image: Meta AI
I distinctly remember when I first heard about Web 3. It was in 2020, amid an agitated WhatsApp group discussion consisting of young inquisitive Nigerians such as myself eager for new prospects in the digital era. One individual posted a link that Bitcoin had hit $20,000 and mindlessly mumbled, "This is the future guys, Web 3 is the new thing." I remember thinking I nodded as if I understood what they were talking about, but in reality, I was completely lost. Web 3? Is that like 5G?
This was the beginning of a rabbit hole I could never have imagined would consume so much of my digital life.
My actual hands-on exposure to Web 3 started with micro blogging on Hive. I came across Hive while looking for blogs that were compensating people with cryptocurrency for writing. As I always loved expressing thoughts in words, this was fate.
I told myself: Hive is a community, an economy, and an eye-opener all rolled into one.
I was skeptical initially. Why would anyone pay me to write? How would a "token" I'd never even heard of; HIVE or HBD be worth anything in the outside world? I was used to platforms like Medium, where you wrote for claps, not cryptocurrency. But Hive introduced me to my first taste of decentralized ownership and real-world digital rewards. It wasn't much initially, cents scattered here and there, but something it was. That counted.
I am not about to lie, I was one of those people who used to think that crypto was a scam. Media didn't help matters either. Every other headline you would read was about some person losing money in some Ponzi scheme that was disguised as some sort of crypto investment. Even among my group, there was doubt: "It's all hype. It'll crash.".
My biggest misconception? That Web 3 was all about trading and selling coins. I didn't have any clue that it was about NFTs, DeFi, GameFi, DAOs, and all the other beautiful, crazy innovations being created on a daily basis. I believed it was charts, candles, and screaming "buy the dip!"
What demystified the doubt was witnessing it. Creating posts, communicating with other Hive users, engaging in communities that were building tangible tools on the blockchain, it was too tangible to be ignored.
There were two things that kept me engaged here:
The Power of Community: They commented, upvoted, motivated, guided, and cooperated. That was distinct from common Web 2 platforms.
True Ownership: I was, for a while, a stakeholder. My content belonged to me. My revenue wasn't controlled by a central authority. That freedom is one to which one gets used.
Now I can say I'm learning the Web 3 ecosystem actively. I write here on Hive, learn about NFTs, and even play some Web 3 games. I'm still a student in a sense because every day the space is changing. Airdrops, new chains, L2 solutions, DAOs. something new is always coming along.
But I'm no longer lost. I know how to prioritize. Hive taught me the essentials.
Hive is my favorite part of Web 3 still because it was my on-ramp and because It's proof that decentralization works. That creatives can be paid without advertising. That individuals online can govern themselves. It's where I found my voice and my community.
Web 3 is the future and the only limit to it is your curiosity.
Posted using Neoxian City
Very well written, in fact, at one time I was also very surprised about these things.Web 3, These things are really great and now our eyes have been opened.
I'm glad I got to know web 3 really.. in fact, I often wish I got to know about Hive sooner.
Web3 has really thought us a lot
Imagine making a post and been upvoted for it .
Though i am still learning but i have learnt slot from web3
Many of us have.
May we keep learning.
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STOPWow powerful. You have really said a lot of things about web 3. I can see a clear distinction between web 3 and web 2. I'm also learning a lot from hive block chain.