Melanie
The Monday Morning Marketing podcast is brought to you by Esther of IPA Group. Bringing premier online promotion to your business.
Esther
And Melanie of STOMP Social Media Training, who empowers business owners to manage social media and marketing for themselves. Welcome back to another episode of The Monday Morning Marketing Podcast. Today, well, I'm on my own, but I'm not... I mean, Melanie is not here. I'm not technically on my own, but I am joined by Joeri Billast, a Web 3 CMO, podcast host, mastermind host, and author based in Belgium, but with an audience worldwide, especially coming onto our podcast here, even bigger audience now. Welcome, Joeri. How are you?
Joeri
Hello, Esther. I'm doing well. It's a sunny day in Belgium, and I guess also where you are located. When I can come as a guest of a podcast, I'm always excited.
Esther
Yes, we do love our podcasting, don't we? We are here today to talk about Web 3, right? This is a topic that a lot of people have asked us to cover, and it has taken us so long to find somebody that knows a lot about Web 3. This is why you're on today, Joeri, to tell us and our audience all about Web 3. Let's start with what was Web 1 and Web 2?
Joeri
That's a great question. That's always actually how I explain Web 3 by comparing it to Web 1 and Web 2. Now, Web 1 was back in the time when the Internet was new. What were we doing on the Internet? We were only consuming content on the Internet, reading articles, searching stuff. At that moment, it was one direction. Then Web 2 came, and then the most obvious examples are the social media like Facebook. Instead of just reading, consuming content, we were also putting content on the Internet. We were writing blogs, putting comments on social media, and so on. There is a two-way direction. Now the problem with Web 2 is, and that now we are realising this more than ever, that we don't own our data. It's those big centralised, big tech companies like Facebook that own our data. That's actually now we are that's a problem because we are seeing these ads all the time. As an entrepreneur, if you have a Facebook page, Facebook can decide that they delete your page for one day on the other, and then you are left with the problem, of course. And also they can sell your data. We are realising that today. The promise of Web 3 is that you own your data, that it is decentralised. That's, in a nutshell, the difference between Web 1, Web 2, and Web 3.
Esther
Okay, so that word decentralised can cause a bit of anxiety for some people. They feel that it's an anarchist term. They're talking about decentralising currency or decentralised seems like you're going against the grain.
Joeri
Yeah. Actually, it's never black, white either, because I think that the ideal world is like we are now at least more like a Web 2.5, where you have a good picture of centralised and decentralised. But centralised, yeah, if you don't own your data, it can be a problem. Decentralised, of course, on the other side, people can feel a little bit uncomfortable because if you have cryptos on the blockchain or you have stuff on the blockchain, it's transparent, it's secure, everyone can see this, but it's decentralised. It's not like if you have a problem with your bank, you can call your bank and ask, Can you look, there is a problem with, and you have someone to talk to. Now the blockchain doesn't have someone to talk to because you own, you are responsible for your own data. That can be a bit awkward for people. Therefore, that's also what I'm trying to do and others in the space is to teach people, to help people, to educate people how they can use the blockchain, how they can use Web3 for their own benefits. My goal is to help entrepreneurs to have a safe space to learn how they can use it for their business and for themselves. But indeed, yeah, it's a difficult world and worth, I would say, and... Yeah, maybe we should more focus on what the advantages and not just on the worth itself, because some terms can be very technical.
Esther
Speaking of technical words, blockchain, is that synonymous with Web3? Or is it in there with Web3, but not exactly the same? What are we talking when we say blockchain?
Joeri
Yeah. My definition for Web3 first is that it's an umbrella term for a lot of concepts like blockchain, like NFTs, like metaverse, like crypto. Now the blockchain, to explain that, let's make it just easy. It's a chain of blocks, actually. That's what it is. It's a chain of blocks that you cannot change. Imagine that you write something on paper, but you cannot delete the paper anymore. You cannot delete ink anymore because it's there forever. That's what a blockchain is. It's like a stamp that you put somewhere, but the stamp is there forever. That makes people feel like that it's secure, it's transparent, because everyone can see what is happening on the blockchain. So in the future-.
Esther
But nobody can change it.
Joeri
Nobody can change it. Imagine in the future, like ownership certificates, for instance for a building or for a house, can be on the blockchain instead of having it on paper because you cannot change it.
Esther
Okay, so in that way, it is better because there's no hacking, less hacking. Where are we in terms of people breaking in to steal your cryptos, to add blocks onto your blockchain that you don't want to be there?
Joeri
Yeah so actually, as I said, it's transparent, it's secure, so people cannot change it once it is on the blockchain. But in terms of crypto, you hear also about scams that people lose their crypto or they buy not the right coins. The world has not changed in Web3. There are scams in the Web2 world. There is fraud. There is also how many emails or SMSes that you get these days with. If you click on the wrong link, people can steal your money. Well, it is the same in Web3. You just need to keep think of what am I clicking on? Is it trustworthy? And so on. You need to have the same, I would say, reflects in the Web3 world as in the Web2 world, so with coins and so on. It's also with an access, of course. You have an access to your coins like you have an access to your bank account, only it's a bit in a different way. In the Web3 world, you have also, I will call it a wallet address, which is actually your login and you have a password, but you also have a seed phrase, which is more like a way to recover your account. Those things you need to keep for yourself. You need to keep for yourself. You should not share it to keep them safe. But the thing is, like I said, if you lose your password in the centralised world, there is probably a way to recover your password. You don't have this in the real Web3 world.
