Bitcoin vastly reduces friction in monetizing content and supporting other people’s work online. We’ve seen how the relationship between users and social media platforms can get complicated, but social media is still an effective way for content creators to reach a large audience. Bitcoin can help streamline engagement within and across platforms, and the ability to stream sats to reward creators, journalists and gamers has been nothing short of a miracle. Examples include Twitter’s Strike integration, Podcasting 2.0 and stacker news.

Stacker news and Y’alls are pioneering a new model for social media powered by bitcoin. In this model, the platform imposes a cost to produce and engage with content. The cost is miniscule, but it’s enough to prevent spam, and as a result, the quality of the content is greatly improved. You might think users would never opt to pay for a service that they’re used to having for free. But in return for sharing valuable content, creators are rewarded with bitcoin directly by the community. Meanwhile, everyone benefits from an overall better experience and less spam which makes it a net win.