Welcome to the Summarin - your weekly dose of commentary and summaries of the most interesting topics from the world of culture, media and commerce. If you are new around here and like what you read, hit the subscribe button below.
In today’s edition (12.06.22):
Community-owned businesses
The most important innovation of crypto
Facebook Gaming gets interesting
Read and listen:
Owned by The People
Beloved Helsinki Coffee Shop Gets Familiar Faces as New Owners (Bloomberg)
“It’s a model that could be emulated by other neighborhoods that are fighting to save local businesses under threat from myriad forces”
A story about the value of community and the power an organized group of individuals can wield. We talk a lot about communities in marketing terms and brands left and right are pitching ideas about starting communities. Web 3 has galvanized early adopters of crypto to band under various causes and use the technology to form new types of organizations and decentralized ownership with focus on accessibility. One of these - Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO), are still in their infancy but there have been quite a few interesting use cases and examples of what people can do when they have the freedom to organize themselves and share in on the responsibility and payoff of their efforts. While the story of this particular Helsinki coffee shop does not have anything to do with web 3, it is a great example of community ownership - an innovative model which is only going to become more prominent in years to come. Read story
Web3/Crypto: Why Bother (Continuations)
“Web3 can, if properly developed and with the right kind of regulation, provide a meaningful shift in power back to individuals and communities.”
This one is from 2021 but got in front of my eyes this week. It’s worth taking 5 minutes to read through because the article focuses on an important (probably most-important) feature that web3/crypto offers to internet users. In simple language, the author explains why decentralization matters, how the biggest internet companies we know today have built their dominance on databases and their control over them, and how the innovation of distributed systems can end up being revolutionary. Ultimately, this is a story about why it is important to pay attention to crypto. Read story
Facebook Gaming brings Crayta’s user-generated games to its cloud platform (The Verge)
“Crayta, a platform that lets players create, share, and play games with friends, is coming to Facebook Gaming’s cloud-streaming service.”
One way to keep Facebook relevant and engage existing users is by introducing new services and use cases. I personally don’t know anyone participating in Facebook Gaming, but with this introduction of Crayta on its platform, Meta is moving closer to a tangible and sensible utility of a metaverse. It doesn’t need to have a 3D virtual or augmented reality world to be able to participate in the metaverse. An open 2D platform that allows for self expression and exploration might as well be a winning element for the gaming division of Meta. Read story
No tweets this week. A lite version. Have a good week!
Marin