Social networks + LETS = New development horizons
Preview of the article, since the text is large:
Any economy in the world is a relatively closed trading system serving the interests of the members of the community in which they operate. Otherwise, LETS (Local Exchange Trading System) is a system for organizing the exchange of goods and services between community members. Money acts as a lubricant in these systems. The most clear example to us is the economy of any country.
Communities can be of different sizes, from a nation to residents of one village or users of one Internet resource. And for each such community, its own monetary system can be created that best meets the needs of all the inhabitants of this system.
The whole article describes the creation of local economies on the basis of existing or newly created social networks, and also tells how it gives benefits to users and how social networks can earn on this. In essence, this is a description of a new way of monetization for any socially oriented services.
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For those who are interested in the topic, but the text will seem cumbersome, you can see the materials in graphical form. prezi.com/rbir1_tb7zzw/lets
So let's get started
The rapid development of social services, supported by increased attention of investors and the general expectation of a miracle, led to the fact that everyone is preparing for the great future of social networks and others like them. Come up with a lot of new chips, creating a huge number of new technologies. And according to the assurances of the profile press, literally today, looking out the window (both virtual and very real), one can see the steps of an inevitable IT-based Paradise.
Actually, all this is very inspiring and leads one to believe that in a couple of years everything will be even more interesting and steeper than it was described in the most daring sf-novels of a decade ago. However, gray days return us to the ground: Geeks mostly use achievements of progress, although broadband penetration has made us all closer, but nevertheless, the average user only looks at pictures in the world of the “Big Internet” and his majesty was and remains the most faithful way to monetize advertising content.
I propose an alternative way for the noble public, and how else can you make money on social networks?
Everything consists in building local economies on the basis of existing social networks (LETS-systems in more detail what it is and how it works described here or a complete collection of articles on this topic here www.facebook.com/pages/LETS- systems/ 100263770043225 ? v= ).
First, a few basic concepts:
Community - any virtual or territorial community of people, united by common values, interests; The community is capable of producing and consuming various goods and services by the forces of its members.
Money is a certain universally accepted equivalent, in which a certain community a) values ​​benefits; b) makes deals with benefits; c) accumulates wealth for the purpose of sometime afterwards to acquire goods, but for the time being stored in monetary terms.
Resources - any tangible and intangible assets (time, technology, human capital, and more), but not money in the form of a specie. Although it is very possible to evaluate all these assets in monetary terms.
Often in many communities there is a paradoxical situation: there is a sufficient amount of all the necessary resources for the production of goods and services in demand in the same community, but there is also a shortage of banknotes, like a lubricant between all participants in the production process and, as a result, the puzzle does not add up. There are all the components of the product (unsatisfied demand, executors, technologies and materials), but the participants of the process cannot agree on how to produce and redistribute, because everyone is accustomed to the “invisible hand of the market”, but with a lack of money, the mechanism simply does not start and everything in search of scarce money remain fairly hungry.
Conclusion, let's create local money for existing communities.
And this is how it works: On the basis of any already existing community, a separate social network is created (or an add-on over an already existing social network) whose purpose is the exchange of goods and services between members of the community. Each person entering the LETS-system indicates the list of goods and services that it has and is ready to share, as well as the list of goods and services that are required by it. In this form, it looks like a classic system of auctions or other advertising services. But in addition to the search and information system between counterparties, we add a few more innovations:
1. The system of karmas and reputations (this is worked out very clearly and in detail on E-bay)
2. Domestic currency for making transactions that is absolutely not related to “global” currencies (rubles, dollars and derivatives from them in the form of EPS). The issuance and management of this money is governed by the three principles of "New chasing", "Demurrage" and "Segregation"
"New Chasing". Each new member of the community indicates a list of its own resources (goods and services that it is ready to offer the community) and the resources it needs. Since this new user has no reputation and fame within the community. A) it is difficult for him to sell his resources; b) there is nothing to buy strangers. To resolve this situation, the embossing mechanism is launched: in any economic system, it is possible to calculate the amount of funds necessary for the system to function fully (for example, each user needs 100 coins so that they constantly circulate in the system to meet the need for working capital). Under each new user, these same 100 coins are minted (of course in electronic form), but they are transferred to the user only when he sells his goods and services in the system.
