NFTs have a brighter future on Instagram than on Twitter
The non-fungible token (NFT) industry has experienced some market turbulence in recent months, but that hasn’t stopped both Twitter and Instagram from tapping into an industry that some estimate could be worth $231 billion by 2030.
This comes on the back of Twitter recently announcing NFT Tweet Tiles and Instagram releasing a variety of different NFT-related tools, and many NFT enthusiasts are naturally starting to consider which will come out best as the best social media platform for NFT- is.
Based on their unique value proposition and recent events, it is clear that Instagram currently has more in its favor than Twitter when it comes to NFT integration.
The value of integrating on Instagram
One of the key deciding factors in maintaining Instagram as having more NFT potential than Twitter is its unique value proposition.
Looking at Twitter’s core offering, most would agree that it is a microblogging platform where users can share short messages (tweets) of up to 280 characters and is primarily used to share news, opinions and thoughts with a wider audience.
Instagram, on the other hand, can be characterized as a visual social media platform that is mainly used to share photos and videos and is more focused on personal expression and creative self-presentation.
Related: Crypto fans should get behind Elon Musk’s subscription model for Twitter
Given how NFTs are highly visual in nature, Instagram’s value proposition already makes it much more suitable for NFT integration, as the user experience and interface is much more immersive and smooth when it comes to images than Twitter, which is primarily designed for quick storage of information instead.
Another important element to consider is the audience base.
While both have strong Millennial and Generation Z user bases, Instagram not only has a much larger user base of 1.3 billion (compared to Twitter’s 365 million), but the engagement rate is much higher than that seen on Twitter, with Instagram able boast much higher engagement in most areas (including art). As a result, Instagram has a much more established footprint when it comes to brand marketing, and while much of the current NFT focus is on community art and commerce, the most compelling (and potentially lucrative) NFT use case is within the fashion and lifestyle industry, who can use Instagram’s gallery-like user interface and various sharing tools to effectively implement NFT integration and marketing initiatives.
But this is not to say that Instagram outshines Twitter in every aspect.
What Twitter has going for it is that its user base is more crypto-native and therefore more familiar with the technological and economic benefits found in NFTs. This means there are already enthusiasts on Twitter ready to engage with their NFT offerings.
But given how mass adoption is the end goal for NFTs, it’s important to note that a more suitable product for integration is more important to long-term growth than the aforementioned, and thus Twitter is currently not doing so. outweighs Instagram’s unique value proposition (UVP), which is primarily about image and video sharing.
Twitter’s development under Elon Musk
Another strong indicator that NFTs have a brighter future on Instagram is the current trajectory of Twitter’s management and product.
As Twitter has recently come under the ownership and management of Elon Musk, there have been worrying developments that could further affect the suitability of the social media platform to be a major hub for NFTs.
This stems from Musk committing the cardinal sin of firing close to 50% of his workforce, which, while some may argue may have some benefits in certain areas, has also led to some concern regarding the lack of copyright oversight, questionable accounts being reinstated, and concerns regarding a lack of technical talent for further development growth.
When it comes to a lack of copyright oversight, Twitter has experienced serious copyright violations as a result of its flawed copyright strike system, which has resulted in users being able to do things like upload full-length movies to the platform. The impact of lax copyright infringement protocols on NFTs needs no explanation.
Recent cuts have also included content moderators whose job it was to curb misinformation, and unsurprisingly, there has since been a noticeable increase of the latter, while highly divisive accounts have also been reintroduced en masse. This in turn has resulted in many users leaving the platform for alternatives, such as Mastodon, and seeing how NFTs rely on strong and inclusive communities, Twitter’s new divisive environment does not bode well for NFT plans.
Related: Facebook is on a quest to destroy the metaverse and the web
As for concerns about Twitter’s technical functionality, while it’s true that having fewer engineers could lead to a slowdown in many products, due to Twitter not being a mission-critical product, Twitter currently allows enough uptime, latency, and architectural leeway so that any error will not cause it to stop working. But keeping the ship afloat is simply not going to cut it when it comes to opening up new markets and new opportunities, and so Twitter’s massive cuts will undoubtedly hinder the implementation of technical innovations, including seamless NFT integration.
So while Twitter is going through a lot of chaos, Instagram has released a comprehensive NFT roadmap, which includes the rollout of NFT integration in over 100 countries and the launch of an NFT marketplace, which is being piloted in a systematic way with notable creators such as e.g. such as Amber Vittoria, Dave Krugman, Refik Anadol and others.
While it’s impossible to know which social media will fare best for NFT integration, by looking at their core value proposition, combined with recent indicators, one can have a solid sense of where things are headed.
It is clear that Twitter is not only at a disadvantage from a UVP standpoint, but is also suffering from a chaotic transition, which could have serious implications for the future health of the platform as a whole – let alone for the development of NFT tools.
In other words, Instagram has far fewer distractions to deal with, and while it too will no doubt experience its own shortcomings, the platform’s NFT plans seem to be working in the same structured and patient way that allowed Facebook to emerge top over early competitors.
But as is the case in any technological pursuit, things can change in an instant, so it’s worth following the progress of both closely. But it’s Instagram, not Twitter, that currently has more in favor of NFT integration.
Constantin Kogan is a co-founder of BullPerks and GamesPad, a partner at BitBull Capital, the founder of Adwivo, and a former CEO of Wave Financial. He has a Ph.D. in sociology from the National Pedagogical Dragomanov University in Kiev, a master’s degree in education, and is fluent in five languages (English, Russian, Ukrainian, French and Hebrew). He has been a blockchain technology enthusiast and investor since 2012.
This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts and opinions expressed herein are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
