This article is based on a Twitter thread I created on July 10th.
TLDR:
Many projects, especially brand new ones, constantly contact me to help them promote an NFT mint.
These projects are often reluctant to share information or haven’t built a reasonable community to support a collection, so they rely on established Twitter accounts (like mine) to generate excitement.
My Twitter account may appear to be working with the project by doing a giveaway, which is usually not the case.
Here’s the thread for context:
Processing:
Most NFT collections are not scams, but most will fail even with the best intentions, best team, and best plan. They can be destroyed by competition or bad market conditions. Plus, most NFT creators have little business sense.
So NFT creators become obsessed with mint. And public perception becomes priority number 1. This distracts from the main selling point of an NFT collection: how to deliver value to holders
The desperation to draw attention to the mint (along with a lack of business sense) is on full display when they ask (or beg) bigger Twitter accounts to help promote it. It’s probably the best they can do, but it’s worrying.
For example:
Was the team willing to join a Twitter space to discuss their project? No.
Did the team have a history or reputation in the community? No.
Were they willing to do a taped interview for a YT audience? No.
Where are they willing to answer some basic questions about the project? No.
Does the project website make specific promises to potential buyers? YES.
I could have easily agreed to tweet about their mine, give away some NFT to my followers and help them gain a bigger audience. But what if the project fails? Or worse, what if it’s a scam? How would this reflect on me being a public figure in space?
We hope that the main issues regarding Twitter giveaways are clear. It’s a fact that people (including me) are influenced by social media accounts, in part because it’s hard to find concrete information about projects.
I finish.
It doesn’t have to be so “wild west” anymore.
NFT creators have a responsibility to be somewhat transparent before pushing thousands of NFTs into a community. Twitter giveaways can be useful, but what about a more thoughtful and comprehensive approach to marketing. The community, along with great social media account managers, can raise the overall standards of the space in simple ways.