The whole scheme looks like this. A new user, by publishing his own resources or seeing requests from other users about the resources they need, finds a buyer / customer. The supplier provides the service, the consumer receives it, but the system pays for the entire transaction (within the funds issued under this user).
As a result, the supplier receives money for their own purchases and reputation, the consumer receives the goods, but at the same time is obliged to fairly evaluate and write a review, and the system receives an increase in the money supply and the new active user of the system. It is only necessary to provide protection against fraud, allowing only users with a high level of reputation to participate in such transactions on the part of the consumer and only in fixed limits (the ratio of 50/50 paid independently and through a system of transactions).
The second principle is Demurrage. Money in such systems can act exclusively as a means of evaluation and a means of calculation, and the money accumulation function must be eliminated in every way. To do this, a fee is introduced for the use of money in the form of a regular tax on the money in the user's account. Every month (weekly or even daily) a fixed percentage of the funds available is deducted from each user account, the size of this write-off is a matter of field experiments, but it should encourage the main mass not to accumulate this money, but to spend it on consumption within the system. Most likely this tax will be in the range of 12% per annum (1% per month) to about 60% (1% per week).
In fact, each user has the opportunity not to pay this tax at all, having spent all the money by a previously known date of tax payment.
Thus, using the “Isolation” of the created economic system, consisting in that the number of users, and accordingly the money supply, is limited and the main goal of the created local economy is service and all kinds of incentives for the internal trade and production processes of this community. We get a complete LETS system that solves the following problems:
1) The shortage of working capital is eliminated as a concept, and the use of “New Coinage” actively involves new members of the system, at the same time building their reputation and familiarizing them with other members of the community;
2) The introduced payment for money on the one hand stimulates the active economic activity of all its participants, and on the other allows it to get rid of inflation;
3) The introduction of users' communication outside of virtual social networks allows, on the one hand, to improve the quality of life of all community members, and on the other, enormously increases the loyalty of each individual to the social network based on which this functionality is implemented. As the network turns from a means of communication into a means of earning and direct communication with other members of the community, and at a fundamentally new level. This is a direct implementation of the principle of "play".
Features of the LETS-systems:
1) The system should be local and include members of one limited to the number of the community, according to preliminary estimates, from 500 to 10 000 participants, united by certain collective goals or values. For example, residents of one district or city (to provide each other services and mutual assistance in domestic issues) or united in a club by interests (professional or other organized communities). Accordingly, local money is of interest only for persons living or working within the limits of the functioning of this system. It does not make sense to enter it for a point purchase or sale, since the security for the currency that each participant receives is goods or services that are created by the system participants themselves. And being outside this system, the cost of this software is close to zero.
At first glance, this is a limitation, but if you look closely, this is a huge advantage. Initially, outsiders will not enter the system, and all transactions will be carried out between people sharing common principles. More about this is written in a separate article "Local and global."
2) Restrictions on the size of transactions. LETS-systems are focused on serving household needs, providing various kinds of services for individuals, the supply of goods, mainly non-industrial production, etc. For making expensive purchases, this mechanism is poorly suited, for example, you cannot buy a car with local money, but with the consent of the parties, it is possible to pay for renting an apartment or even a trip.
In part, this limitation can be mitigated, while expanding the functionality of the system by introducing the possibility of different payment options:
a) fixed payment in local currency;
b) post-factum payment in local currency (the amount of payment is determined by the payer on the fact of satisfaction with the goods or services);
c) partial payments in global (rubles, EPS) and local (domestic) currency;
d) compensation payments the fee for the source materials is taken in the global currency, and the “work” in the local currency.
4) Due to the fact that the money supply is limited, as well as all economic activity is concentrated inside, most of the transactions will be concluded within the community, but still there are situations when individuals will want to exchange local currency for global money and vice versa, an exchange is necessary for everyone will be able to put on the exchange earned local currency and choose the most appropriate rates for themselves. The use of such an exchange mechanism will ensure liquidity for all users entering and leaving the system. In order to avoid speculation on exchange rates, it is enough to introduce a fixed percentage of the transaction that will not be difficult for ordinary users to commit one-time transactions, but deadly for speculators.