Esther
Okay, so going back to what you were saying, you are responsible for everything in Web3. Does that also mean that you have to find your own hosting for what you're putting on Web3? Do you need to have servers? What do you need to have? What is the basic equipment or software, hardware that you need to set up on Web3.
Joeri
Yeah. Compare it a bit with the Internet. Let me just say you need a wallet. It all starts with a wallet address. Compare this to the Web2 world where you have a website with your own domain name. For instance, mine is Web3. Net. Actually, this is not really the address itself. The address itself of your website is an IP address. But what you give to people is not that complex IP address. You give the domain name. Same thing in Web3, you have a wallet address, which is rather complex, but there exists a notion like a Web3 domain name like ifcmostories.edjoeri.nft, which is something that is advisable to have that so that you can give that to someone, and if they want to connect with you, they want to send you some crypto, or you want to connect to a site, and then we come to the answer of your question, the wallet address allows you to connect to this decentralised website, if you can call them like that. You use your wallet address to log in to a website like that, instead of your login and your username. In the world today, we use Facebook, we use LinkedIn, we use other sources to log in on those sites itself, but also to log in on other websites. Now in the Web 3 world, you will log in everywhere with your wallet address. It will connect with your wallet address. You need a wallet address, you need a wallet and you need a software, if you can call it like that, or a hardware wallet. You need a way to connect with these sites. I use Metamask, which is a plugin on your browser. To make it not too complex, I hope, that you connect in your wallet address. I use my usual. NFT to log in to connect with my Metamask to a decentralised site. Today, some examples are like OpenSea, for instance, which is an eBay, but then for NFTs where you can... I need to connect with this eBay with my wallet address, and that is a way to where you can, for instance, do transactions. I have my own NFTs on uncut. Network, which is also a website that I'm using to do stuff with. I can build my own decentralised website if I want to, but it's not so... People cannot find it like that. It's not so easy to find it. You need to use the Brave browser and you need to know how to go there. But all of these things Esther, are changing the world with Web3 is changing so fast.
Esther
Yeah. I'm not going to date myself here, but I remember when everyone started getting Internet in their houses. That was not that long ago, guys. Web2 then came along, was it 15, less than 20 years ago? So Web3 is just building on that. But do you think that it's building on it faster and growing faster than Web2 grew?
Joeri
I think I see a lot of things happening, so more smaller companies that are growing again. I don't know if there will be soon a new Facebook like we had in Web2 because all are different initiatives. People are building stuff, so I see that. There is a lot of things happening. But at this moment, we call it a bit the bear market for crypto. This also has an impact on, I would say, the general opinion or the general vision that people have on Web3. For those companies, it's more difficult to get budget to get investors at the moment, but that will change, and then we will see again a bigger growth. I see that there is a lot of evolution coming in the beginning years of Web 1 and Web 2. We also saw that. I think maybe it goes even faster today because we also have something like AI, as you know, which is helping also these technological evolutions to to go faster. Yes, I think it's faster, but it goes with the Gartner hype curve. You see this hype, and then I see a lot of things happening in the next 12 months already when I would say people will be more optimistic about Web 3 when the bear market of crypto will be over.
Esther
Yeah, okay. So how can Web3 be applied by small business owners?
Joeri
Yeah, that's also a question I love to answer. We always said that Web 3, it's an NFT or crypto, it's on the blockchain, it cannot be changed. But imagine, let's use some simpler terms. An NFT, probably you heard the term already. Instead of using the word NFT, we can call it a collectible or a membership card, for instance, but not a membership card that people have on paper, but they have on the blockchain. Imagine if you have a small fitness centre that instead of putting the membership card as paper, putting it on the blockchain, imagine that you have a shoe store instead of having people saving loyalty points, putting them on a card, putting them with an NFT like a system. And then the beautiful thing with NFTs is with those membership cards, then people can sell it or give it to other people, they can transfer it. Or you could decide, Okay, the first 10, 20, 100 people that became a member, I will do something special for them and I will give them something else. You can do this easily because everything is on the blockchain.
Esther
It's interesting because, well, I'm sure all our listeners have heard of NFTs, but I associate them with art and monkeys in particular. If you know, you know. But to know now that you can use it for so many different things, I'm just thinking in my own head, how many membership cards or club cards or cards to go to the supermarket and the coffee shop and everything else that I have on my Apple Pay wallet or on your Google wallet or physically in your physical wallet and you're carrying around 20 cards, how much easier it would be just to have this decentralised wallet. I presume you can have it on your phone, on your watch.
