Latest Intel on Niches!!

I am really excited to reserve Niches. I have been thinking about which topics I'd like to own and I'm trying to figure out how to make threads engaging and worthwhile to the readers and content creators.

I'm not sure if I have seen this topic covered already, but how many Niches can one Founder own at a time?

Edit: Oh nevermind, it does states so in the article - 5 at a time.

I'm a Philosophical (as opposed to Financial or Unicorn) Investor*. I wish I was both, but the value of my investment in NRV just doesn't get me to Founder status or beyond. However, I am here because I fully support the vision of the New Content Economy. I'm not even sure if I'll ever withdraw the $$ I've invested.

And that is why the topic of Niches, Moderators, and Narrator/Content Producers is very interesting to me. Ted O'Neill says a few things that I want to highlight or clarify — as I understand things.

Niches are always public- all content is world-accessible- and each has an “owner”, someone who controls the niche.

I've underlined the word "controls" because I think this word freaks out some of the more democratic-minded perspectives on what this community is intended to be. I read that same sentence with the word manages in place of "controls" and it lands much softer, and possibly more accurate?

Because there is a limit on the number of niches each member can own and/or bid on, each member will need to focus on only the niches they have the most interest in.

I think the last part is very important to stress: personal interest is critical for buy-in, for accountability, for motivation, for quality, for longevity. I was talking with my daughter about delayed gratification and I think this is also an essential aspect of investing for the right reasons. There might be some rewards for the quick-flip... but, if you can resist eating the cookie NOW, you might get TWO later... especially if you help bake them! 

Note that each member may only own or bid on a maximum of 5 niches.

Question: Does this limit also apply to Founders? Just curious. 

Once a Niche is [suggested > approved > purchased], 

These owners must also nominate moderators for their niches.

This brings up something that @Rosemary discussed in another post that I think will earn a lot more attention after the Token Sale / ICO concludes successfully. Namely, how the heck do we recruit people to the community?

Whereas early-adopters need the least convincing, bloggers who have spent years building their content/audience on platform X is going to require some convincing. We need really great importing tools AND we need a Recruiters Toolkit.

Back in the early 90s, my friend and I had a killer business plan and internet platform set to disrupt the Yellow Pages and the Construction Industry. But it failed miserably. Why? Because we spent all our time trying to explain and evangelize the internet and never even got to explaining our service. 25 years later, here we are... everyone has a website. No one needs convincing that having at least some presence on the internet is essential to most businesses.

So, here we are on the crest of the newness of crypto-currencies and flipping social platforming on its head. Speculation is high. Trust is low. And we're asking people to participate anyway. We need to consider the full spectrum of obstacles and solutions, and provide Niche owners with a robust set of tools to help them reach out and recruit moderators AND narrators/content producers. 

*See Thinking ROI, or, Investor Unicorns

If I'm reading this correctly, all ideas for a niche go though approval and then a bidding process. So once approved, you would need to win the auction to finally gain your own niche idea? 

Hickster747 posted:

If I'm reading this correctly, all ideas for a niche go though approval and then a bidding process. So once approved, you would need to win the auction to finally gain your own niche idea? 

Yes, that's what it looks like. It's a much more refined process than I thought. The only thing that I don't like is the bidding process. I get that the presenter of the idea still gets a benefit somehow (from the looks of it, more "points" or something of that nature) but it just won't feel right because if I propose a super awesome niche or something that I'm really passionate about, it can easily just go to the highest bidder. So in the end, Founder status gives you an advantage but at the end of the day, it'll still be the world of the whales.

Dias Flac posted:

Hickster747 posted:

If I'm reading this correctly, all ideas for a niche go though approval and then a bidding process. So once approved, you would need to win the auction to finally gain your own niche idea? 

Yes, that's what it looks like. It's a much more refined process than I thought. The only thing that I don't like is the bidding process. I get that the presenter of the idea still gets a benefit somehow (from the looks of it, more "points" or something of that nature) but it just won't feel right because if I propose a super awesome niche or something that I'm really passionate about, it can easily just go to the highest bidder. So in the end, Founder status gives you an advantage but at the end of the day, it'll still be the world of the whales.

I had the same feeling. Thinking about it again, I suppose it might stop people blocking niches or claiming the obviously popular ones in a fastest finger first competition..But it's annoying if you had a great and unique idea that can then just be bought by the richest bidder.

Re: Fear of Whales

Disclaimer: I am not a whale. I've scraped together enough $$ to invest 7 NEO. I don't even know if that qualifies me for Minnow Status. 

NRV aren't going to be worth much on day one... or even day one-hundred. It's value will be driven by the development of the community. As it grows, so will the value of the NRV. Growth will largely be driven by Niche owners cultivating their Niche(s)'s content. This won't stop some of the quick-flippers (flippers! is there room for a dolphin metaphor in here somewhere?) but it will discourage squatters. 

