Last week Minneapolis hosted the first-ever VeeCon superconference at U.S. Bank Stadium, a gathering of thousands of VeeFriends NFT owners who came together to meet, learn, and collaborate. Here are some takeaways from our Chief Creative & Strategy Officer Greg Swan:
VeeCon Is a Community, Not a Marketing Conference
From Snoop Dogg to Eva Longoria, Kevin Smith to Pharrell, Spike Lee to Mila Kunis, there were plenty of big names in the Web3 world on stage. But everyone involved in the programming of VeeCon had a (literal) stake in VeeFriends and therefore, a shared goal to empower this community to connect and grow together. For brands, it’s worth studying how this collection of early adopters iterates in the coming years – including the growing number of independent creators and innovators like Beeple, Yam Karkai, and Isaac “Drift” Wright who had a bigger audience reaction than some of the celebrities.
The Future of Social is Being Impacted by Web3
Since its inception, social media has continually adopted new technologies as they are invented. And we’ve come a long way from chat apps, blogs, and Facebook. Within that mindset, it’s not a surprise that the VeeCon community is using Discord, NFTs, meetups, and now these annual milestone events to reinvent social media as we know it today – both offline and in-person. Web3 is changing the nature of social by disrupting ownership, the creator economy, and connection. Modern brands should be paying attention to how their audiences could be grown into communities as social continues to evolve, as well as the brand risks, creative opportunities, environmental impact, and societal implications of social moving to this space.
You’re Not Too Late
Although you may have taken a “wait and see” approach to learning #Web3 technologies and theories so far, now is the time to start learning how to build a community in this space, not just an audience. Although blockchain technology has been around for a decade, we are just now starting to understand how Web3 could change and improve the future of the internet that we know today.
