending on chosen currency, banks in these countries will be listed.
What I Managed To Earn
My expectations from Rares were not met immediately. I had to figure it all out and develop my own strategy for leveling up the glasses. From communication with the Cheelee community, I learned that it is now profitable to pump Lenses and Radar modules.
Pumping my NFT glasses modules
In a couple of days of irregular viewing of the videos, I earned 52 LEE. At today’s token exchange rate, this is 1360 dollars.
The fact that I really earned something just for watching videos was interesting. Improving my glasses modules requires “points”, which I receive for leveling up the glasses and which I can spend on any module I want, creating my own unique earning strategy.
What I earned with Rares: 52 LEE
I pumped the Radar module: it increases the chance of boxes falling out, which is exactly what I need. Then the Lenses module: it increases my LEE earning rate. That was my first strategy and I think I was quite successful with it.
Cheelee Pros and Cons
What do I think is missing from this app?
- A yield calculator that would allow more conscious planning of my earning rate;
- Communicating through personal messages;
- The ability to reply to comments;
- Buying NFTs directly in the app without switching to the browser;
- Exchanging LEE to CHEEL within the app;
- AI masks in the video editor.
Cheelee pros (besides the earning possibilities):
- Nice and clear interface;
- Easy registration process;
- AI driven smart feed;
- Very handy video editor.
My Conclusions
Perhaps even a beginner can start earning in Cheelee because the processes of wallet creation and NFT purchase are as user-friendly as possible. You’ll have to test the app a bit to understand how the gamification works. But it’s worth it anyway because you earn tokens by doing what you used to do for free.
Earning while relaxing is nice, so I’m now an adherent to the attention economy. And yes, my verdict is that you can and should make money from your own attention, so soon I think most social networks will have to implement something similar to what Cheelee has already done.
Author: Hanna Karasevich
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