My Web3 Marketing Experience with Third Academy

I recently started a Web3 Marketing course with Third Academy, and for some weird reason, I've failed to talk about my experience so far. I must admit that it's been an eventful and insightful journey, but I still feel my whole experience wouldn’t be worthwhile if I didn’t talk about what I’ve learned and how this course is shaping me to become a better Web3 Marketer.

In this first article, I will be doing something I should’ve done some weeks back; talking about why I decided to take this course and become a Web3 Marketer.

Why Web3?

While there is no doubt that the tech industry will never stop evolving, one other thing that will stay constant is how we react to new technologies. History has shown that the world usually undergoes different phases whenever a new paradigm shift is on the horizon. I did a little research to better understand human behavior and how it affects adopting new technologies. Fortunately, I stumbled on an exciting piece by Brian David Johnson, a futurist at the Arizona State University’s Center for Science, titled The Four Stages of Introducing New Technologies. This interesting piece might be over a decade old, but I think it did complete justice to sighting how history will always repeat itself when it comes to new technologies and how we react to them.

I’m sure at this point, you might be wondering why I’ve drifted totally from telling you why I chose to take up this Web3 marketing course and have started talking about a “boring” 10-year-old article that probably nobody cares about by now, but I can assure you that I’m totally on track. No matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to explain the reason for my interest in Web3 without sighting the current challenges being faced by the new technology.

Brian, in this piece, told a story about his encounter with an enraged dad who had gotten frustrated at how his teenage daughters were addicted to their smartphones and feared that it might ruin their lives. I, for one, wouldn’t blame the angry dad for casting his fear about smartphones, considering the situation around things at that time. As of a decade ago, a large percentage of the world’s population didn’t consider smartphones a necessity, and they barely had the use cases they currently have today. At the time, the sentiment around the use of smartphones was still at a phase which I love to call the "Controversial stage." Only about 35% of the average American adult owned a smartphone then, compared to the current figures of over 85%.

Brian, in his article, further described the four stages of how humans react to new technologies by referencing a series of phrases by the enraged dad. He named the first and second stages “It will kill us all.” and “It will steal my daughter.” respectively, which clearly describes the stage I earlier tagged as the “Controversial stage.” In this stage of a new technology’s life cycle, the general populace tends to express fear and uncertainty around the viability and credibility of such technology. These uncertainties lead to the spread of conspiracy theories which, in turn, largely influence the adoption rate of the new tech in question.

The third stage, which he referred to as “I’ll never use it,” clearly relates to the rejection stage, which in my opinion, is the most challenging stage of a new technology’s life cycle. Many people who have not tried new technologies usually succumb to the fear and uncertainties around them, and instead, they choose to stick to what they understand, which further stunts the adoption of the new tech.

According to Brian, the final stage, which he referred to as “What are you going on about?” is the most boring and anticlimactic end to the story. At this stage, the technology in question becomes so valuable that it gets absorbed into the fabric of our lives and the history of our culture. People have finally come to see its utility in their everyday lives and accept that it is now a part of their world.

After reading that 10-year-old article by Brian, I can confidently say that human sentiments always have and will always play an integral role in determining how we adopt any technology; it did during the Dot-com boom in the 1990s and is also playing a massive role in the adoption of Web3 today. In my opinion, that furious dad in Brain’s story can be likened to the billions of individuals, corporate organizations, government agencies, and nations still yet to accept Web3 technology due to the fear, uncertainty, and doubts around it.

Web3 as a concept might sound like new tunes in the ears of many when it comes up, but it is arguably one of the hottest topics in the technology space today. The basic idea behind web3 technology revolves around hosting decentralized apps on the internet that run on blockchain technology. As the name suggests, it will be a significant upgrade to Web2, and it is built on the idea of taking back power from the big players in the industry and handing it back to users. With web3 still considered a novel concept, much work still needs to be done as there are still many limitations that the ecosystem must look to address before it might achieve global adoption.

Regardless of the series of controversies, sentiments, and bureaucratic bottlenecks that might be ravaging the Web3 industry, one will be betting against billions of dollars in investments to believe this concept doesn’t hold solid potential. Touted by many as the “Internet of the future,” the Web3 industry has been estimated to hit a whopping $80 billion market size by 2030. Although still novel, this unique technology is set to mark the beginning of a new era in the internet space built around promoting user privacy and data ownership, all fueled by blockchain technology.

While there appear to be hundreds of dilemmas currently ravaging the Web3 industry, none seem to be as challenging as the level of misconceptions around this technology. If Web3 is expected to grow to become our future technology, many of these misconceptions must be addressed.

Conclusion

So, if I were to respond to why I chose to take this course to become a Web3 marketer, I would say that, for one, I am happy to be a part of the development and adoption phase of this revolutionary tech which has the potential to impact my generation and ones after. I might not be responsible for writing or debugging the long lines of codes that led to the invention of this fascinating tech, but I sure as hell am interested in contributing towards addressing many of the misconceptions around this technology and working closely with companies and teams to build and market products around Web3 that would reshape how we interact with the internet in our day-to-day lives.

I’m looking forward to what lies ahead on my exciting adventure as a Web3 marketer, and I would be happy to share my experiences with whoever cares to read my articles. Cheers!