Let’s start by talking a little bit more about what NFT is.
Non-fungible Token (NFT) is indivisible, irreplaceable and unique. The principle of NFT is to encode some information on the blockchain, which becomes a symbol or called token. This information can be copyright, music, images, text, video… Because it exists on the blockchain, it is open and transparent, traceable, circulating and anti-counterfeiting. For the fungible token, for example, I have a coin and you have a coin, each of our coins is equally valuable and fungible. Based on the characteristics of NFT, we can think of artwork. Whether it is a top work in an auction house or an illustration by a commercial artist, the art is naturally evaluated by its high or low value , and it also has the attribute of investment. So it can be said that artwork, especially digital artwork, is inherently suitable for NFT. This is why the NFT market is the first to link up with art trading.
And the social profile picture(PFP) is not only a picture, but also everyone’s “face” or “clothes” in the Internet world, which is the embodiment of personal image. There is no denying that everyone is using their favorite pictures as the user PFP on various websites and apps. Some are our own original photography and some are downloaded from other places. However in general, they are all the embodiment of our aesthetic preferences.
The biggest problem with ordinary PFP is that they can be easily copied/plagiarized, while NFT PFP is confirmed on the blockchain, so they can be collected, transferred, and profitable. From this, we can see the selling points of NFT PFP : self-identification + social capital.
self-identification
All UGC (user-generated content) platforms are scenes of self-identification, and UGC is also the industry consensus that one of the most important elements of the Metaverse. We spread our aesthetics, insights, knowledge, talents, and feelings on Instagram , Apple Music, short video platforms, and other platforms that we can speak up and produce content… Chen Xu, the founder of MataZ, shared his thoughts on buying the “vacuum cat” NFT PFP: “When people see me face-to-face, it doesn’t allow others to understand who I am. But when you see the “vacuum cat”, you know me far more than spending two hours with me or even know me one or two years. A PFP reflects a very important part of my true character, thoughts, experience, desires, and emotions. Of course. He is two-dimensional and simplified, but PFP is very real…” The exploding NFT PFPs prove that either. “Bored Apes” and “SupDucks” incorporate an American aesthetic of nostalgia, borrowing the humorous style of American adult swimming shows from the ’90s and’ 00s. Many people growing up in this era have an attachment to characters from TV shows and cartoons. They would associate a personality with a character that reminds them of themselves or the kind of person they want to be. So when these people reach middle age and can afford it, they will pay for such an NFT PFP.
Those NFT PFP which is concept-rich and involving well-known artists or IPs are also initiated in this way.
The introduction of SupDucks states: “The SupDucks collection is painstakingly handcrafted from locally sourced, divinely inspired items that were carefully harvested from a free range, organic plot of ether. Each Duck will enrich your life but most importantly, make your friends and colleagues jealous. So snatch them up and proudly claim your seat at the cool kids table.” ’’Locally sourced’’, ’’organic’’, ’’cool kids’…… These buzz words have gained the recognition of the people who love environment-friendly, organic, cool lifestyles. The ongoing VV Rabbit NFT PFP expresses the kind of girls all over the world who love fashion, travel, reading, accept transgender, cross-racial multiculturalism, and experience different professional identities… …VV Rabbit will be the personality expression of this kind of girl in the Metaverse.
Self-identification is also reflected in chasing celebrities, stars, and big companies. NFTs driven by celebrity effect have achieved a skyrocketing price. More and more Internet celebrity brands have also begun to deploy metaverse. Tencent, Alibaba, and McDonald’s are all presenting NFTs to their employees. The celebrity effects of these big brands are stimulating more people to enter the NFT collection.
Social capital
Eugene Wei, who once served as a product leader at Amazon, Hulu, Flipboard and Oculus, has a well-known article “Status-as-a-Service”, which evaluates the strength of social networks from three aspects: social Capital, entertainment and utility. There are two basic points of view:
• Humans are a group of monkeys pursuing social status;
• Humans will always find the most efficient way to maximize social capital.
For middle-aged people with rich funds, social capital may be a big house, a limited watch, a member of a yacht club… But for young groups, the number of likes and recognition in social networks is the most efficient way to maximize their social capital. For everyone, we — — monkeys who are pursuing identity and status are also turning to digital. These NFTs have extremely high social capital, but also have extremely high practicality, and their entertainment value is also increasing. NFT PFP can bring strong social network strength to people under digital identities. Kyle Chayka of <The New Yorker> wrote an article called <Why Bored Ape PFP Are Taking Over Twitter>. XMTP founder Matt Galligan (his Twitter PFP is also BAYC) said in the article, “It has become a kind of status symbol, like wearing a cool watch or wearing a pair of limited edition sneakers.”
The social networks we are using, instagram, tiktok, snapchat, etc. Relatively speaking, the earlier users join, the easier it is to get ahead of others in terms of social capital (number of fans, likes, etc.). There are only 10,000 CryptoPunks and BAYC in the world. In this limited collection, some items are very valuable, so status will be very high. So owning a CryptoPunk or a BAYC proves that you are an early participant, or you are very rich and auctioned at a high price, or you are an early participant and now become very rich. In addition, NFT is the social capital with “risk-sharing”. NFT has investment attributes, which makes a PFP not only an appearance of social capital, but also a social asset. This means that “investment is a status symbol.”
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