Joeri
Yeah, it will be like before you go to a concert, for instance, or to an event where they just scan your wallet to see, do you have this NFT in your wallet and do you get in? That's the beautiful thing with NFTs. Of course, there was the hype with art, so people were buying like monkeys and so on. Then everyone was just buying NFTs because it was the hype. Now I will look at it from a standard of utility, the benefits that you get. For instance, I have an NFT for Joe Polizis event in Cleveland. It's every year. I bought one time an NFT, and now he doesn't sell them anymore, but I can go every year now. They let me in because I have the NFT, and there were only a limited number of NFTs available, so it is worth the access to go to an event and Joe can now decide to give more benefits to people holding their NFTs. That's for me, it's the utility, it's the benefits that you get. And if the art looks beautiful, it's nice because people like us to show off with their wallet what NFTs do they have in their wallet.
Esther
Where can you show those off?
Joeri
Yeah, you can just browse. Most are visible on OpenSea. If you have yourself a few NFTs, you can log in to OpenSea, and then you will see that some of the NFTs are already publicly visible, others will be hidden. Then you will need to decide that you want to show them to others, or that you want to hide them. But this is just, I will call it the website, the other that I'm using, uncut.network will also show these NFTs. It will just browse the blockchain and show what is on the blockchain, and then you can decide what to show and what not to show on those sites.
Esther
It does come down to owning your own information that you have there. Like you said, you have a wallet, you have a password, but if you forget that password, then it's lights out?
Joeri
No, you have the seed. You have always the seed phrase too. Therefore, yeah.
Esther
It's like a two-factor authentication in a way.
Joeri
No, it's more like... Yeah, that's also an option that I have, for instance, when I am logging into my Web3 domain names, which is on Unstoppable, I have an extra layer of security where I have a code like the two-factor authentication that's on top of what I'm already using. But the seed phrase is more like a backup. If you forget your password or if you want to, we talked about your mobile phone, you have your wallet on your computer, but you also want it to have on your phone, then you can use the seed phrase to also install it on your phone. But the thing with those, you have different kinds of wallets. It's also interesting for people to understand. You have a hot wallet and you then have a warm wallet and you have a cold wallet. The biggest difference is that with a warm wallet, you don't need to bother about seed phrase and so on, but you don't really own it. It's like, for instance, if you are on binance.com, you have some crypto, you have a login and a password. It's really easy. It's a website, but it's also easier to hack. It's to make a mistake there, but it's more user-friendly. And then you have the other solution on the other side, which is a cold wallet, which is a hardware device where you have your crypto on a hardware device and people cannot get to because they need a hardware device. But yeah, you can lose the hardware device, of course, so you need to be... That's the two sides of the story, I would say. Do you want to have it easy access, or do you want to have it safe? I think it's good to have a mix of those wallets. If you have coins that you want to keep, you put them on a cold wallet. If there are accesses that you want, like I want to access to some websites, I want to have it in my Metamask as a plug in on my browser. Just spread a bit in function of what you want to use the wallet for.
Esther
Does Web 3 take up more memory or more space on your hard drive and on your computer to run? Or is it another two?
Joeri
I don't have the feeling that Web3 on itself doesn't take like these wallets don't take so much space. It's lightweight. But another concept in Web3 are these virtual worlds, which is the metaverse. You can use a wallet to access the metaverse. You can also use a login. I have my penthouse on the metaverse, which you can find online.
Esther
Excuse me.
Joeri
Actually, yeah, it's like a website, but that's a virtual world that you can access. Because of your question, does it take some of those virtual worlds, of course, take more time to load because it's a virtual world. That really depends on the setup of these worlds. But with my computer, I don't have any issues. To add to that, you can use your computer, but you can also use a VR headset, which is built to access those virtual worlds.
Esther
Okay. Well, I'm sure we could go into the metaverse technically speaking, not physically. But I think that we could go on forever. We could talk about this for a long, long time. How can people learn more about Web3?
Joeri
Well, how I did it was, as you know, I have my own podcast like you have. In the beginning, it was called the CMO Stories Podcast, and I call it the Web3 CMO Stories Podcast because I was inviting guests from that space on my show. Now, not all your listeners have their own podcasts, but a good alternative is to listen to podcasts, like people listen to your podcast to learn. They can also listen to a podcast like mine, like the Web3 CMO Stories Podcast, which I invite people from different backgrounds with different stories around NFTs, around blockchain, around metaverse. So listen to podcast, that helps. Of course, also following a few influencers and a few people in the space on the social media that you like to use. That can be LinkedIn, can be Twitter, can be Instagram, can be something else, watching a few of those videos. Yeah, nothing helps more to learn than try something yourself. Try to get an NFT. Some NFTs are for free. Create a wallet, get an NFT for free, or invest a few pounds, euros, dollars in NFT, not too much, and see how everything is working, that can help. Then we already mentioned if people really want to know more about this, they can join a Mastermind like mine or contact me for a free call and I would be happy to see what's possible for them in the Web3 world.
Esther
Brilliant. And we will have your details at the bottom of the show notes, but do find Joeri online. And thank you so much for joining us today and for sharing all that wealth of information about Web 3, I hadn't a clue about most of it. I'm being honest to you guys. This is why we bring on these experts to tell us about the stuff that we don't know. So thank you again Joeri, for being with us. And we'll be back next week for Monday Morning Marketing. Until then, bye-bye.
Joeri
Bye-bye.
