We define micro income streams as any repeated payment on a small value scale from a fraction of a cent to several dollars, that you earn as a result of online interactions or services. These earnings are transacted in the form of cryptocurrencies, enabled by blockchain technology.
Cryptocurrency provides a way to send a unit of value of any size from one person or entity to another anywhere in the world almost instantly, without having to use banking payment channels, which removes the cost of transaction and enables anyone to tap into paying or earning micro income streams. It even enables payments to happen without any human input, so devices can complete smart contracts between each other and make payments based on the terms of that contract.
This has created a way for any digital network participant of social media, web browsers and other online platforms, and for the platforms themselves, to send and receive value, in real time, without restrictions.
This changes the paradigm of what we’ve seen in current popular digital platforms like Facebook, Google, Instagram, Twitter, which allow anyone to use the platform apparently for free, while the companies behind these platforms earn billions of dollars collecting data and targeting ads to the users on their platforms.
And the paradigm of current online services that charge monthly subscription fees, like internet providers, cloud storage and file transfer, messaging and more has also created centralised billion dollar revenue companies.
Our content. Our data. Our attention. These are all incredibly valuable things. But right now, it’s the platform, not the user, that reaps the reward. By design, they run by auctioning our information to advertisers, pocketing the profit and flooding our feeds with agendas dictated by the highest bidder.
Brendan Blumer, CEO Block.One
But this reality is evolving, driven as usual by new technology enabling new and better possibilities. The new paradigm is being built and used now, in the form of new generation social networks and web browsers that pay their users micro incomes, and platforms that enable innovative web based solutions that connect users and make them part of the revenue stream. Rather than a centralised company earning billions, the revenue is spread among network participants.
Imagine you got paid a small amount of digital currency every time an ad showed up while you were scrolling social media, or looking online for a pair of shoes. Imagine also, that for every like you got on a social media post, you got a small amount of digital currency. Or if you wrote a blog post, or commented on a post. Or when someone likes a post you wrote, or content you shared, they can show appreciation by tipping you a small amount of digital currency.
Well, it’s already a reality, and it’s only just getting started.
Micro income streams can come from doing all the things you would normally do already, but using a platform that is building on blockchain and integrating cryptocurrency. You can earn streams passively in this way, or seek more streams through actively participating on more platforms.
For examples of how this is already in effect, check out Part 2 of this primer