If someone buys the Niche "Elastic Socks" and then recruits really great Narrators to generate consumable content; is active in their Niche; and is generally a good manager of the elastic sock content on Narrative; then success will be shared by everyone involved. At the end of the day, their take home is 1/10th of the pot. This Niche owner's initial investment (whether that's buying in at the Founder level, or outbidding all others for the Niche(s) their passionate about)... it's in their best interest to facilitate that well. 

Niche owner's who are inactive, dormant, don't recruit, or who sit back and try and harvest that which they did not sow, will be resented by the community. Moderators (granted, these are initially chosen by the Niche owner) and content producers will have recourse for removing these Niche owners.

The spirit of the Narrative platform, of the building of a New Content Economy, is specifically counter-cultural to the whale mentality. 

That doesn't mean people won't try, but I think the developers are entering in to this space with eyes wide open and are endeavoring to structure the platform in a way so as to prevent the whales from running away with the ocean. 

I think if your heart is in it and you truly are passionate about your niche, you will be rewarded with a great community and quality content creators.
My wife has a reasonably popular instagram for vegan recipes and I am speaking with her about using her connections in that community to start a niche of our own that we could 'manage'.
I have a passion for basketball, gardening and nutrition and a good friend of mine is very knowledgeable in the automotive industry.
I'm really excited by this project (as you can probably tell), and am so glad I found it when I did!

I too am worried about the auction process but also understand it's necessity. I do wonder if there's some kind of incentive for the original idea, if the person with the original idea doesn't end up securing the niche????

EDIT: Is there a possibility of adding a "sub-niche"? E.g. NBA main niche, NBA Draft would be a sub-niche?

I'm so happy to see the enthusiasm, and all of these details will continue coming into focus as we get closer to launch...great conversations...

RE: incentive for original idea, Ted's blog post said this:

your reputation will be enhanced if you suggest a good niche, even if you someone else winds up owning it.

And right now we're thinking that NBA is a different niche from NBA Draft from NBA Sneakers from High School Basketball...

Personally, I'm coveting the Vintage Handbags niche

Hey @Rosemary - how will localization factor in to Niche ownership and/or differentiation?

In other words, if I own the Niche "sock puppet"... is that an English-Niche or is it universal? I'm assuming that for each language, there will be a "duplicate" or "localized" owner...?

Yes, we're envisioning that the first platform will be English-only, and then we'll spin out language-specific versions over time, which will have their own Niches and Niche owners, etc.

I would think that as new languages are rolled out, there might also be opportunity for those platforms to have their own "Founders" as well? 

It would be cool, if I was Thai, to see the platform come to my language... and have an opportunity to become a Founder of the Thai Narrative community... maybe a Locals Only open-enrollment period for the week leading up to the launch of that version?... 

Update:
There are clearly people currently investing that are not going to be, primarily, English platform influencers... Lots of people from Russia, India, et al, that can fortuitously afford to become Founders now, but might not really be able to contribute to the growth of the platform/community while it's in English. And, presumably, there are a lot of other-language speakers that could become Founders and really drive local adoption, but aren't aware of the current opportunity... just some thoughts...

Two weeks for founders to bid/buy niches? Seems like the little guy gets cutout again. What happend to 48hrs?

Speaking of niches, do you already have a pool of mods that niche owners can pick from? How exactly does one become a moderator? Can I be a niche owner AND a moderator (not for the same niche but for 2 different niches)?

Narrative will support a Moderator Pool where owners can find people who want to be moderators (or already are moderators on other niches). 

You become a moderator by being nominated by a niche owner and then being elected by the community. 

If you are a niche owner, you cannot moderator your own niche, but you can certainly moderate someone else's.

mrgoodsett posted:

Two weeks for founders to bid/buy niches? Seems like the little guy gets cutout again. What happend to 48hrs?

There's a limit on the number of niches any one person can own or bid on, so there should be plenty of niche opportunities for everyone.

Bryan posted:

I would think that as new languages are rolled out, there might also be opportunity for those platforms to have their own "Founders" as well? 

It would be cool, if I was Thai, to see the platform come to my language... and have an opportunity to become a Founder of the Thai Narrative community... maybe a Locals Only open-enrollment period for the week leading up to the launch of that version?... 

Update:
There are clearly people currently investing that are not going to be, primarily, English platform influencers... Lots of people from Russia, India, et al, that can fortuitously afford to become Founders now, but might not really be able to contribute to the growth of the platform/community while it's in English. And, presumably, there are a lot of other-language speakers that could become Founders and really drive local adoption, but aren't aware of the current opportunity... just some thoughts...

