What if there was a way to level the playing field for content creators so that their content could be heard above the social noise and read by your target audience?

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One of the biggest issues with content on social media platforms is that some content will go viral based not on the quality of the content or if it helps the community, but if it has shock value, is driven by influencer power, and by algorithms that play a role in what gains exposure.

What if there was a way to level the playing field for content creators so that their content could be heard above the social noise and read by your target audience?

Over the past two years, Kevin Owocki, co-founder of Gitcoin and angel investor at Lens Protocol, has been working with RaidGuild, a premier design and dev agency of the Web3 ecosystem, on several successful engagements.

The Challenge

Kevin noticed early on while experimenting over at Gitcoin that the quality of the comments and general helpfulness of the community expanded when a tipping functionality was added. Although implementing this never materialized into the Gitcoin product, the concept of tipping plus a Quadratic match was an idea he'd been wanting to incubate, and he turned to RaidGuild to make this project a reality.

What is Quadratic Funding? Quadratic funding is the mathematically optimal way to fund public goods in a democratic community. Quadratic funding (QF), conceived by Vitalik Buterin, Glen Weyl, and Zoë Hitzig, is a mathematical funding, voting, and payment formula. Quadratic funding has been used to fund $50 million worth of public goods on Gitcoin through 18 matching campaigns.

So What Does This Really Mean?

Imagine a way to show appreciation to a post or comment but instead of liking their post, you can send them a small tip. And because of the tip-matching functionality used in Quadratic Funding, a $1 tip can be amplified to have a greater impact than the initial tip (oftentimes worth $100 or more), providing a lucrative new stream of funding for creators and organizations in the Lens ecosystem.

Why is This Different?

• Allows for fundraising with matching rounds for your favorite Web3 project, non-profit, or community project.
• Quadratic funding is a democratic way to show your appreciation for a creator or organization's content that has a more significant impact.
• Content creators will produce more relevant content that their readers respond to, which will drive their earning potential.
• Quadratic funding using tips will level the playing field on what types of content become viral, and creators will continually increase the quality of their content and relevancy based on their tippers' cues.

Building a Public Goods Social Network

RaidGuild took up this challenge to solve the problem of improving the quality of comments and the general helpfulness of posts using quadratic funding. They launched QuadraticLenster.xyz, which integrates quadratic funding directly into the Lenster client and provides a unique new funding mechanism that will allow Lens users to tip each other’s posts in their newsfeeds. The tips will be matched with funds from a central matching pool.

EthCC Matching Pool

Using QuadraticLenster.xyz, from July 17, 2023 - July 21, 2023, users could tip, and any post that mentioned #ethcc received matching funds from the $10,000.00 matching pool. The tipping functionality allows all Lenster users to reward creators and organizations they value with tips amplified by matching. This unique funding mechanism will bring public goods funding popularized on Gitcoin and embed it into the Lens ecosystem.in, enabling any app on Lens to incorporate this capability.

What’s Next?

QuadraticLenster.xyz is an experiment and proof of concept to demonstrate how real social engagement will impact the quality of the conversations and types of posts. It’s an opportunity to advance the social media platform landscape, and RaidGuild hopes this beta version’s success will continue to build traction to expand the platform with more new features and enhance the user experience.

How to Have RaidGuild’s Team Build Your Next Project

RaidGuild is the premier design and dev agency of the Web3 ecosystem. We are deeply entrenched in the bleeding edge of DAOs, DeFi, dApps, and everything else in between. Hailing from the MetaCartel network, our team consists of diverse talent with over 9,000 years of combined experience.

We know how to build and have the connections, talent, and experience to turn your ideas into reality. We are lean to the core and deliver high-quality results with quick turnarounds. Contact us to schedule a consultation.

coffee-crusher.eth is an apprentice in Raid Guild and joined in Cohort Season VI. She’s interested in learning about how the power of communities in DAOs can change the way we work.