A creator-led internet, built on blockch

Power is shifting. History has taught us that technology will take power from the establishment, and give it to individuals. Give it to people. This has been true since before the advent of the printing press. Long before. But the path is not a straight line, there are always bumps and detours along the way, and the internet is no exception.

权力正在转移。 历史已告诉我们， 科技会从诞生起掌握权力， 再把权力交给个人。 交给人们。 在印刷机出现前就是如此。 那是很久以前。 但是这个过程不是线性的， 一路上总会有 磕磕绊绊、迂回曲折， 互联网也不是例外。

The original promise of the internet was to push power down into the hands of people, and to all of us. And it has. It has weakened yesterday's gatekeepers, music labels, news publications, TV networks. They've all lost much of their power and prestige. But at the same time, the internet has created a new establishment. It's pushed power into the broadest of platforms, like Instagram. This was unexpected.

互联网最初的愿景是 把权力下放到人们的手中， 到我们每个人的手中。 它确实做到了。 它弱化了从前的管理员、 音乐唱片、新闻出版、电视网络。 这些人都失去了很多权力和声望。 但是与此同时， 互联网开辟了新天地。 它把权力推向了 一些受众最广泛的平台， 比如Instagram（照片墙）。 这是出人意料的。

But I believe that, over the broad arc of history, that this unexpected outcome, this concentration of power in the hands of a handful of platforms, is not going to be a long-lasting trend. Over the next ten years, we're going to see a dramatic shift in power, away from platforms like the one that my team and I are responsible for, and to a group of people I like to describe as "creators."

但是我相信，在历史的长河中， 这个令人意外的结果—— 小部分平台集中掌握权力—— 不会是一个长久的趋势。 在接下来的十年里， 我们会见证权力的剧变， 从类似我和我的团队 负责的平台转移到 一些我称为“创作者”的人手中。

Let's define a creator as someone whose personality is their brand, and who uses platforms like Instagram to turn their passion into a living. Creators like Blair Imani, D-Nice and Benny Drama. They generate new ideas, push boundaries, drive culture. We follow them just to see what they'll do next. What if we imagine a world where creators actually own their relationship with their audience -- they didn't rent it, they owned it -- and where all of us were invested in their success? A world where the platforms acted more like platforms, because we can and should do more to support creators.

我们可以把“创作者”定义为 把个性当作个人品牌的人， 他们利用像Instagram这样的平台， 以他们的兴趣为生。 像布莱尔·伊玛尼（Blair Imani）， D-Nice和贝尼托·斯金纳 （网名Benny Drama）这样的创作者。 他们生产新想法， 无拘无束，引领潮流。 我们关注他们， 好奇他们接下来要做些什么。 想象一下，如果有一个 创作者真正拥有 与观众的关系的世界， 他们不是暂时拥有， 而是完全拥有这样的关系， 在这个世界里，我们所有人 都是他们成功的一部分。 在这个世界里， 平台只作为平台本身运作， 因为我们可以， 也应该更多地支持创作者。

It's been maybe 50 years since the birth of the internet, and we can all see how much it has affected almost every industry, particularly the attention-based industries: music, news, TV, art -- they've all been disrupted. Musicians like Childish Gambino, Frank Ocean and Chance the Rapper, they found ways to reach an audience without a label. When Jessica Yellin was the chief White House correspondent for CNN, back in 2012, that network averaged about 670,000 viewers. Today, she reaches nearly that many people on Instagram alone. Star athletes are more relevant than the teams that they play for, which would have been unheard of 50 years ago. LeBron James has more followers on Instagram than the Lakers do. Cristiano Ronaldo makes more on Instagram, it's been reported, than he did from Juventus.

互联网诞生至今大约 50 年， 我们可以看到它对几乎所有行业 都产生了多么巨大的影响， 尤其是那些基于注意力的行业—— 音乐、新闻、电视、艺术， 这些行业都遭到了颠覆。 像幼稚冈比诺（Childish Gambino）、 弗兰克·奥申（Frank Ocean） 和Chance the Rapper 这样的音乐人， 他们找到了无需唱片 就可吸引听众的方式。 杰西卡·耶琳（Jessica Yellin） 在 2012 年担任CNN （美国有线电视新闻网） 驻白宫首席记者时， 网络上大约有 67 万名观众。 现在，单单在Instagram上 她都有数量相当的粉丝。 明星运动员比所在的队伍 更有价值， 这在 50 年前 简直是闻所未闻的。 勒布朗·詹姆斯 在Instagram上的粉丝 比湖人队更多。 据报道，C罗 通过Instagram赚的钱 比在尤文图斯俱乐部赚得更多。

OK, so I and my team, we work at the point where creators and audiences meet. And platforms like Instagram have done a lot to empower creators over the last ten years. My team is obsessed with finding more ways to support creators. But if we accept that as power continues to shift toward creators, or that that's going to happen, because technology will continue to change, then we're going to have to rethink some things, because today, creators are too dependent on too few platforms, then our role, as platforms, has to change.

