Proof of X

A related product I’d love to see is Strava for Reading. Unfortunately, I think it’s unlikely that we will see a product like I described anytime soon. The world’s largest bookstore, most popular eBook reader, and biggest social network for books are all owned by a company that has very little competency in design and user-facing product innovation... See more

Another app that would be interesting is a social investing app.

Social networks are therefore not only signaling distribution (and amplification) networks – they also allow users to prove their signaling messages.

I’m more optimistic about Strava for Learning.

Note that an app like this would not be about signaling wealth. It’s about signaling being right and the ability to prove it. This is probably an even stronger and more engaging mechanism than signaling wealth – and the reason why I’m still bullish on prediction markets.

When new social networks emerge they have to introduce new proof mechanisms to differentiate themselves from existing incumbents.

Similar to physical activity in the Strava example, learning is not something that most people enjoy doing. As TikTok founder Alex Zhu points out, education goes a little against human nature. In combination with a strong enough signaling mechanism however, you can get users to participate. It’s kind of the opposite of Chris Dixon’s famous “Come fo... See more

While the activity of learning itself might be hard to quantify, you can measure the outcome of learning: knowledge

Instagram is essentially “pics or it didn’t happen”-as-a-service.