5) Since no local community can meet all the needs of its members, simply because it is local and very limited in terms of territory and resources, it is reasonable to envisage the possibility of cooperation between different LETS systems in order to exchange goods and services produced inside.
Any user can produce their own product or service and sell it to members of their own community, but with an adequate level of infrastructure development and the existence of many different LETS, it is possible to expand their markets and consumption beyond the “native” LETS.
The search for counterparties can be carried out within all communities united by common standards and when the requests of the service provider and its customer match, the system automatically converts one local currency to another through exchange mechanisms. Thus, the money supply of both systems remains unchanged, but services and goods flow freely between the systems. The main thing is that there would always be liquid demand and supply for domestic currency.
Now, how can all the participants of the system earn money on it or how to get a WIN-WIN situation
Users of the system receive an ecological environment in which, they can freely exchange goods and services through the mediation of the newly created currency. The whole system is struggling with solving the problem of lack of funds and stimulating domestic trade. The key task of the system is to ensure the maximum comfort of this environment for users, as well as to ensure its safety from foreign markets;
System administrators receive an additional service for their own customers which will increase their loyalty and bind to the system. But more importantly, it will allow you to earn real money on the operation of this system: in LETS they are able to generate tax payments (payment for using money) and the percentage charged for currency exchange. Both of these payments are received in local currencies, and thus the administrator forms a certain surplus of these funds. It can either be sold by the users of the system through exchange mechanisms, or they can buy goods and services within the system with this money and resell them in the outside world for global money. For example, it is quite possible to buy the attention of system users for local money and sell them to advertisers in the future, and since the system contains a lot of different information about the user, advertising can be narrowly targeted.
Thus, crossing LETS-systems and social networks will allow you to create a whole layer of the economy, which is currently in its infancy due to lack of attention. The question is who is the first to step on this field and implements new principles of interaction between people. These principles will transform the social network and the Internet as a whole from an advertising space into a full-fledged tool for people to create new products.
Any economy in the world is a relatively closed trading system serving the interests of the members of the community in which they operate. Otherwise, LETS (Local Exchange Trading System) is a system for organizing the exchange of goods and services between community members. Money acts as a lubricant in these systems. The most clear example to us is the economy of any country.
Communities can be of different sizes, from a nation to residents of one village or users of one Internet resource. And for each such community, its own monetary system can be created that best meets the needs of all the inhabitants of this system.
The whole article describes the creation of local economies on the basis of existing or newly created social networks, and also tells how it gives benefits to users and how social networks can earn on this. In essence, this is a description of a new way of monetization for any socially oriented services.
')
For those who are interested in the topic, but the text will seem cumbersome, you can see the materials in graphical form. prezi.com/rbir1_tb7zzw/lets
So let's get started
The rapid development of social services, supported by increased attention of investors and the general expectation of a miracle, led to the fact that everyone is preparing for the great future of social networks and others like them. Come up with a lot of new chips, creating a huge number of new technologies. And according to the assurances of the profile press, literally today, looking out the window (both virtual and very real), one can see the steps of an inevitable IT-based Paradise.
Actually, all this is very inspiring and leads one to believe that in a couple of years everything will be even more interesting and steeper than it was described in the most daring sf-novels of a decade ago. However, gray days return us to the ground: Geeks mostly use achievements of progress, although broadband penetration has made us all closer, but nevertheless, the average user only looks at pictures in the world of the “Big Internet” and his majesty was and remains the most faithful way to monetize advertising content.
I propose an alternative way for the noble public, and how else can you make money on social networks?
Everything consists in building local economies on the basis of existing social networks (LETS-systems in more detail what it is and how it works described here or a complete collection of articles on this topic here www.facebook.com/pages/LETS- systems/ 100263770043225 ? v= ).
First, a few basic concepts:
Community - any virtual or territorial community of people, united by common values, interests; The community is capable of producing and consuming various goods and services by the forces of its members.
