NFTs, the New Frontier for Social Media
Olakunle Afolabi introduces Nafter, a social media startup betting that NFTs are the new Instagram posts.
What would your reaction be if you were told, three years ago, that an audio recording of fart could be worth $100 today? If that doesn't sound crazy enough, how about a simple tweet being sold for almost $3 million? Far-fetched, right? Well, let's keep going. What if I told you a single .jpeg file was sold for $69 million? Crazy right? Well, welcome to the world of NFTs, where crazy things like these are happening at scale.
Now, this begs the question of where these outrageous transactions take place and how you can get involved. That’s where Nafter comes in. But before we go into detail about what Nafter is, let's first understand more about what an NFT is.
What is an NFT?
NFT stands for non-fungible token. Simple right? I know — that doesn't make it any clearer. Let's start by breaking down the word 'non-fungible'. Fungible means replaceable, interchangeable and not unique. A $100 bill can be easily exchanged for another $100 bill because both carry the same value.
On the other hand, non-fungible tokens are unique and unexchangeable. This essentially means that one NFT cannot be interchanged for another NFT even if they belong in the same collection. Now on to the second word 'token' — in this context, token represents a specific collectible on the blockchain.
Therefore, an NFT is a unique and non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a digital ledger known as the blockchain. NFTs transform digital works of art and other collectibles into one-of-a-kind, verifiable assets that are easy to trade on the blockchain.
Now, let's talk about how to get involved in NFTs using Nafter.
Nafter
Nafter is a social marketplace that allows anyone to mint, buy and sell NFTs and share it with the community. Let's understand how it works by comparing to Twitter as an example. Twitter is a social media platform where people from all over the world interact, voice out their thoughts, post pictures, and a lot more.
Nafter is a social media platform like Twitter, but instead of normal picture posts or discussions around societal issues, the conversation is centered around NFTs. People post their NFTs on their feed and their followers can bid, like, or comment on them.
The unique thing about Nafter is that it doesn't focus on promoting a few influencers and content creators as traditional social media algorithms inevitably do. Instead, Nafter uses the power of the community to decide which NFTs are valuable and which ones aren't. This ensures influencers and content creators communicate and build rapport with their audience and motivates them to deliver content that meets the needs of their fans.
Nafter's model is a potential game-changer for influencers and content creators. It gives them the unique opportunity to monetize every memorable moment of their lives. Due to this, Nafter enjoyed tremendous early success during its launch last September, with more than 2,000 NFTs minted in the first two hours of the launch.
Transforming memorable photos into coveted NFTs
Did I say something about Nafter being unique? Sit tight because we are yet to get to the best part. Nafter enables you to transform your images or short clips into NFTs that ends up being sold at ridiculous prices. When one considers the amount of money involved, one would expect the conversion process to be tedious, but this is where Nafter swings its magic wand. The whole process of conversion has been automated by Nafter. Nafter enables everyone to transform stunning snaps into collectible NFTs at the push of a button with no technical knowledge or training needed. You need to go through these four steps:
- Take a photo on your smartphone
- Mint it as an NFT on Nafter
- Post it to the Nafter marketplace
- Share the NFT for your audience to bid on
What is the currency being used on Nafter?
Currently, the Nafter platform uses its native token called $NAFT for all transactions. Using $NAFT on this platform comes with the benefit of zero transaction fees. However, plans are currently underway for the Nafter platform to roll out support for other cryptocurrencies.
Nafter comes to PancakeSwap and Gate.io
Nafter recently announced a partnership with PancakeSwap, the largest decentralized trading platform based on Binance Smart Chain, and Gate.io, the cryptocurrency exchange.
This partnership with Gate.io provides Nafter's massive audience a simple, convenient, and safe way to buy the $NAFT. $NAFT's easy accessibility is expected to expand Nafter's community of NFT creators and fans. According to Nafter CEO Jonathan Sulay, "The partnership is another milestone for $NAFT and something we are very proud of."
Nafter's token launch on PancakeSwap generated a lot of attention among the community and has firmly established $NAFT as one of the year’s most highly anticipated projects. Additionally, to ensure security, Nafter employed the services of the audit firm CertiK to audit the $NAFT token contracts. The contracts have successfully passed the CertiK audits bringing a lot of goodwill from the community.
Ambassador program for creators and influencers
Nafter has also launched an ambassadorship program for content creators and influencers to help champion Naftar's cause to the general public.
Nafter ambassadors are made up of top content creators and influencers of the entertainment industry to represent, promote and mint their own content into NFTs.
Some of the benefits enjoyed by ambassadors include:
- Early access to the MVP of the Nafter app.
- Access to white-glove onboarding to Nafter by the social media team.
- Early access to creator staking pools.
- Ambassadors will receive native promotion inside the Nafter platform.
Verification badges for creators and collections
Similar to major social media platforms, Nafter introduced the use of verification badges to help identify and protect key user profiles and participants on the platform. This move is also expected to boost the popularity of influencers and reduce scams.
Badge holders have the added benefit of personally verifying themselves, thereby adding extra value to both their NFT collection and status as a Nafter personality.
However, unlike other social media platforms, these NFT badges can be sold and freely traded between platform users.
Nafter's journey
Less than three months from the launch of Nafter, the platform boasted over 70,000 users with more than 40,000 NFTs already minted. Over 5,000 NFTs have been sold on the platform.
Professional boxer, rapper, and YouTuber Jake Paul's NFT "The Chosen One" sold for 888,888 $NAFT ($40,051), claiming the record for most expensive purchase on the platform. The NFT captures Jake on the cusp of the battlefield during his iconic fight against UFC Welterweight champion, Tyron Woodley — a fight which Jake eventually won via split decision.
As a part of Nafter's marketing plans, it has signed the likes of Stanija Dobrojevic (Serbian TV personality), Dorien Rose (actress and animal activist), Adrian Colbert (American football player), and more. The biggest marketing addition till date is Nafter's partnership with professional boxer and social media phenomenon Jake Paul, who has over 67 million followers.
Conclusion
Can you purchase this article as an NFT?
Oh yes, you can, I'm sure a bid that runs into hundreds of thousands of dollars will be enough to tempt Taylor, Colton, and Sonya into selling it. Turning this article to an NFT is pretty straightforward, so how about you shoot your shot? Lol, just kidding.
I believe NFTs as assets are still in their infancy stages and a lot more is still to come. In the next decade or so, I can see NFTs turning doubters into believers, just like cryptocurrency did. I can't tell you to either go into NFTs or not, but what I can tell you is to do your own research before you make a decision.
NFTs shouldn't be used as a retirement investment plan. If you decide to get involved in the NFT craze, I would advise you to invest only what you can afford to lose on an NFT. Most importantly, I wouldn't advise anyone to spend $100 on a fart NFT.
If you are looking to get into the NFT space as a newbie, Nafter is a pretty good place to start as the whole process of buying and selling has been made easy and straightforward. And if you are looking to become an influencer, Nafter's social media setting is a great place to build a fanbase.
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