Crypto Crow's SoBloks.com - Social Media Platform on Cardano

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Jason Appleton

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Entity (Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Requested funds in ada

550000

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

12

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language.

No

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

SoBloks offers an integrated solution with features like posts & long form content, full wallet support, BLOK token rewards, content gating based on NFT holdings, and robust community tools.

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

Yes

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

Currently we depend on our hosting provider - Vultr - and various Saas services.

We host our load balancer, cdn, api, database, and caching servers on Vultr. These are all configured to be 'good enough', good on costs, and easily scalable if we find we need it.

Saas services we use for internals of the business (like email boxes) as well as 3rd party apis.

• Mailjet (email api delivery)
• Namecheap
• Pivotal Tracker
• Cloudinary
• Pinata
• Cryptocompare.com
• JetBrains

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

No

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

Currently we are still developing our system and protocols and at this point we do not have anything to open source. However, our goal in the future is to move relevant parts and protocols of the system over to smart contracts which we will publish as open source.

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution.

SoBloks provides an alternative to big tech social media. From the beginning we have planned to tightly integrate - or even build on top of - the Cardano blockchain. Our focus is not on policing content (even though we have tools that are user driven/bottom up) but instead on incentivizing content creators with rewards.

Our native token - BLOK - is given for actions such as creating posts, comments, and long form articles. In addition, other creators and users can elect to Boost (send) BLOK to anyone for any reason. We are trying to shake up the model of "the user is the product" and instead focus on the content and its creators.

In addition to the token rewards, we have integrated with the top web wallets and provide gating (access) features for various parts of the site, particularly groups. Group creators can restrict group membership, if they choose, to either specific users or those that hold specific NFT(s) in their wallet. This feature could be useful for, say, game developers that would like to incentivize NFT ownership related to a game they develop and provide group access as a perk or bonus.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community.

Visibility is everything and SoBloks will demonstrate its impact, we think, by growing the user base. We think we have enough compelling features, with more on the way, that will continue to appeal to those that want to earn rewards for their content and those that want to engage in more crypto related content.

The model for social media, until recently, has been to make the user the product. Big tech companies make billions selling user data, ad revenue, and other streams. Currently X (Twitter) is the leader in this space and we're just seeing them take more of this approach where users can directly monetize the platform better. We intend to be many steps ahead of them with our Cardano integration and we think this will appeal to crypto enthusiasts.

We really think not monetizing user data and instead providing alternative sources of revenue for content creation (X seems to be proving this) is the way to go. As we grow our user base, we believe everyone (creators and company) can share in the rewards and legitimate monetization practices.

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

SoBloks has been under development for a little over a year. We are a small team that has put our focus into building thoughtfully, with a manageable cadence, for the long term. We completely believe small teams can build big things (see Instagram).

Our founders have years of social media, promotion, and start up experience under their belts. In some cases they have used the tools (and found them lacking) that we are now building. We think we have a good grasp of the current social media landscape and where crypto, specifically Cardano, can take it.

Currently we broadcast all release information for SoBloks on our "What's New" section as well as Crypto Crow's social media channels. Our development progress is very public and already out in the open.

[Project Milestones] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Completion of our on-chain integration for purchasing our native utility token, BLOK.

Phase one of fully integrating BLOK into our system is being able to purchase BLOK tokens with ADA. Currently all BLOK is earned internally and we keep our own internal ledger of every transaction.

Allowing users to purchase BLOK provides an additional way for users to hold BLOK to Boost other users as well as paying for content subscriptions (see milestone 2).

This milestone work will entail all transaction integration with the Koios.rest blockchain api provider.

On a specific section in the SoBloks app, registered users will be provided with a form for the amount of BLOK they will purchase. We will always show the current BLOK price on that same form so the user will know what that price is (this information will never be hidden).

Once the amount has been entered and submitted, SoBloks will construct a transaction that should prompt the browser wallet for approval. Once approved, SoBloks will wait for the on-chain verification of the completed transaction and then credit the user the BLOK tokens.

We expect this milestone to be complete in 4 weeks.

Content subscriptions will allow paid access to creators long form Articles (much like Substack).

Creators will be paid automatically in BLOK as per the terms they set (primarily monthly, although we might introduce a per-item basis). SoBloks will take care of the payment schedule and will not take any percentage of fees earned. However, there will be a flat fee (that SoBloks can adjust at any time) to set up the subscription. The flat fee is done so as to provide incentive to those that are really looking to monetize their Articles and to try to cut down on any kind of 'spam'.

