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Reddit Launches New, NFT-Like Avatar Project, Enabling Users to Purchase Custom Reddit Avatars

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Reddit Launches New, NFT-Like Avatar Project, Enabling Users to Purchase Custom Reddit Avatars

This is either genius or hideous, I can’t decide.

So, you know NFTs? Those cartoonish avatar profile pictures that Web3 folk love to get embroidered into their backwards hats? Well, Reddit’s seen the NFT hype and it’s gone: ‘You know what, we could do this? We could make our own Reddit NFTs, but build them into the platform itself’.

As I say, possibly genius. Maybe not.

Either way, today, Reddit is launching a new series of Collectible Avatars, which are essentially artist reimaginings of its Snoo brand character, which users can buy to then use in the app.

As explained by Reddit:

“Collectible Avatars are limited-edition avatars made by independent artists, in partnership with Reddit, and provide owners with unique benefits on the Reddit platform. If someone sets their Collectible Avatar as their avatar on Reddit, they can mix-and-match the avatar gear with other Reddit avatar gear and accessories, and their profile image in comments sections will have a glow-like effect.”

So NFT profile pics, with added ‘functionality’, which is not really a major selling point. But maybe, Redditors will be keen to buy in, and display their unique personality in avatar form.

Aside from being able to flex your custom Snoo, Reddit avatars also enable you to support artists, with the originating creators paid a portion of the cost of each Collectible Avatar sold.

Collectible Avatars are also logged on the blockchain, which gives owners the rights to use their unique image both on and off Reddit.

If you want to. I can’t imagine that many users would be so attached to Reddit that they want to use their Snoo avatar in other apps, but if you’ve built a reputation and presence due to Reddit, that could be a way to maximize recognition.

So, how much would you expect to pay for your Reddit NFT PFP?

Here’s another way that they differ from the NFT model:

“Each avatar has been priced at a fixed amount and is purchasable with fiat (government-issued) currencies.”

So you don’t have to become an expert in market dynamics to understand how much you actually have to pay, while you still get the universal ownership log that comes with blockchain tracking.

“Collectible Avatars are currently stored on Polygon, a general-purpose, Ethereum-compatible blockchain. We chose Polygon for its low cost transactions and sustainability commitments.”

Ethereum ‘compatible’, not ‘based’, which is handy given the current downturn in crypto markets.

Reddit hasn’t provided specific details on the costs of each image, but going on is shared example here, it looks like the prices will range from $9.99 to $74.99, depending on the design.

Reddit collectible avatars

So, will it work? Will Redditors be keen to get in on the NFT trend in their own unique way?

Going on the general criticism of NFTs in the app, it doesn’t seem like it’ll be a big hit.

Reddit reported back in April that NFT-related discussion has increased more than 400% over the past year, so there’s a lot of discussion about the option in subreddit communities. But I would question exactly how much of that chatter is positive, and how much is people hating on the NFT community.

One way or another, however, Reddit is keen to explore what’s possible with Web3-aligned tools.

“In the future, we see blockchain as one way to bring more empowerment and independence to communities on Reddit. Reddit has always been a model for what decentralization could look like online; our communities are self-built and run, and as part of our mission to better empower our communities, we are exploring tools to help them be even more self-sustaining and self-governed.”

So whether Redditors like it or not, it seems like we’ll see more of these types of options in future – which, again, could be good. Could be lambasted.

Collectible Avatars will be available to all Reddit users in the coming weeks, but you can get a first-look at the initial artworks by joining the r/CollectibleAvatars community. Spaces are limited, but the avatars themselves will essentially look like the screenshots in this post.

Eventually, users will be able to purchase Collectible Avatars where they normally build avatars on Reddit, using local currencies.

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TikTok spends $1.5B on Tokopedia JV to get around Jakarta social e-commerce ban

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TikTok spends $1.5B on Tokopedia JV to get around Jakarta social e-commerce ban

Just two months ago, ByteDance-owned TikTok abruptly closed its shopping platform in Indonesia to comply with surprise regulations from the Southeast Asian country’s government. Jakarta ordered social media companies like TikTok and Facebook to stop selling goods on their platforms, demanding a separation of social media and e-commerce services.

TikTok now seems to have found a way to revive its e-commerce dreams in Indonesia by spending billions to start a joint venture with Indonesian tech giant GoTo. On Monday, the two companies announced that TikTok Shop will now be available on GoTo’s Tokopedia platform.

“Tokopedia and TikTok Shop Indonesia’s businesses will be combined under the existing PT Tokopedia entity in which TikTok will take a controlling stake. The shopping features within the TikTok app in Indonesia will be operated and maintained by the enlarged entity,” TikTok said in a statement Monday.

