The swift growth of global independent employment opportunities has highlighted various technical issues for online content creators.

Banking fees, international transaction fees and host service fees often result in significant financial loss between parties. Security and reliability issues arise regularly, preventing the trusted free-flow of information. And even the most experienced professionals from traditional industries can struggle to connect with the right people.

Several projects are working to minimize barriers for their respective communities, leveraging blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies to provide efficient, safe networking for their content creators and clients:

Steemit is the first social network built on the Steem Blockchain.

Users of the platform can share blogs, research articles and opinion pieces, or discover, up-vote and comment on posts from other users. Steem Tokens and Steem Backed Dollars are utilized to monetize contributions. Content is generally unrestricted, so anyone with a Steemit account can share their ideas on the network in an effort to earn Steem rewards.

There is significant global support for the Steem Blockchain and the Steemit Social Network, however, it is worth noting that the Steemit was hacked in July of 2016 (details). While it appears security measures have been drastically improved since this initial attack, it highlights the importance of security and trust in establishing a gig economy.

Civil is intended to be a new blockchain-based economy for journalism.

If the concept is to reach fruition, journalists will be able to share their content with users who will be endowed with voting rights and purchasing power using the platform’s native token, CVL.

The project recently completed their first attempt at an ICO, but failed to reach their $8 million soft cap(details). They are offering full refunds for participants in the first attempt and the team is currently working on a simplified ICO format which is set to be announced in the near future. While it is reassuring to see Civil approach the failed sale professionally, it is an important reminder of how critical it is to be able to connect with the right people when building a gig economy, even as early on as the ICO.

Red Pulse is the knowledge sharing ecosystem for China markets.

Established in 2015 as a private company, Red Pulse is the go-to platform for global institutional clients seeking expert information on business affairs and market conditions in China. With over 7,000 paying users and a sold-out ICO completed in 2017, Red Pulse has established a strong presence among the earliest successful blockchain based gig economies.

Users of the Phoenix platform are incentivized to submit content that appeals to Red Pulse’s clients. Contributors and clients are brought together in a secure environment, utilizing Red Pulse Phoenix - PHX tokens as the primary form of payment. PHX tokens are NEP-5 tokens built on the NEO Blockchain. This enables payments on Red Pulse’s platform to be processed with virtually zero fees. Phoenix tokens also have the facility to store data that traces ownership and origin of content. Additionally, Red Pulse has substantial reward mechanisms available for its content creators, clients and investors.

While it is apparent there are other blockchain-based projects active in the content creation space, Red Pulse is among the front-runners; the Phoenix platform has been established as a secure, low-fee environment, successfully bringing together clients and contributors with a shared purpose.

Stay tuned for part 3 of 3 in this series, where we will explore Red Pulse in greater detail, honing in on what makes Phoenix the ideal gig economy for contributors, clients and the broader cryptocurrency community.