"The Ownership Economy 2022 – Variant: The Era of Abstraction & New Creative Tensions"

"The Ownership Economy 2022 – Variant: The Era of Abstraction & New Creative Tensions"

The ownership economy and the era of abstraction are two significant trends shaping the future of the internet and the way we interact with digital platforms. While they may seem like distinct concepts, there are common points that connect them and create new opportunities for users, creators, and builders.

At its core, the ownership economy revolves around transforming users into owners. It offers a powerful tool for builders to leverage market incentives and jumpstart new networks. Moreover, it holds the potential to create positive social change by enabling the wider distribution of wealth-building assets. With over 15,000 projects in the ownership economy, ranging from user-owned financial markets to social networks and digital assets, it's evident that the products and services defining web3 are those that empower users to become owners.

In contrast, the era of abstraction highlights the importance of design in the age of AI and data-driven technologies. In this era, the ultimate winner will be the designer and the companies that empower design. The quality and empowerment of designers, from startups to large enterprises, will determine success. The modern API-first internet is a game of slap-a-hand, where the interface on top wins. Transformative interfaces and integrations into existing workflows, created and discovered by designers, will become the preferred surfaces for engagement.

While these two trends may seem unrelated, they intersect in several ways. Let's explore some of the common points and connections between the ownership economy and the era of abstraction.

1. User ownership and design advantages drive growth
   In the ownership economy, user ownership can jumpstart growth by capturing user attention and bootstrapping initial adoption. However, sustaining user ownership is more challenging. Simply giving users ownership is not enough to ensure a product's success. Strong product-market fit and solving a widespread need are crucial for sustaining usage. Additionally, there is a concern that ownership might crowd out intrinsic incentives, leading to more transactional engagement. To preserve users' intrinsic motivation, token incentives should be optimized in terms of timing, magnitude, and eligibility.

On the other hand, in the era of abstraction, design advantages outperform tech advantages. The empowerment of designers and the ability to build transformative interfaces are key to success. Companies that leverage design to create novel and transformative interfaces in a market of competitors who cannot will have an edge. Design becomes a differentiator, and taste becomes more important than skills. As AI takes over skill-based work, imagination and taste become scarce and valuable assets.