One of the most talked-about BSV startups is Twetch - a kind of blockchain-based Twitter in which you get paid for creating content - if it’s popular. At the CambrianSV Bootcamp, participants had a chance to learn the full story behind the business.
One of the reasons Twetch is talked about is because it’s been intriguingly secretive. But we now know, from his Bootcamp presentation, that its co-founder and CEO is Josh Petty, an American entrepreneur with a history of previous startups and tech consultancy. Until recently, the only public information was that Elon Moist, a Twitter handle with a Kermit the frog profile pic, was the CEO of Twetch.
Twetch is also talked about because of its ‘invitation only’ joining policy, which creates a waiting list and, inevitably, interest and anxiety amongst people who feel excluded. And finally, Josh proudly explained, it’s talked about because Twetch is a name that “everyone hates” - and that’s just another marketing tool in itself.
As for the product, Josh sees it as much more than a BSV-based version of Twitter. He calls it “the interface to Bitcoin”. It’s creating “an attention economy: the more attention you get, the more money you make”. There’s no charge for just looking at the Twetch feed but if you want to interact or create content, you pay a small fee. And you’d want to do that because if someone engages with your content, you get paid.
In other words, it’s a real alternative to the prevailing ad-supported, data collecting model of existing social media - a working solution to the well-publicised critiques of social media offered by commentators such as Jaron Lanier and Shoshona Zuboff. Twitter “is like a communist state,” Josh says - in the sense that the users get no reward for their efforts, but the overarching entity does. With Twetch, “the individual has power now”.