Money is a certain universally accepted equivalent, in which a certain community a) values ​​benefits; b) makes deals with benefits; c) accumulates wealth for the purpose of sometime afterwards to acquire goods, but for the time being stored in monetary terms.
Resources - any tangible and intangible assets (time, technology, human capital, and more), but not money in the form of a specie. Although it is very possible to evaluate all these assets in monetary terms.
Often in many communities there is a paradoxical situation: there is a sufficient amount of all the necessary resources for the production of goods and services in demand in the same community, but there is also a shortage of banknotes, like a lubricant between all participants in the production process and, as a result, the puzzle does not add up. There are all the components of the product (unsatisfied demand, executors, technologies and materials), but the participants of the process cannot agree on how to produce and redistribute, because everyone is accustomed to the “invisible hand of the market”, but with a lack of money, the mechanism simply does not start and everything in search of scarce money remain fairly hungry.
Conclusion, let's create local money for existing communities.
And this is how it works: On the basis of any already existing community, a separate social network is created (or an add-on over an already existing social network) whose purpose is the exchange of goods and services between members of the community. Each person entering the LETS-system indicates the list of goods and services that it has and is ready to share, as well as the list of goods and services that are required by it. In this form, it looks like a classic system of auctions or other advertising services. But in addition to the search and information system between counterparties, we add a few more innovations:
1. The system of karmas and reputations (this is worked out very clearly and in detail on E-bay)
2. Domestic currency for making transactions that is absolutely not related to “global” currencies (rubles, dollars and derivatives from them in the form of EPS). The issuance and management of this money is governed by the three principles of "New chasing", "Demurrage" and "Segregation"
"New Chasing". Each new member of the community indicates a list of its own resources (goods and services that it is ready to offer the community) and the resources it needs. Since this new user has no reputation and fame within the community. A) it is difficult for him to sell his resources; b) there is nothing to buy strangers. To resolve this situation, the embossing mechanism is launched: in any economic system, it is possible to calculate the amount of funds necessary for the system to function fully (for example, each user needs 100 coins so that they constantly circulate in the system to meet the need for working capital). Under each new user, these same 100 coins are minted (of course in electronic form), but they are transferred to the user only when he sells his goods and services in the system.
The whole scheme looks like this. A new user, by publishing his own resources or seeing requests from other users about the resources they need, finds a buyer / customer. The supplier provides the service, the consumer receives it, but the system pays for the entire transaction (within the funds issued under this user).
As a result, the supplier receives money for their own purchases and reputation, the consumer receives the goods, but at the same time is obliged to fairly evaluate and write a review, and the system receives an increase in the money supply and the new active user of the system. It is only necessary to provide protection against fraud, allowing only users with a high level of reputation to participate in such transactions on the part of the consumer and only in fixed limits (the ratio of 50/50 paid independently and through a system of transactions).
The second principle is Demurrage. Money in such systems can act exclusively as a means of evaluation and a means of calculation, and the money accumulation function must be eliminated in every way. To do this, a fee is introduced for the use of money in the form of a regular tax on the money in the user's account. Every month (weekly or even daily) a fixed percentage of the funds available is deducted from each user account, the size of this write-off is a matter of field experiments, but it should encourage the main mass not to accumulate this money, but to spend it on consumption within the system. Most likely this tax will be in the range of 12% per annum (1% per month) to about 60% (1% per week).
In fact, each user has the opportunity not to pay this tax at all, having spent all the money by a previously known date of tax payment.
Thus, using the “Isolation” of the created economic system, consisting in that the number of users, and accordingly the money supply, is limited and the main goal of the created local economy is service and all kinds of incentives for the internal trade and production processes of this community. We get a complete LETS system that solves the following problems:
1) The shortage of working capital is eliminated as a concept, and the use of “New Coinage” actively involves new members of the system, at the same time building their reputation and familiarizing them with other members of the community;
2) The introduced payment for money on the one hand stimulates the active economic activity of all its participants, and on the other allows it to get rid of inflation;
3) The introduction of users' communication outside of virtual social networks allows, on the one hand, to improve the quality of life of all community members, and on the other, enormously increases the loyalty of each individual to the social network based on which this functionality is implemented. As the network turns from a means of communication into a means of earning and direct communication with other members of the community, and at a fundamentally new level. This is a direct implementation of the principle of "play".