Since Articles are already deployed, this milestone will be achieved once the feature has been rolled out. Since this is an internal operating feature, we will be building the relevant ui, time based scheduled processes, and internal ledger adjustments. Like all our features, it will be announced on our social channels as well as the SoBloks What's New section.

We expect this milestone to be complete in 4 weeks.

Phase one of our self-service Ad System.

As SoBloks traffic and engagement grows, we will be providing another avenue for those that are looking to reach a targeted crypto audience as well as content creators looking for ways (outside of subscriptions) to monetize their content.

The first phase of our self-service Ad System till focus on the advertisers. This will entail:

• Onboarding the advertisers and instructing them how to purchase BLOK and why.
• Building out the tools that allow advertisers to pick out the targeted areas of the site. These areas include:
• Posts & Comments
• Articles
• News
• Crypto prices and project information
• In addition to the targeted areas, we will also provide keyword targeting across all areas.
• Advertisers will be given visual examples of where their ad placement will be.
• Building out the analytics tools and metrics that will allow advertisers to gain insights on what campaigns work or don't. This can allow them to figure out what to change or adjust.
• We will also be providing a comprehensive list of topics and keywords that are not allowed on the system. This will mostly contain already illegal subject matter as well as things like porn and other topics our internal AI flags as inappropriate. We intend not to be heavy handed with this and want to be as freedom oriented and light touch as possible.

The above requirements will allow us to build out all the core parts needed to facilitate the setting up of the campaigns and what will be needed to measure them. We will release this as a preview beta where prospective advertisers (and to be clear, any registered user can be an advertiser) can offer feedback.

The beta preview will have all the parts working up to running the actual campaign. Due to its size, we will complete the rest of the system in Milestone 4. Once this beta preview is ready, it will be announced on the social channels as well as the SoBlok's What's New section.

We expect this milestone to be complete in 10 weeks.

Phase two of our self-service Ad System.

Phase two will consist of the following areas of focus:

• Content creators tools for monetization
• Ad placement and display across categories, key words, sections
• Accounting and payouts for creators

Content creators will be given tools to allow them to monetize posts, articles, and groups. For each section they will be shown the actual placement on the screen of where the ads will be in relation to their content. They will be allowed to opt into each of these areas. These areas include:

• Posts
• Articles
• Group landing page
• Group discussion pages

In addition to monetization placement, they will be given tools that will allow them to analyze performance. This will include any key words and topics that the advertiser was using for targeting. Along with these analytics, the creator will see what the monetization has been for each section. The creator will also see view metrics as well to give them a better understanding how many users have been engaging with their content. Using these combined metrics, If the creator chooses, they can refine their content based on engagement to possibly boost ad revenue.

In addition to the engagement and ad metrics, creators will be given another section/page that will show them detailed accounting for all their payouts. We currently already track detailed internal ledger activities for all BLOK events through the system. This will be extended to include payouts for ad revenue and creators will be able to track these ongoing for daily, weekly, and monthly intervals.

Once the above has been completed, the ad system will be rolled out in final beta. This will allow for advertisers to run full campaigns and creators to opt-in monetize their content sections. We will solicit any feedback for a few weeks before removing the beta label. At this point, all social channels will be notified as well as an update on the What's New section. We are hoping that this will garner some interest - via the social channels - and a wider crypto audience will be willing to give it a try, further helping us bullet proof the beta.

Once the beta tag has been removed, the feature will be considered complete and again, we will notify via all our social channels and on our What's New section.

We expect this milestone to be complete in 10 weeks.

Phase one NFT creation system.

Because SoBloks was built from the beginning to integrate with web wallets and NFTs, we have always envisioned having a part of the site that provides a simple way for any registered user to create their own NFT(s).

We launched a proof of concept (separate site) on the web in 2021 shortly after the Mary era was launched. With this we gained valuable information on how an NFT creation service should be built.

With this part of SoBloks we intend the following features:

• Create a policy and one off NFT
• Create a policy with multiple NFTs
• This will allow for JSON file bulk upload along with all relevant metadata
• Ability to include images for the bulk upload
• Ability to mint your NFTs with the CIP0027 royalty data
• Collection display (opt-in) on profile page
• User takes immediate custody into their wallet

While there are already other NFT creation sites out there, we think, especially after building one, that there are advantages to having this functionality in-app. Along with having a one-stop-shop approach, there are ways that creators can leverage their NFT creation into broadcasts via posts as well as displaying any created collections on their profile page. Either of these will allow creators a vehicle or voice to let others know what they've created and possibly, why.

