Irene DAO and the Social Media Revolution

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by Crista Yamasaki

Since its launch on Friday, the NFT and crypto community has been buzzing about IreneDAO.  For those who missed it, IreneDAO was launched by social media influencer and former commodity broker Irene Zhao.  Entrance of another NFT line is hardly significant save for the fact that Zhao’s NFTs serve as a front row ticket to revolutionizing social media and highlighting the increasing interest into decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).  

Zhao’s business model is divided into three parts: the NFTs, DAO, and finally a decentralized social media platform SO-COL.  The NFT stickers serve as a membership pass for the DAO, the roadmap for which is yet to be determined, but one can guess that it will involve changing the way influencers and fans interact with one another without a centralized intermediary.

The social media platform SO-COL, short for Social Collectibles, is advertised by its Twitter handle as a “decentralized version of OnlyFans, Discord, Twitch, and Patreon.”  Although the specifics of each project remains somewhat ambiguous, the overall intent is leaving centralized platforms behind in order to cut out the barriers between creators, their content, earned income, and fan base.  

This wouldn’t be the first time the community was presented with a decentralized social media concept, but the traction behind her DAO and NFT line were strategically aligned to bring her entire branding philosophy of “a grassroots aimed at disrupting creator economy,” to a wider audience.  Despite the criticism her NFTs have garnered as being a fad, the basis of her projects display the growing desire of influencers to take control of their content, capital, and methods of engagement.