The Curator Economy: Monetizing Taste in Web3 and How to Beat Google Search

The Curator Economy: Monetizing Taste in Web3 and How to Beat Google Search

In the age of Web3, where information becomes currency and social capital is earned through curation, the concept of the Curator Economy has emerged. Curators, who are the maintainers of interest graphs, invest their time and effort in discovering, liking, organizing, and sharing content from around the web. They create focused interest graphs that represent networks of individuals bound by shared public interests.

However, despite the influence and impact of these curators, many of them have never made a dime off their efforts. The evolution of social graphs into interest graphs has laid the groundwork for a more efficient and connected series of networks that combine context and attention. But how can curators monetize their influence?

One solution lies in the decentralization of curation. Just as Wikipedia showed that privately-owned encyclopedias cannot scale curation effectively, new interfaces can be created to interact with multiple systems transparently, regardless of which social media platform our friends are on. This decentralization would incentivize content moderation and curation through protocols that allow users to monetize their likes, ratings, and reporting.

In the realm of decentralized finance (DeFi), curation already exists in the form of token-curated registries. These systems allow consensus to be reached on which assets or pieces of information should exist in a certain list. For example, Yup is a curation protocol that rewards curators with $YUP for their likes and ratings across the web.

Communities also have a natural advantage in curating content. They can curate creators and their communities, using curation as a self-reinforcing mechanism for community building. This can be done based on values, expertise, cultural moment, location, hobbies and interests, price, and more. Users love buying products that have been selected by other users within a community, so leveraging online communities to curate around existing consumption is a powerful strategy.

Now, let's shift our focus to Google Search. While Chrome/Chromium may seem user-centric, it primarily functions as a distribution channel for Google search. The prioritization of browser history over search results in the omni-bar is a contentious issue between Google and its users. This highlights the misalignment of value between a centralized platform and its users.

Open source, on the other hand, provides a powerful distribution channel when value is aligned with the end-user. Google Images, for example, has seen minimal innovation in the past decade, allowing competitors like Pinterest to disrupt the market. The absence of ads on Image Search has hindered Google's ability to monetize the platform effectively. However, future platform shifts like voice or AR/VR search might present new opportunities for disruption.

Despite the increase in ad load on Search and YouTube, Google's search engine remains extremely valuable to users. Research conducted by Erik Brynjolfsson at Stanford revealed that the average user would require $17,000 as compensation to forego search engines for a year. This demonstrates the high perceived value of search.

Google's average revenue per user (ARPU) for search is also remarkably high, estimated to be between $100 and $250 per year. The question arises: would users be willing to pay such a substantial amount for search? Any alternative search engine would need to generate a higher ARPU or adopt a completely different business model to compete effectively.

In conclusion, the Curator Economy in Web3 presents opportunities for curators to monetize their influence through decentralized curation protocols. Communities can leverage curation as a mechanism for community building and enhance the user experience. Meanwhile, in the search engine landscape, the alignment of value between platforms and users is crucial for long-term success. As users become more aware of the value they bring to these platforms, they may seek alternatives that prioritize their needs and preferences.