Twitter debuted its first crypto-related feature, NFT profile images, last week. It now allows certain users to utilize a hexagonal profile image to display a non-fungible token-backed digital artwork they own when clicked, enabling others to learn more about the art.
You might wonder why someone would desire to undertake such a thing. Consider it a status symbol—digital bling, if you will.
Reddit followed suit a few days later with a similar function. NFTs also get investigated by YouTube and Instagram. According to a recent Financial Times story, Facebook may be developing a whole NFT marketplace.
But why is that? After all, NFTs are purchased and traded on specialized marketplaces like OpenSea, Decentraland, and SuperRare, rather than on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
However, how do they get to be valuable in the first place? NFTs, which are still in their infancy, are primarily used for authenticating digital art, and one of the most appealing aspects of purchasing art is the ability to display it. Social media, with its highly honed algorithms for virality, is ideal for this.
The first tweet ever sent out—by Twitter creator Jack Dorsey—is a great example. It got auctioned for $2.9 million last year after being linked to an NFT.
Another feature of social media platforms that NFT markets lack is celebrities with large followings. On January 25, One Direction’s Liam Payne announced to his 34.7 million Twitter followers that he had created another Twitter identity named @PaynoEth to demonstrate his love of NFTs.
In just half an hour, the new account garnered 26,000 new followers.
“WELCOME! For me, this is the beginning of something new, which is always thrilling. It’s my new @doodles artwork that I acquired last week for anyone curious about my new display photo! Isn’t it amazing?!” Payne used an alias to write.
While NFTs and the digital art they represent get not generated, purchased, or sold on social media sites, the fundamentally social character of art implies that these works would be substantially less valuable if they weren’t.
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