BeinCrypto spoke to Nima Yamini and Pablo Heman, the co-founders of PN & Friends. They discussed the impact social media has on the crypto world and how it can build effective communities.
Many builders of blockchains are heading into middle-age. However, those picking up crypto trends are just starting their lives as adults. They are starting their first jobs, earning money to spend on coins and NFTs.
This is where social media has played a crucial role in onboarding Gen Z and younger millennials into crypto.
With algorithms pushing content at impressive speeds, new audiences are finding crypto content. No one understands this more than Yamini and Heman.
These two traders have a combined following of over 1.4 million users on their social media platforms. They utilize this space to educate their followers on a variety of topics, including trades in crypto.
They have expanded this community branching out to their own platform dedicated to improving education and collaborating across this space.
Finding each other on social media
Yamini delved into the world of TikTok during the COVID-19 pandemic. For him, it was a way to get more involved in the blockchain space.
In his own words, he explains he is “not a spring chicken” at 41 years old, like other TikTok users. However, after building a bit of a following, he was directed to Heman’s videos and was blown away.
“I watched his TikTok video, and then I watched another one and another one and another one. I was just like, how the heck does this guy know so much?” he says.
The two quickly teamed up with the idea of writing a book on cryptocurrency and blockchain. However, they soon realized the value in the community building this space offers.
“We ended up not writing a book, and we ended up coming up with an idea to form a club, where we could provide online lectures. It’s really, a lot of fun getting ideas from these young kids, and just learning like from these 20-year-olds,” says Yamini.
Content that blows up quickly
Like Yamini, Heman started his TikTok platform during lockdown. However, he had already heard of the earlier version in China years before after moving from investment banking to movies.
“I was in China making all these movies, and we were feeling this threat coming from new media, social media. Advertisers and market researchers were like, why don’t you learn something from TikTok? We were like, what the heck is that. This was four years ago before anyone in the West have ever heard of TikTok,” he explains.
While the earlier versions of the app mainly were dances and funny short clips, Heman saw the rise of experts using the platform to condense and disperse ideas and educational content to new audiences.
“I got bored [during lockdown], and I said okay, I’ll give this thing a try. A credit of the TikTok algorithm is that it blows you up really quickly if you have one or two really interesting ideas,” he says.
A lesson in the nature of viral social media content
For Yamini, the viral nature of social media platforms like TikTok makes them perfect for community building and education purposes.
“In our fourth months, we have over 34,000 members [in our club]. So I think that eventually, we’ll hit 300,000. It might take us one or two years, might take us longer I don’t know, virality it happens so fast and so quickly, but I think we’re going to help shape markets,” he says.
For Yamini, the current financial system is uncertain, and it poses a stressful outlook for a generation just entering adulthood.
“At least with us they don’t have to be in the wilderness alone. They are with other highly intelligent, creative, imaginative thinkers who are trying to solve these problems and get ahead, or at the very least survive. We’re finding solutions for solving these tough problems as a community and helping each other.”
For Heman, the interaction their Discord clubs enable is an enrichment of their video content.
“You’re talking to this camera device for all this time, and you get a little hint of what people are thinking, but then you don’t know what’s going on. Here you meet them on Discord, and you can have a back and forth conversation,” he says.
Condenscing important information, effectivley
In addition, Heman points to the future of TikTok. Specifically, he discusses the shift towards educational content and away from dance and other simple content.
“I’m on Chinese TikTok, and it’s three and a half years ahead. So when you scroll through it, you actually do see experts whose books you would read, trying to condense that information in like a minute or so. I realized it is so effective because what happens is, if you try to do this whole speech, you can do a three-minute video. Now, but if you try to do a three-minute video, it almost never goes viral. The way to go viral is basically to make something shorter like 50 seconds 40 seconds,” he says.
For example, he refers to the TikTok trend of videos highlighting trending coins in the crypto space.
“It’s very silly to me when people do that, but I see the point to it. It’s basically highly, highly condensed information,” he says.
Fostering diversity in the crypto world
Through their interactions with their community and followers, Yamini and Heman have seen the diversity of users entering the crypto space.
“Opening up a diverse set of views, a divergent set of views, and having collaboration with people from different parts of the world,” explains Yamini.
“I feel a tremendous amount of responsibility for opening up different demographics to what’s going on, so I’ve been working on an initiative to open up a channel for women. Just to introduce this to bring more women under the net,” says Yamini.
For Heman, this sometimes comes with its own issues, especially when discussing controversial geopolitical topics.
“It seems like I cannot make a comment, geopolitical comment in the group without pissing off or annoying somebody,” he says.
However, overall he sees how interested their audience is in not only looking at trading predictions but also the wider influences and mechanisms affecting not only the space but the different segments of it.
“Some of them are genuinely interested in different aspects like I talk about Chinese stocks. I talk about real estate. I talk about the geopolitical situation with regard to crypto, which I think is very important. Some people are genuinely interested in all that, and it’s really rewarding,” he says.
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