For Phase one we will be working on the following:

• Creating one off and simple NFT
• This is comprised of a single image upload, metadata associated with the one nft
• Displaying the NFT on their profile page
• All the code for payment and minting
• Image data pinned to our own IPFS server
• Immediate wallet custody
• Sharing the creation to a Post

We expect this milestone to be complete in 12 weeks.

The final milestone will be the Phase two of our NFT creation system.

Phase two will consist of the following areas of focus:

• Bulk creation of NFTs along with bulk image and metadata upload
• CIP0027 royalty spec implementation
• Updating creator profile to render collections

In our final Phase we will be completing the rest of the NFT creation system. In the previous milestone we provided the basic infrastructure and features to allow a creator to mint their own NFT and then share it in a Post (if they desire). We know this is a limitation in regards as most would want to create a collection, but the collection process takes much more time to build and we want to make sure we iterate in a smart manner.

Bulk creation of NFTs will require us to provide additional features. These include:

• A ui and process to specify the proper JSON file format (with documentation) and accept, and check for any possible malformed data.
• As part of this process, we will need to have a way to be able to bulk upload images, add them to the SoBloks IPFS node, and then add those resource links to the bulk JSON data.
• Adding in the code and process for the CIP0027 royalty spec. We have done this before and know how it works.

Bulk NFT creation will require a modest fee which will be calculated and displayed to the user before the image upload is completed. The royalty addition will be provided for free.

We expect this milestone to be completed in 12 weeks.

When completed there will be a complete video walkthrough of all the features on Crypto Crow's YouTube channel.

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Jason Appleton (Crypto Crow)

Co-Founder / CEO

Appleton has been a supporter of Cardano since 2017 and grew his popularity on Youtube due to his no nonsense approach to educating viewers on his journey. Previously the VP of a national mortgage company and prior to that a Pro/Am MMA Fight Promoter and Vanity Record Label owner. Appleton has a strong sales and marketing background and is extremely passionate about blockchain decentralization, empowering people to express their freedoms online without censorship and maintaining a record of the best of everything forever on the blockchain through community consensus.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonappleton/

Jason Lee

Co-Founder / CTO

Jason has led all the feature and project planning for the SoBloks site and technology. This includes all the infrastructure planning and deployment, all the api backend design and implementation, all the front end design and implementation.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-lee-49601a155/

Richard Gartner

Development

Richard provides development and support for all the api, search, and ops infrastructure. This includes implementation and monitoring of our Nodejs, Postgres and Redis clusters.

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

Since none of us are contract work, we do no price out any of the labor costs for hourly work.

Our server costs are consistently $300/mo. We have built this infrastructure so that we can quickly horizontally scale our api. Our database and caching layers are using the db appliance approach on our provider with one-click resizing and no down time. In front of all of that, we are utilizing our provider's load balancer service, which we can again scale up with the click of a button. This is all mentioned because we have set the foundation to scale and we have included in the budget an additional $4000 to potentially double our infrastructure if needed.

Costs are broken down by year.

Infrastructure hosting: $3600 (potential infrastructure doubling to $8000)

• Vultr

SaaS Services: $1500

• Mailjet (email api delivery)
• Namecheap (email boxes, domain & SSL)
• Pivotal Tracker
• Cloudinary
• Pinata (removing Q1 '24 - IPFS pinning)
• Cryptocompare.com (api for crytpo info, news feeds, rates)

Software Licenses: $1000

• JetBrains

Developer 1, Jason Lee: $136,000

Developer 2, Richard Gartner: $62,500.

Outside of these - infrastructure, software, and development - we have no other substantial costs. Crypto Crow (for now) handles all the marketing and outreach through all his social media channels. Jason handles all support via email and Telegram channel.

[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

We think we are keeping costs below market rate.

CryptoCrow does not (yet) take a salary and uses all his social media channels - Youtube, X, Facebook, and others - to handle all aspects of marketing and evangelism. We are not including this in the funds proposal.

Jason is full time, Richard is part time. They are both located in California and combined with their experiences can fetch anywhere from $160k/yr to $200k/yr USD each. If we were to secure the funds today (550k ADA @ $0.38 USD) that would give us around $209k.

Currently our infrastructure costs us $300/mo or $3600/yr USD. We will be using approximately $8k ($3.6k existing + $3.6k expansion) of that on infrastructure (to expand) going through 2024, which would leave us with $200k. This will then give us approximately $136k and $62k for development salaries for the year. Both of these are below market rate in the area for the expertise they yield.

We are ok with this as we expect to recoup this back later over the longer term operation. We are currently self-funding hosting and our development costs are sweat equity.We are looking for this additional funding to build out the next big set of features we think will start generating revenue.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agrees to Fund Rules and also that data in the submission form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.

I Accept