Despite the rise of short-form platforms like TikTok, television remains an effective tool for educating mainstream audiences, offering in-depth content well-suited for explaining blockchain and Web3 concepts.
How TikTok is Set to Educate on Blockchain
As individuals prioritize smartphones and social media, television is perceived as a cultural staple of the past that is on the brink of obsolescence by many.
However, the majority of Americans continue to rely on television as their primary source of media consumption, as 97% of households in the United States possess a television for the purpose of watching programming.
Web3 has expanded its focus beyond television to utilize Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) on social media to engage with the public, resulting in unprecedented growth of short-form content platforms such as TikTok.
Mainly and unexplored by the crypto, TV’s potential to stimulate growth and adoption remains unchecked. Innovators of Web3 are acclimated to interacting with a crypto-native, tech-savvy audience on these short-format social networks.
Television’s extended format and extensive audience are more appropriate for instructing so-called “normies” about the marvels of blockchain, non-fungible tokens, and digital assets, as it is incapable of simultaneously delivering content, context, high production value, and education.
The template for Shark Tank
The advantages of longer-format media are difficult to dispute, and this is without engaging in a debate about how video-sharing platforms erode attention spans and dull down culture, particularly youth culture.
In order for cryptocurrency to accomplish long-term success, it must identify the most expeditious route to mainstream adoption.
A template has been developed by television to identify the optimal combination of real-world coverage and high-value production, which can provide entrepreneurs and the adoption of Web3 with a strong foundation.
The success of Shark Tank serves as a clear example for web3 startups seeking to attract mainstream users and capture their hearts and minds.
A panel of venture capitalists oversees entrepreneurs’ startup concepts in the American reality show, which is a franchise of the British series Dragons’ Den. The program has garnered substantial ratings for ABC since its debut in 2009.
Shark Tank, which has achieved 340 episodes and is in its 16th season, was developed by Mark Burnett, the mastermind producer behind The Apprentice.
The show has been awarded numerous Emmys over the course of its 15-year run.It is fair to say that the series has contributed to the education of the American public on the workings of entrepreneurship and investment, despite the fact that it is more concerned with entertainment than education, in the context of thriving tech ventures.
The notion that a comparable format could achieve the same outcome for cryptocurrency is not a far-fetched one.
Divers who conduct deep dives descend to depth
We would be remiss to neglect The Joe Rogan Experience, which, coincidentally, was introduced in the same year as Shark Tank, when discussing the educational value of extended formats.
The podcast, which is renowned for its in-depth discussions with a variety of guests, including comedians, academics, scientists, legislators, sportspeople, and entrepreneurs, was highly successful, resulting in Joe Rogan securing a multi-year partnership with Spotify that could be worth up to $250 million earlier this year.
Similar to Shark Tank, The Joe Rogan Experience combines entertainment and education. The presenter, who is known for his curious mind and everyman persona, conducts unscripted interviews with guests who are frequently prominent figures in their respective fields, such as Neil deGrasse Tyson and Elon Musk. In the twinkling of an eye, topics can transition from fiscal inflation to Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs). Additionally,
The triumph of Rogan’s podcast is a fitting response to those who assert that brief, viral videos are the harbinger of the demise of television. We are still capable of sitting for several hours and observing and listening to two individuals engage in a lengthy conversation.
In many cases, a thorough dive is simply necessary. There is no opportunity to delve into the intricacies of any subject with short-form content. Educating the general public about blockchain through the use of extended-format television has already been demonstrated to be effective.
Rai Uno, Italy’s primary disseminating channel, developed #Codice, an hour-long special that employs straightforward language to elucidate the potential of blockchain technology in various sectors. The show’s title trended to the top position for the most popular hashtags in Italy, and it reached nearly 10% of the total viewership.
Vehicle for Web3 communications
Circling back to Web3, it is evident that intricate concepts such as DeFi, GameFi, decentralized identity, self-custody, and decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) warrant more than the TikTok treatment.
The technology’s transformative, severe potential is belied by the viral gloss that is imparted by the dissemination and drip-feeding of educational content through brief, snappy videos, which diminishes its appeal. Ultimately, Web3 pioneers are not promoting the most recent trendy novelty; rather, they are promoting innovative protocols that have numerous practical applications.
The provision of financial advice on TikTok has a poor track record, as evidenced by the fact that users have encouraged others to exploit a “glitch” in Chase Bank ATMs. for example. Individuals were left with overdraft accounts and penalties to repay after the purported glitch was discovered to be check fraud.
The phrase “Why not both?” is pertinent in this context: It is imperative to offer both short- and long-form content when educating the general public about Web3 and crypto. The fact that many initiatives fail to acknowledge the inherent advantages of long format is due to the misconception that the ultimate objective is to abstract all complexity.
Another noteworthy point is that television is, by definition, mainstream. Web3 projects claim to want to “onboard grandma,” but they spend a significant amount of time in the echo chambers of X and Discord rather than beaming into the homes of millions of viewers.
If they are genuine about converting skeptics into believers, they should shift their messaging to a familiar medium that allows them to explain why blockchain is a permanent fixture.
Fintech entrepreneurs who are at the vanguard of the DeFi movement, in the end, are at risk of underestimating long-format mediums such as TV. Despite the fact that it is no longer the focal point of family life, the “box” continues to possess a unique power.
Co-founder and CEO of Hello Labs is Sander Gortjes. Starting in 2020, he became involved in venture capital and advisory positions after entering the cryptocurrency industry in 2017. Hello Labs is responsible for the development of mainstream intellectual properties, such as the television phenomenon Killer Whales. The company has a team of influential opinion leaders.
