Minds is an open-source, distributed social media platform, which integrates blockchain technology to reward users for contributing. Unlike proprietary social networks like Facebook or Twitter, they are opposed to surveillance and censorship, with a focus on privacy and digital rights. Minds calls itself “the crypto social network”, but what’s it all about?
History of Minds
Minds was founded by Bill Ottman in 2011, with co-founders John and Jack Ottman, Mark Harding and Ian Crossland, offering an alternative to other networks accused of digital rights abuses.
The company raised over $1 million dollars in 2017, in what was then the fastest equity-crowdfunded sale in history. With an official launch in April 2018, Minds is hoping an injunction of funding will take their 1.5 million user platform into competition with more established platforms like Medium.
Social media goes blockchain. Or does it?
How does Minds work?
Community members can earn ERC-20 tokens for contributions to the network. Users can later use these tokens to promote their own content, to crowdfund popular content with others, or to tip content creators or pay for exclusive content and services.
The platform is one that rewards content creators, and offers an exciting new avenue for reaching an audience. In fact, part of the drive behind creating Minds was the dislike of a system where creators had to pay for their work to be seen.
“This is the next logical and exciting evolution in creating more open, cooperative business models in mainstream social media. We’re especially thrilled about the progress we’ve made in creating a more transparent and democratic ad network that runs completely differently from existing models by directly connecting advertisers and publishers.” – Bill Ottman
The network claims that the open source, blockchain rewards approach provides transparency and gives users control over their data. Following four months on a Rinkeby testbed, it is now running ethereum as its blockchain technology.
Overstock.com Founder Bets on Minds
Minds raised $6 million in Series A funding from Medici Ventures, a subsidiary of Overstock.com. As part of the investment, Overstock.com founder and CEO Patrick M. Byrne will be joining the board of directors. This move eclipses the gains of their previous round of funding, and puts the squarely on a positive trajectory with the backing of industry insiders.
Where Does Minds Go From Here?
With a top-10,000 global Alexa ranking, and top-5,000 in the United States, Minds is in striking distance of the big players, but it won’t be an easy job.
As content creators ourselves, we are very excited for a new opportunity to reach our audience. Using blockchain-based tokens to reward users and create a currency introduces a novel concept to an otherwise established format. We all benefit from diverse sources of the content we consume, so visit Husaria Marketing on Minds and see if you can’t find something new, or sign up now. The “migrate from facebook” button should prove handy in getting quickly introduced.
Attempts to reward content consumers to encourage engagement is not new, but the approach here is. If you’re interested in taking the deep dive, the Minds whitepaper is a great place to start.
Patrick Byrne Taking Overstock Full Crypto
Minds is just one part of Medici Ventures’ investments in blockchain and crytocurrency. Mr. Byrne is in fact so confident about the future of crypto, he’s planning to have Overstock sell all of their retail operations by February 2019. Investors rejoiced, with shares soaring 26%. Whether or not you buy into the hype of cryptocurrencies like BitCoin, Ethereum or Ripple, the technology is here to stay. Minds is just one way of getting on board and familiar with what will be a common technology in the future.
