Li Jin is the co-founder and a general partner at the VC firm Variant and has written extensively about the benefits of web3 social platforms for creators. Stani Kulechov is the creator of Aave (one of the largest decentralized finance protocols) and has been key to the development of the web3 social network platform, Lens Protocol.

In this episode, Li and Kulechov examine the problems with the existing social media landscape and explain the opportunities that exist for new web3 social media attempts such as Lens Protocol.

As Jin explains, one of the key benefits of web3 social is that "every element of the business model is totally in the creator's control."

Outline:

01:15 - Existing Social Media Landscape

08:18 - Opportunities for Web3 Social

12:35 - 'Socioeconomic Graph'

14:20 - Lens Protocol

17:44 - Financialization of Social Media

25:30 - Monetization on X (Twitter)

31:00 - Community Ownership

34:46 - 'Liquid Citizen'

38:26 - Investing in Web3 Social

40:09 - Tokens & Web3 Social

45:17 - Lens Protocol v2

Here's how the 'upheaval' of existing networks like Twitter and Threads is an opportunity for web3 social