好的，我和我的团队 研发的内容是 创作者和观众的交汇处。 像Instagram这样的平台， 在过去十年里， 一直致力于助力创作者。 我的团队一直在探索如何可以 为创作者提供更多的支持。 但是如果我们接受了权力正在向 创作者转移的事实， 或者由于科技一直在变化， 这将会是迟早发生的事， 那么我们就需要重新看待这件事， 因为现在创作者们都 太过依赖于有限的几个平台， 那我们作为平台的作用 就会发生改变。

Now, I'm not saying that platforms are going to go away. New platforms will certainly rise, old platforms will certainly fall. But all platforms will -- and you're already seeing this happen -- understand the value that creators create. And so they'll be increasingly interested in handing more power over to creators. Now, this might be surprising, coming from me. But I think this is actually a really good thing. I think that over the long run, what's best for creators is going to be best for platforms like the one I'm responsible for. The more art there is, the more there's an exchange of ideas, the more creativity there is in the world, the better off we all are.

我现在要说的 不是平台要退出舞台了。 肯定会有新的平台涌现， 旧的平台肯定会消失。 但是所有的平台都会 发现创作者创造的价值， 而你已经见证了它的发生。 这样平台就会更有兴趣 把权力交给创作者。 我所说的可能现在看来 比较令人意外。 但是我觉得这真是一件很好的事。 我认为长远来看， 对创作者好的事， 也是对我负责的这种平台好的事。 越多的艺术， 会带来更多想法的交流， 世界上就会有更多的创意， 我们也都会变得更好。

But we haven't always seen the world this way. For the five years before I joined Instagram, I was the head of News Feed at Facebook. I was in that role during the US presidential election in 2016. I was in that role during Cambridge Analytica. I traveled around the world, talking to publishers and policymakers, most of whom took the time to tell me everything that we were doing wrong. I'm sure some of you hold my company and me personally accountable for all sorts of things. But I can tell you we learned an immense amount from those experiences. I know I personally did. There were a lot of lessons. And one of those lessons was how important stability and predictability were to publishers. No publisher can build a business on a platform that's too volatile, and no business should be entirely reliant on any one platform. The same is true for creators.

但是我们不是一直 以这种方式看待世界。 在我加入Intagram前的五年里， 我是Facebook（脸谱网）的 News Feed（信息流）负责人。 我在 2016 年美国总统大选 期间担任此职。 我在剑桥分析（Cambridge Analytica） 丑闻事件期间担任此职。 我走遍世界， 与出版商和政策制定者交流， 他们中的很多人告诉我， 我们现在做的所有事都是错的。 我相信你们有些人觉得 我个人和我公司 得对所有事负责。 但是我可以告诉你， 我们从这些经历中受益匪浅。 我自己是这样的。 学到了很多。 学到的其中一点是 稳定性和可预见性 对出版商而言 有多么重要。 没有出版商可以在 一个不稳定的平台上开展业务， 也没有任何业务 应该完全依赖于一个平台。 对创作者来说也是一样。

Today ... Whoo. We’re on the precipice of an entirely new internet, built on fundamentally different technology than the tools of yesterday. New technology is making new ideas possible. Cryptocurrencies, social tokens, nonfungible tokens, decentralized autonomous organizations -- that one really rolls off the tongue -- smart contracts -- these are a group of ideas known in the industry as web3. And each and every one is built on a foundation called the blockchain. The important thing to understand about blockchains is that they remove the need for an intermediary. What do I mean by that? Well, each and every one of you, I am sure, at some point, has put money in a bank account. And when you did that, you were actually trusting an intermediary -- in this case, a bank -- to take care of that money on your behalf. A blockchain allows you to hold digital money -- in this case, a cryptocurrency -- without the need to trust an intermediary or a bank. And so a blockchain offers the potential for a transfer of power. What's interesting is not holding digital money -- there's nothing new about that idea. What is interesting is how power is shifting from those who historically held it to those who have not.