 

Yes, it's TBD about how/whether we would support some kind of Founder status for new languages that roll out.  That said, our goal is to offer even more opportunities and rewards for all of our Founders in the future.  I can say pretty confidently that the list of benefits of being a Founder will only grow over time.  We want to really recognize those of you that took the plunge early with Narrative.

Ryan posted:

I think if your heart is in it and you truly are passionate about your niche, you will be rewarded with a great community and quality content creators.
My wife has a reasonably popular instagram for vegan recipes and I am speaking with her about using her connections in that community to start a niche of our own that we could 'manage'.
I have a passion for basketball, gardening and nutrition and a good friend of mine is very knowledgeable in the automotive industry.
I'm really excited by this project (as you can probably tell), and am so glad I found it when I did!

I too am worried about the auction process but also understand it's necessity. I do wonder if there's some kind of incentive for the original idea, if the person with the original idea doesn't end up securing the niche????

EDIT: Is there a possibility of adding a "sub-niche"? E.g. NBA main niche, NBA Draft would be a sub-niche?

We are not planning to support the concept of a sub-niche at this time.  NBA and NBA Draft could be two different niches, but of equal value/placement.

Regarding providing incentives to people who suggest niches... all I can say is that the way things work in Chaucer are not the way things will work longer term. Lots of little and not so little improvements will be added and one of them is the suggestion process (and there is a kind of reward for suggesters coming in the future).  Stay tuned!

Ted posted:

mrgoodsett posted:

Two weeks for founders to bid/buy niches? Seems like the little guy gets cutout again. What happend to 48hrs?

There's a limit on the number of niches any one person can own or bid on, so there should be plenty of niche opportunities for everyone.

I know we're limited to 5 as founders. But is that limit just for the initial roll out or is 5 the hard limit? Asked another way, after year one, if a niche owner wants to sell his/her niche, can a founder with 5 niches potentially scoop it up?

Great posts would be great to hear a few founders post too and love to know how many founders there are ??

Could anyone have a guess at how much the average niche will sell for (I know its a wild guess) but if its goes above my investment when live that then im stuck. : (

Hey Harj,

It says 84 founders have joined the community, but there may be other founders who have not yet joined...

So overall, kudos for devising a system that addresses this vast undertaking of creating niches.  Lots of considerations, and probably impossible to make the process completely fair.

However I am hoping there is a way to do more for those who propose niches but do not have the funds to compete with big NRVE holders when it comes to bidding for the niches they proposed.  If we don't, we'll have failed to address a blatantly unfair situation.  To ignore this flaw, is to start the New Content Economy by saying: the poor can offer up their good ideas for the wealthy to profit from.  I doubt that's the ideal any of us want to push here?

Would there be a way of making the bidding process only apply to niches that more than one person has independently proposed?  If you make the first round of niche suggestions happen through private submissions to the Narrative Team, this would allow the Team to sift through and determine which niches have more than one person who wants to own them.

The niches who are not under contention could become purchasable for $75 by the person who proposed it, straight up, no bidding.  If the original proposer decides not to purchase it, it could then be opened up to bidding to everyone else?

The niches that are under contention with more than one person having proposed them in the first round, could then be put up for bidding, accessible to those who suggested the niche.

While still imperfect, this feels much more fair.  At least the unique niches that only one person suggested would not suddenly be exposed to being snatched up by those with more funds?

What do you all think?

Malkazoid posted:

So overall, kudos for devising a system that addresses this vast undertaking of creating niches.  Lots of considerations, and probably impossible to make the process completely fair.

However I am hoping there is a way to do more for those who propose niches but do not have the funds to compete with big NRVE holders when it comes to bidding for the niches they proposed.  If we don't, we'll have failed to address a blatantly unfair situation.  To ignore this flaw, is to start the New Content Economy by saying: the poor can offer up their good ideas for the wealthy to profit from.  I doubt that's the ideal any of us want to push here?

Would there be a way of making the bidding process only apply to niches that more than one person has independently proposed?  If you make the first round of niche suggestions happen through private submissions to the Narrative Team, this would allow the Team to sift through and determine which niches have more than one person who wants to own them.

The niches who are not under contention could become purchasable for $75 by the person who proposed it, straight up, no bidding.  If the original proposer decides not to purchase it, it could then be opened up to bidding to everyone else?

The niches that are under contention with more than one person having proposed them in the first round, could then be put up for bidding, accessible to those who suggested the niche.

While still imperfect, this feels much more fair.  At least the unique niches that only one person suggested would not suddenly be exposed to being snatched up by those with more funds?

What do you all think?

 

I was hoping for something along these lines as well. I actually wouldn't even be opposed to changing the "Buy-It-Now" price of my suggested Niche (that no one else suggested) to $100-$150). So it's a similar auction-type idea like what eBay has where if there's demand, we start the bidding process at $75 and if you're the sole person to suggest a niche, you get to "Buy-It Now" at a slight premium.

