"Reimagining Decentralized Social Media: From SocialFi to Blockchain-based Creator Economy – Ray Chan's Intriguing Insights from Memeland"

In a recent episode of the Cointelegraph’s podcast Hashing It Out, Ray Chan, the founder of 9GAG and current CEO of Memeland, shared his quite transformative insights and experiences in the decentralized social media environment. Earleir, Chan had already accumulated a significant following, as a prominent player on X, and as a pioneer who had made notable purchases of renowned non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Chan confesses, his involvement with NFTs, especially during the peak of the bull run, was primarily to gain wisdom from the best in the sector, who were part of the exclusive community formed by top NFT collections. While such investments may have left him down bad financially, the invaluable lessons learnt are shaping the direction for his Web3 project, Memeland.

We dive deeper into his thoughts on the nomenclature of the evolving sectors within the crypto market. According to Chan, SocialFi, a term denoting the intersection of social media and finance, isn’t the most accurate descriptor for whats being built in the Web3 milieu. His contention is that this label leads many people to picture platforms that are solely aimed at monetizing social relationships, neglecting their other purpose - disrupting the creator economy.

In lieu of SocialFi, Chan has proposed an alternative interpretation. He believes that many projects presently under the SocialFi umbrella would reap more benefit from promoting themselves as the creator economy on blockchain. This rebranding could be the key to better communicating their novel approach to the creator economy, one that democratises and decentralises the process.

In analyzing the current state of decentralized social media, Chan feels its still in its infancy stage, with a majority of its users being individuals keen on farming earnings. His expectation, however, is a shift of the tides, brought by an influx of newcomers into Web3 through social apps. His rationale? Social apps are easier on-ramps to onboard a significant portion of the population into Web3, given the familiarity and daily use of such applications when compared to trading platforms.

His observations, while insightful, bear thoughtful analysis for investors. Currency markets are known to be reactive to prevalent narratives. If the transition from the SocialFi moniker, towards an identification with the blockchain-based creator economy were to take off, it could trigger a reshuffling of the investment decks. Projects that successfully make this transition may find themselves subjected to a fresh bout of attention and investment.

In conclusion, developments like these offer a dual perspective. For the verticals within the world of cryptocurrencies, it could mean a shift in how they position themselves in the marketplace. For investors, it signifies the need to continually evolve with the market, stay updated on these developments, and continuously reassess the investment value of different projects.