In the latest episode of our Blockchain Hustlers series, we feature a BSV blockchain superstar: Dr Maximilian Sinan Korkmaz. Korkmaz is the founder of my2cents, a social media platform that allows users to earn money with their actions.
Kormaz demonstrates my2cents’ suite of tools and explains why he decided to start a new social media network which differs from those dominating Silicon Valley. He also fully demonstrates the platform and how the different site sections work.
What is my2cents?
my2cents allows users to post text, videos, and podcasts on the blockchain and earn money. Notably, my2cents differentiates itself from traditional social media websites such as Twitter, Reddit and YouTube because it does not have a ‘follow’ function. Instead, the platform aims to ‘pay attention to what is said’ instead of ‘who says it’.
No content is shadowbanned on my2cents and aims to promote ideas, feelings and worldviews of people from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, thus eliminating confirmation bias. My2Cent does not have an algorithm that determines what is displayed to each user, unlike other social platforms and search engines. Every user sees the same content on my2cents if their ‘recent/top’ settings are the same.
Korkmaz explains that my2cents was founded after a lousy experience with existing social media platforms.
‘The Silicon Valley social media platforms do not respect anything about their users. They don’t respect their privacy. They don’t respect their rights. They can easily delete everything (you’ve) created.’
Privacy and security are paramount
By comparison, my2cents is based on the BSV blockchain which acts as an immutable ledger for users’ data on the platform. ‘If a user chooses to post on-chain on my2cents, their data will never be deleted from the blockchain,’ he said.
‘The micropayment capabilities of BSV blockchain weren’t implemented well in a social media platform that I would like to use. And I saw a big opportunity there and I wanted to do it.’
Korkmaz said that the ultimate goal is to make a better social media platform that respects the privacy of the users and enables them to earn money from their content. This means that users will ultimately retain control of their data, even if my2cents should cease to exist one day.
A social media platform with a difference
Korkmaz noted that my2cents differs from other social networks in several key ways, with all voices seen as equal on the platform. Users can directly follow certain topics and all posts on that given topic are visible.
‘This is different from the Silicon Valley system and there’s a reason for that. We believe that what is written or what is posted is important – not who posted it,’ said Korkmaz.
‘This is different from what Silicon Valley companies do. They show only the posts they would like to show. They show only the post that benefits the company, the social media platform, and not the user.’
Another key differentiator is that users can earn money for the content which they post on my2cents. They can also choose to opt-in to advertising and receive a portion of the payout if they choose to do so.
‘After you’ve posted something if somebody ‘plusses’ your content you will get money for it directly from the user. Plussing is similar to ‘liking’ on other platforms. We have provided an alternative to other platforms where users can also choose if they would like to see any advertisement on my2cents or not. If they choose to see an advertisement on my2cents they receive money from the advertising revenue.’
BSV blockchain is the obvious option
Korkmaz noted that users don’t need to know anything about blockchain to sign-up and use the platform. However, he said that the decision to build my2cents on BSV blockchain was a no-brainer as it ‘just works’.
He added that having a single source of truth promotes honesty and there is significantly less chance of fraud compared to other platforms.
‘Additionally, the BSV blockchain is legally compliant. We don’t want to make an application on a blockchain and then after two years the regulations change and in some countries they say, you can’t use this blockchain in our country. That’s not what we want,’ he said.
‘We are confident that BSV blockchain is the only blockchain that provides this assurance to us that it won’t be banned in any country due to legal reasons.’
Demonstration of my2cents
This episode of Blockchain Hustlers also includes a demonstration by Korkmaz on how my2cents works, including:
- How ’topics’ work and how to follow communities that interest you;
- How ‘plusses’ and ‘minuses’ work on the platform, and how users can earn revenue from posts;
- MyVid – A built-in YouTube competitor which allows users to post and share videos;
- MyBooks – A feature set which allows users to publish and earn money on books shared on the platform;
- my2cents’ jobs section, podcast features and secondhand portal;
- The integration of wallet features.