Hi guys

I dont think firstly there is never a  perfect system but I think Ted has found an approach which is fair for all and puts incentives in the right place, im not a founder and I think there will be plenty of opportunity for us. Im not saying its going to be plain sailing!. but we all want the best for Narrative and for its community. And when we look back over this year we will have many stories to tell!! : )

Harj x

First bidding for Niche will be just guessing and I am sure that there will be some over payed Niches. After one year of using Narrative, next year bidding will be better in my opinion. I will bid for NBA, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin at start and we will see if I'm going to win some Niche... 

I expect you’re right Cicbar - after a year, there will be some sort of rhythm already, and the niche values will be manifest.  That’s part of our usefulness as early adopters - to weather and assist the tougher stages, until some of the kinks are worked out!

cicbar posted:

First bidding for Niche will be just guessing and I am sure that there will be some over payed Niches. After one year of using Narrative, next year bidding will be better in my opinion. I will bid for NBA, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin at start and we will see if I'm going to win some Niche... 

Dang were gunning for the same ones. RIP my wallet

Dias Flac posted:

cicbar posted:

First bidding for Niche will be just guessing and I am sure that there will be some over payed Niches. After one year of using Narrative, next year bidding will be better in my opinion. I will bid for NBA, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin at start and we will see if I'm going to win some Niche... 

Dang were gunning for the same ones. RIP my wallet

There can be only one 😁😁😁

cicbar posted:

Dias Flac posted:

cicbar posted:

First bidding for Niche will be just guessing and I am sure that there will be some over payed Niches. After one year of using Narrative, next year bidding will be better in my opinion. I will bid for NBA, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin at start and we will see if I'm going to win some Niche... 

Dang were gunning for the same ones. RIP my wallet

There can be only one 😁😁😁

I can reassure you guys I won’t be bidding on any of those!

Bryan posted:

I'm a Philosophical (as opposed to Financial or Unicorn) Investor*. I wish I was both, but the value of my investment in NRV just doesn't get me to Founder status or beyond. However, I am here because I fully support the vision of the New Content Economy. I'm not even sure if I'll ever withdraw the $$ I've invested.

And that is why the topic of Niches, Moderators, and Narrator/Content Producers is very interesting to me. Ted O'Neill says a few things that I want to highlight or clarify — as I understand things.

Niches are always public- all content is world-accessible- and each has an “owner”, someone who controls the niche.

I've underlined the word "controls" because I think this word freaks out some of the more democratic-minded perspectives on what this community is intended to be. I read that same sentence with the word manages in place of "controls" and it lands much softer, and possibly more accurate?

Because there is a limit on the number of niches each member can own and/or bid on, each member will need to focus on only the niches they have the most interest in.

I think the last part is very important to stress: personal interest is critical for buy-in, for accountability, for motivation, for quality, for longevity. I was talking with my daughter about delayed gratification and I think this is also an essential aspect of investing for the right reasons. There might be some rewards for the quick-flip... but, if you can resist eating the cookie NOW, you might get TWO later... especially if you help bake them! 

Note that each member may only own or bid on a maximum of 5 niches.

Question: Does this limit also apply to Founders? Just curious. 

Once a Niche is [suggested > approved > purchased], 

These owners must also nominate moderators for their niches.

This brings up something that @Rosemary discussed in another post that I think will earn a lot more attention after the Token Sale / ICO concludes successfully. Namely, how the heck do we recruit people to the community?

Whereas early-adopters need the least convincing, bloggers who have spent years building their content/audience on platform X is going to require some convincing. We need really great importing tools AND we need a Recruiters Toolkit.

Back in the early 90s, my friend and I had a killer business plan and internet platform set to disrupt the Yellow Pages and the Construction Industry. But it failed miserably. Why? Because we spent all our time trying to explain and evangelize the internet and never even got to explaining our service. 25 years later, here we are... everyone has a website. No one needs convincing that having at least some presence on the internet is essential to most businesses.

So, here we are on the crest of the newness of crypto-currencies and flipping social platforming on its head. Speculation is high. Trust is low. And we're asking people to participate anyway. We need to consider the full spectrum of obstacles and solutions, and provide Niche owners with a robust set of tools to help them reach out and recruit moderators AND narrators/content producers. 

 

*See Thinking ROI, or, Investor Unicorns

Good points and well stated Bryan - as a community we need to develop/implement a clear engagement toolkit based on the core principles of the Narrative vision. We at "TeamEFFORT" will be working on a set of "moderation" activities - will share a WBS "List of tasks" later in the month or in April when we meet to address, our first task is Niche related activities (Identify - Niche functions - operational management, etc..) but the Comms strategy and ultimately the moderation functions will follow. Make ready for the future... exciting times.