Features of the LETS-systems:
1) The system should be local and include members of one limited to the number of the community, according to preliminary estimates, from 500 to 10 000 participants, united by certain collective goals or values. For example, residents of one district or city (to provide each other services and mutual assistance in domestic issues) or united in a club by interests (professional or other organized communities). Accordingly, local money is of interest only for persons living or working within the limits of the functioning of this system. It does not make sense to enter it for a point purchase or sale, since the security for the currency that each participant receives is goods or services that are created by the system participants themselves. And being outside this system, the cost of this software is close to zero.
At first glance, this is a limitation, but if you look closely, this is a huge advantage. Initially, outsiders will not enter the system, and all transactions will be carried out between people sharing common principles. More about this is written in a separate article "Local and global."
2) Restrictions on the size of transactions. LETS-systems are focused on serving household needs, providing various kinds of services for individuals, the supply of goods, mainly non-industrial production, etc. For making expensive purchases, this mechanism is poorly suited, for example, you cannot buy a car with local money, but with the consent of the parties, it is possible to pay for renting an apartment or even a trip.
In part, this limitation can be mitigated, while expanding the functionality of the system by introducing the possibility of different payment options:
a) fixed payment in local currency;
b) post-factum payment in local currency (the amount of payment is determined by the payer on the fact of satisfaction with the goods or services);
c) partial payments in global (rubles, EPS) and local (domestic) currency;
d) compensation payments the fee for the source materials is taken in the global currency, and the “work” in the local currency.
4) Due to the fact that the money supply is limited, as well as all economic activity is concentrated inside, most of the transactions will be concluded within the community, but still there are situations when individuals will want to exchange local currency for global money and vice versa, an exchange is necessary for everyone will be able to put on the exchange earned local currency and choose the most appropriate rates for themselves. The use of such an exchange mechanism will ensure liquidity for all users entering and leaving the system. In order to avoid speculation on exchange rates, it is enough to introduce a fixed percentage of the transaction that will not be difficult for ordinary users to commit one-time transactions, but deadly for speculators.
5) Since no local community can meet all the needs of its members, simply because it is local and very limited in terms of territory and resources, it is reasonable to envisage the possibility of cooperation between different LETS systems in order to exchange goods and services produced inside.
Any user can produce their own product or service and sell it to members of their own community, but with an adequate level of infrastructure development and the existence of many different LETS, it is possible to expand their markets and consumption beyond the “native” LETS.
The search for counterparties can be carried out within all communities united by common standards and when the requests of the service provider and its customer match, the system automatically converts one local currency to another through exchange mechanisms. Thus, the money supply of both systems remains unchanged, but services and goods flow freely between the systems. The main thing is that there would always be liquid demand and supply for domestic currency.
Now, how can all the participants of the system earn money on it or how to get a WIN-WIN situation
Users of the system receive an ecological environment in which, they can freely exchange goods and services through the mediation of the newly created currency. The whole system is struggling with solving the problem of lack of funds and stimulating domestic trade. The key task of the system is to ensure the maximum comfort of this environment for users, as well as to ensure its safety from foreign markets;
System administrators receive an additional service for their own customers which will increase their loyalty and bind to the system. But more importantly, it will allow you to earn real money on the operation of this system: in LETS they are able to generate tax payments (payment for using money) and the percentage charged for currency exchange. Both of these payments are received in local currencies, and thus the administrator forms a certain surplus of these funds. It can either be sold by the users of the system through exchange mechanisms, or they can buy goods and services within the system with this money and resell them in the outside world for global money. For example, it is quite possible to buy the attention of system users for local money and sell them to advertisers in the future, and since the system contains a lot of different information about the user, advertising can be narrowly targeted.
Thus, crossing LETS-systems and social networks will allow you to create a whole layer of the economy, which is currently in its infancy due to lack of attention. The question is who is the first to step on this field and implements new principles of interaction between people. These principles will transform the social network and the Internet as a whole from an advertising space into a full-fledged tool for people to create new products.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/116610/
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