如今…… 嗯。 我们眼前就是一个崭新的互联网， 基于与以前使用的工具 截然不同的新科技。 新科技为新想法带来了新可能。 加密货币、社交代币、 非同质化代币（NFT）、 去中心化自治组织（DAO）， 和让人脱口而出的 智能合约， 这些都是被称为“Web3” 行业的一些想法。 其中的每一个都是基于一种 被称为“区块链”的基础技术。 关于区块链的重要的一点是 它不再需要一个中间人。 这么说是什么意思？ 我相信你们每一个人 都在银行账户里存过钱。 你在存钱的时候， 其实你信任了一个中间人—— 在这个例子里是银行， 银行会代表你管好你的钱。 区块链让你可以持有数字货币， 也就是加密货币， 而不需要信任一个中间人或银行。 于是区块链就提供了 权力转移的可能性。 有趣的并不是持有数字货币， 这个想法没什么新奇的。 有趣的是权力是如何 从以前的掌权者的手中 转移到无权者的手中的。

There's an opportunity here. We can use this technology to help creators establish direct financial relationships with their audience, independent of any platform. Today, for many creators -- not all, but many -- subscriptions are an important part of their business. And there are really great subscription platforms out there -- Patreon, Substack, YouTube memberships. They provide great services. For you, as a creator, they host your content, they distribute that content, they handle payments on your behalf. What does it cost you? You're beholden to each platform where you show up. You are playing by that platform's rules. So what if we imagine something different? A subscription between a creator and a fan, still, but one independent of any platform, but that works across all platforms.

这里有一个好机会。 我们可以利用这个技术 帮助创作者与观众建立 直接的财务关系， 独立于任何平台。 现在对于很多的创作者， 不是全部但是有很多， 订阅是他们收入的重要来源。 市面上有很多很不错的订阅平台， 比如Patreon、Substack、 YouTube会员。 它们可以提供很好的服务。 对你来说，作为一个创作者， 它们会承载你创作的内容、 发布传播内容、 代理你处理收付款。 你要付出什么呢？ 你对你登台露面的平台心存感激。 你按照它们的规则行事。 想象一下 如果有这样的变化会怎样？ 依旧是创作者和粉丝之间的订阅， 但是独立于任何平台， 又适用于所有平台。

On a five-year time view, the blockchain offers the opportunity for creators to directly own their relationship with their subscribers. Picture this. Lisa is a country artist from Georgia, and she wants to sell subscriptions. Maybe she wants to share songs that she's working on before she's ready to release them to the general public. And we all love Lisa, and we want to subscribe to Lisa. What if Lisa can sell a token -- think of it as a membership card -- for a few bucks, to anyone who wants to subscribe. What if every major platform -- Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, they all agree to honor those membership cards. Then, in that world, if Lisa first establishes herself on Instagram, but later, she wants to branch out into Twitter, she can bring Team Lisa with her, she can bring her subscribers with her. And all of us, because I’m sure we love Lisa, we only need to subscribe once, not once per platform. That' a big deal.

以五年的时间来看， 区块链为创作者 直接拥有与订阅者的关系 提供了机会。 想象一下这个场景。 丽萨是来自佐治亚州的 一个乡村艺术家， 她想出售订阅服务。 也许她想在准备好 向大众发布前 分享一些她正在创作的歌曲。 我们都很喜欢丽萨， 我们想订阅丽萨的歌曲。 如果丽萨可以发售一个代币， 可以想象成一张会员卡， 标价几十美元， 出售给想订阅的人。 如果每个主流平台—— Instagram、推特(Twitter)、 YouTube、Facebook， 它们全都同意接受这些会员卡。 那么在这个世界里，如果丽萨 先在Instagram有了一席之地， 但是之后她又想拓展到推特， 她就可以带着丽萨团队， 带着所有订阅者。 我们所有人， 因为我相信我们都喜欢丽萨， 只需要订阅一次， 而不是在每个平台都要订阅一次。 这可是件大事。

And even more important, if we build these membership cards on a blockchain, no company can ever take Lisa's community away from her. Instagram could -- poof! -- disappear tomorrow and she would maintain her relationship with her subscribers, and she would maintain her income.

更重要的是， 如果我们是基于区块链 设计了这些会员卡， 就没有公司可以剥夺丽萨的社群。 也许明天Instagram烟消云散了， 但是她依旧可以保留 与订阅者的关系， 她也可以维持收入。

We can take this idea further. As we look to the future, it's increasingly clear that it's going to bring more and more volatility, as technology changes more and more quickly. For creators, this means new talent can succeed faster than ever before, and at an incredible scale. It also means that we will never again see the stability in careers that our grandparents saw.

我们可以更进一步。 我们展望未来的时候， 可以清楚地发现随着科技 发展得越来越快， 肯定会带来更多的不稳定性。 对创作者而言， 这意味着新锐可以 以前所未有的速度、 惊人的规模成功。 这也意味着我们不会再见到 我们祖辈所见的工作稳定性。

