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Ever since the Cambridge Analytica massacre opened our eyes to the perils of <keyword id="6354632" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="social-media">social media</keyword>, many have yearned to quit these platforms. We all have at least one friend that told us to #DeleteFacebook or delete <keyword id="6354616" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Twitter">Twitter</keyword>, Instagram and so on. But what if you were actually paid to be active on social media? No, this is not a story on influencer marketing. Rather, it's a story about a comparatively lesser-known platform, called <keyword id="3000705" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="VoxWeb">VoxWeb</keyword>. The Singapore-based company had earlier <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/this-social-network-wants-to-pay-you-for-sharing-your-data/articleshow/63762333.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">announced</a> a plan to pay its users for using their personal data. VoxWeb also promises its users never to serve targeted advertising. Now, the platform is shedding a little more light on how it plans to do so. The answer is in something that's as much of a buzzword today as social media itself - <keyword id="6357017" type="DEFINITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="cryptocurrency">cryptocurrency</keyword>. The platform, which is two million users strong at the moment, is going to announce its own cryptocurrency, called <keyword id="6580017" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="vollar">Vollar</keyword>. While Vollar is similar to any cryptocurrency out there, it differs in two important aspects. For one, the first 50 million adopters of Vollar can earn the currency simply by being active on VoxWeb, though there will be an upper limit. That essentially means your social behaviour acts as a miner for earning the currency. VoxWeb's Founder and CEO, Yash Mishra, says they might even consider increasing the number to 100 million users later. Second, Mishra says Vollar is different in how its currency/monetary policy has been formulated. The currency policy is how a crypto provider manages the volatility of his/her currency. Mishra says VoxWeb's policies can ensure that Vollar doesn't fluctuate as much as <keyword id="6354947" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="bitcoin">Bitcoin</keyword>, Ethereum, Ripple and other currencies do. Vollar will initially be part of the VoxWeb platform, where it will be used to "build e-commerce and fintech based revenue streams". However, it will eventually be sold on coin exchanges etc. So, users will one day be able to buy Vollar for cash or perhaps exchange other cryptocurrencies for Vollar. While Mishra doesn't explicitly say so, the move is obviously an effort at providing a hook. VoxWeb plans to disseminate the currency to 50 million early adopters. With two million users on the platform, that theoretically means all of VoxWeb's current users will have the chance to make some crypto cash. And more users might come onboard because they are essentially being paid for it. As a platform, VoxWeb is similar to Instagram. But instead of photos only, it lets you add a voice clip to the pictures. Being the creator of the currency, VoxWeb will create the <keyword id="6355684" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Blockchain">blockchain</keyword> it needs. And as crypto works, it will earn Vollar itself when transactions are done by users. If the coin's price appreciates in future, VoxWeb could be sitting on a goldmine of a revenue stream.

EXCLUSIVE: What if being active on social media could earn you cryptocurrency?

<ul><li><keyword id="3000705" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="VoxWeb">VoxWeb</keyword> has stopped tracking or storing <keyword id="645406" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="User-data">user data</keyword> from its platform.</li><li>The company says it has an alternate business model to maximise profits.</li><li>VoxWeb currently has a million MAUs per month.</li></ul> Who owns the data you share with social networks? Is that your data, or do they officially own it? Irrespective of the answers, the fact is that social networks use your data for their benefit. In other words, they leverage a global talent pool / free labor to generate value creation aka billions of dollars for them. Should the fact that you use them for free be enough for that transaction, though? <keyword id="1240619" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Yash-Mishra">Yash Mishra</keyword>, the CEO of VoxWeb thinks otherwise. The relatively unknown social network has decided to stop tracking user data on its platform. Mishra says that VoxWeb currently has turned off its trackers and will be adding a button in the app's settings soon, that allows users to choose whether the network tracks data. 
	
	
	
	
	<div type="image" title="VoxWeb 3" msid="63762511" hostid="261"></div>











 Paying people for their data VoxWeb will not track data by default, but if users do choose to share their data, the company will reward them. Mishra isn't saying how exactly the reward program will work but said that he might choose to pay them if they let VoxWeb track their patterns. Mishra says that if users share their data with the social network, that should earn them a stake in the company’s earnings. The concept seems similar to <keyword id="6434342" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="DataCoup">DataCoup</keyword>, <a href="http://time.com/money/3001361/datacoup-facebook-personal-data-privacy/">which wants to</a> give users $10 for using their personal data. Mishra spoke about social commerce models, using WeChat as an example. The company <a href="http://www.adageindia.in/digital/what-wechat-teaches-about-the-future-of-social-commerce/articleshow/55496967.cms">has made some headway</a> in China, by tying up with H&amp;M, Amazon and more, which use games etc. to direct users from WeChat to their own platforms. To be clear, VoxWeb will still get analytics data about its platform. However, user behaviour won't be tracked without the compensation. If you don't allow it, the social network will not know your interests and will not be able to serve targeted advertisements to you. According to Mishra, targeted advertising is just one way of doing business with social media. "It lets you maximise profit, but it's not the only way to be profitable," he said. Mishra's platform is just about two-years-old and he has another 18 months runway before he has to be profitable. He says the company has a new business model in mind that will help them maximise profits. Easier for VoxWeb than <keyword id="6354576" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="facebook">Facebook</keyword> Being a startup, VoxWeb doesn't have to worry about profitability just yet. And the company's business model wasn't based on profit maximising through user data in the first place. Hence, it's easier for VoxWeb to flip the button at this point. In fact, Mishra says the feature was in the works for a while, they fast-tracked the process in the wake of Facebook's <keyword id="3168816" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="cambridge-analytica">Cambridge Analytica</keyword> crisis. 
	
	
	
	<div type="image" title="VoxWeb 2" msid="63762518" hostid="261"></div>









 As a platform, VoxWeb is somewhat similar to <keyword id="819905" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Instagram">Instagram</keyword>. It lets users post photos with a voice note attached to it. "Speaking images" is what differentiates VoxWeb from Instagram, Snapchat and others. And Mishra says his teams have feature additions planned for the next seven quarters, in case others decide to copy his idea. Additionally, VoxWeb has only about a million monthly active users (MAU) right now, a number that is tiny compared to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram's MAUs. It wasn't serving ads on the platform either, so most of the data tracking would be used for improving the social network itself. VoxWeb's feed algorithms don't need this data either. Social media news feed depend on first and second degree networks, which means you, your friends and your friend's friends. Algorithms use this information, alongside info on your interests and behaviour to put content on your feed. Mishra's platform just uses first and second-degree information and flows content on your feed based only on that. The network also tags some of its users who are more active than usual, making them "sticky" users. So, their posts get higher reach and show up on more feeds. 
	
	
	
	<div type="image" title="VoxWeb 1" msid="63762538" hostid="261"></div>









 How do you make money then? As things stand, not tracking user data seems to be a sure-fire way to lose revenues. However, VoxWeb doesn't let third parties tap into its network, it doesn't use ad networks (though there are provisions to do so if needed), and it doesn't try to target anything to you. Mishra says if he needs to advertise on the platform, he can still serve broadcast ads without targeting them. He believes it will still make the platform profitable, though without maximising that profit. He's unwilling to discuss his grand plan right now, saying it's a "trade secret" at the moment. But he does hope that not tracking user data will get him at least a few more users right now.

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EXCLUSIVE: What if being active on social media could earn you cryptocurrency?

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This social network wants to pay you for sharing your data

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