TikTok will invest over $1.5 billion into Tokopedia, taking a 75% stake in the platform. GoTo will remain an ecosystem partner to Tokopedia and receive an “ongoing revenue stream from Tokopedia commensurate with its scale and growth,” but will not be required to continue funding the platform. Further funding from TikTok also won’t reduce GoTo’s remaining 25% stake.

Getting back into the Indonesian ecommerce market will be a win for TikTok. Indonesia, which is the platform’s largest market outside of the U.S., is key to Tiktok’s online shopping aspirations. In June, CEO Shou Zi Chew pledged to “invest billions in Indonesia and Southeast Asia over the next few years.”

ByteDance wants to replicate its Chinese e-commerce successaround the globe. Last year, consumers spent in China 1.41 trillion yuan ($196 billion) on products sold on Douyin, the version of TikTok for the Chinese market, The Information reported in January. ByteDance, through TikTok, is expanding its online shopping services in both Southeast Asia and the U.S. Yet the company is struggling to win over American consumers: The Information reported in August that U.S. shoppers are spending just $4 million a day, equivalent to $1.4 billion over a whole year, on goods sold on the social media platform. (TikTok officially launched TikTok Shop in the U.S. in September, though sellers have complained about a flood of low-quality products on the platform).

Before Indonesia imposed its ban in September, the country’s president, Joko Widodo, complained that social media platforms were threatening local micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises. Government officials also accused TikTok of engaging in predatory pricing.

GoTo’s deal with TikTok means the Indonesian tech giant is giving up its majority ownership of Tokopedia . Tokopedia started in 2008 and grew to be one of Indonesia’s largest e-commerce platforms. The company merged with ride-hailing startup GoJek in 2021, becoming GoTo Group. The company debuted on Jakarta’s stock exchange in April last year.

Yet the company has struggled to wow investors since then. GoTo has yet to make a profit since becoming a public company. The tech firm reported 2.4 trillion Indonesian rupiah ($147 million) in net losses last quarter, significantly less than the 6.7 trillion rupiah ($428 million) it lost this time last year.

Investors do not appear to be thrilled by the news of GoTo’s TikTok partnership. Shares fell by over 19% by 2:30pm Indonesia time on Monday, erasing gains made late last week as rumors began to build of the new partnership.

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How to Train ChatGPT to Write in Your Brand’s Tone of Voice [Infographic]

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How to Train ChatGPT to Write in Your Brand’s Tone of Voice [Infographic]

Are you looking for ways to improve your ChatGPT output? Want to train it to write in a more unique tone of voice, in order to better suit your branding?

The Creative Marketer shares his ChatGPT prompt tips in this infographic. To enact these, add “Write like [INSERT CHARACTER]” at the start of your ChatGPT instructions.

TCM breaks things down into the following categories:

  • Innocent
  • Sage
  • Explorer
  • Ruler
  • Creator
  • Caregiver
  • Lover
  • Hero
  • Everyman
  • Magician
  • Jester
  • Outlaw

Check out the infographic for more information.

A version of this post was first published on the Red Website Design blog.

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Elon Musk reinstates far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on X

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Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been reinstated on X, formerly known as Twitter, by company owner Elon Musk

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been reinstated on X, formerly known as Twitter, by company owner Elon Musk – Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File Joe Buglewicz

Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, on Sunday reinstated far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on the social media platform, a year after vowing never to let him return.

Jones, who claimed that a December 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut that killed 20 children and six educators was a hoax, was banned from the platform — then still known as Twitter — in 2018 for violating its “abusive behavior policy.”

He was also sued by families of the victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting and ordered by a judge in the case to pay up more than a billion dollars in damages last year.

Musk had himself promised never to let the Infowars host back on the social media platform, which he bought last year for $44 billion.

But following a poll Musk conducted on X asking whether Jones should be reinstated, to which some two million users responded, he flipped that decision.

“I vehemently disagree with what he said about Sandy Hook, but are we a platform that believes in freedom of speech or are we not?” the SpaceX founder said on X.

But Shannon Watts, founder of the group Moms Demand Action group which pushes for tighter gun laws, said that “defamation is not free speech.”

Musk’s decision comes the same week that the Sandy Hook families commemorate the 11th anniversary of the December 14 shooting, which Jones alleged was staged to allow the government to crack down on gun rights.

Jones’ followers harassed the bereaved families for years, accusing parents of murdered children of being “crisis actors” whose children had never existed.

It also came a week after Musk had responded to advertisers pulling out of X because of far-right posts and hate speech, including an apparent endorsement by Musk himself of an anti-Semitic tweet.

Asked whether he would respond to the advertising exodus, Musk said in an interview with journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin that the advertisers could “go f*** yourself.”

Jones, who has a million followers on X, returned to the site with his first post re-tweeting Andrew Tate, the controversial former kickboxer facing rape and human trafficking charges in Romania, in which he hailed Jones’ “triumphant return”

US media reported that as of Sunday, the account of Jones’ controversial show Infowars was still banned.

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