There's a problem. One challenge with this future is that our financial infrastructure, particularly the way that we finance our ideas, largely predates the internet. Today, the predominant way that businesses raise money, and the only real option available to creators, is to borrow it as debt. And as to any of you who have ever struggled with a mortgage payment or a student loan or a car payment can attest to, there’s a lot of downside to debt. My first experience with debt was a 13-year old '86 SAAB 9000 Turbo. Gray car, saggy roof, the Knight Rider lights in the front -- I love that car. But it was hard. So what if, instead of debt, we invested in people, the way we invest in start-ups? As a creator, you should be able to use technology to raise money to finance your ambitions. If you so choose, you should be able to sell equity in your future. And you should be able to set the terms. For a 100,000-dollar investment, you’ll pay out five percent of what you make for the next 10 years. And we can codify those terms in a smart contract. We can connect the RevShare you make on YouTube, the subscription fees you make on Patreon, the merchandise sales you make on Instagram, all to one token that anyone who believes in you could buy. And in doing so, you'd be giving your audience the opportunity to share in your success, to buy a share, to build equity in the creator they know, love and trust. And Lisa would be able to build a community of people who are directly invested in her success. And with the money she raised, she'd have more time to explore, more time to create.

这里有个问题。 这样的未来有一个挑战， 就是我们的金融基础设施， 尤其是我们资助想法的方式， 这个问题比互联网出现得更早。 现在公司集资的主要方式和 创作者可以真正选择的唯一方式 是以贷款的形式。 如果你们有人有过 苦于还按揭、 学生贷款或者车贷的经历， 你们可以证实 贷款有很多缺陷。 我第一次贷款的经历是 购买一台车龄 13 年的 86 款萨博 9000 涡轮轿车。 灰色的车，松垮的车顶， 霹雳游侠式的前车灯， 我太爱这辆车了。 但是太难了。 所以如果我们用 投资初创企业的方式向人投资， 而不是向贷款投资，会怎么样？ 作为一个创作者， 你可以利用科技 募款、资助你的梦想。 如果你如此选择， 你就可以出售你的未来股权。 你也可以定下条款。 投资十万美元， 你会支付给投资人 接下来十年收入的 5% 。 我们可以用智能合约的形式 将条款记录在案。 我们可以把你在YouTube上 赚的分成（RevShare）、 在Patreon上赚的订阅费、 在Instagram上赚的商品销售额 全部联结放入一个代币， 供信任你的人购买。 在这么做的过程中， 你会给你的观众一个机会 分享你的成功， 购入股份， 为他们知晓、喜爱、信赖的 创作者投资。 丽萨也可以聚拢一群人， 这些人直接为她的成功投资。 丽萨募集到了这么多钱， 就会有更多的时间去探索、创造。

Meta can't build this. No single company can. For ideas like these to happen, we need to come together across the industry. And we need pioneers. We need established creators to prove the model at first. But the idea isn't interesting until it's available to everyone.

Meta做不到这件事。 没有一个公司 可以独自做到这件事。 要让这些想法成真， 我们需要跨公司、 全行业地合作。 我们需要先行者。 我们需要知名创作者们 先去证明这个模式。 但是如果这个想法无法触及大众， 它就不会变得有趣。

I sometimes think about what my path might have looked like, had that opportunity been available to me. Instead of bartending and designing websites on the side and taking out a lot of student debt, I might have sold equity in my future. What might you have done? Who knows? But what's exciting about this idea is not the opportunity it affords an upper-middle-class white kid from the suburbs of New York City. It's the opportunity it affords Oumi Janta, a roller-skating phenom in Berlin; Terri Loewenthal, one of my favorite photographers in California. And if we build this, we'll have helped to realize the original promise of the internet. We'll have to push power into the hands of people ... to creators. Creators will be able to own their relationship with their audience, and anyone who wants to invest in creativity will have the opportunity to do so. We'll have created a world where anyone with a compelling idea can turn their passion into a living, which, at the same time, effects possibly the greatest transfer of power from institutions to individuals in all of history.

我有时候在想， 要是我曾经有这个机会， 我的道路会是怎么样。 我不会兼职做调酒师、设计网页、 借一大笔学生贷款， 而是可能已经在 为我的未来出售股权。 你会做些什么？ 谁知道呢？ 但是这个想法值得兴奋的点 不在于它是一个 纽约郊区的中上层白人小孩 可以拥有的机会。 它是来自柏林的旱冰网络红人 乌米·詹塔（Oumi Janta） 可以获得的一个机会。 它是来自加州的 我最喜爱的摄影师之一， 特里·勒文塔尔（Terri Loewenthal） 可以获得的一个机会。 如果我们建成了它， 我们就帮助实现了 互联网最初的愿景。 我们把权力交到了人们的手中， 交给了创作者。 创作者可以拥有与观众的关系， 每一个想要投资创意的人 都有机会这么做。 我们会创造一个世界， 每一个有奇思妙想的人都可以 以他们的兴趣为生， 与此同时，会带来 或许是从古至今 最大规模的权力转移， 将权力从机构转移给了个人。

Thank you for listening,

感谢聆听，

and thank you to you creators out there for inspiring the rest of us.

感谢激励我们每一个人的创作者。