It Powers the Internet In the Way It Should Be Powered: By the People, Not the Advertisers

I might be biased here because my personal project, Worthyt, started off trying to provide the same value as what the Brave Browser does: allow the Internet user to support content creators all over the Internet through tipping. Since that time, Worthyt has changed into a platform where content creators can field and answer questions from their audience to earn money from them. The pivot was sparked through the same goal: users, rather than advertisers, supporting content creators.

The way Brave accomplishes this is by allowing its users to tip content creators in its native cryptocurrency, Basic Attention Token (BAT). Because a wallet is built into the browser that can store BAT locally, a user doesn’t have to open his or her wallet each time to make a microtransaction; instead, can be done directly on the page you’re visiting, and you can tip by clicking the triangle next to the lion in the browser. You can also use the triangle to get to the Rewards Settings.

In the Rewards Settings, you’ll be able to adjust a few things: Ads, Auto-Contribute, and Tips.

Ads

This is a feature that is still under development by Brave. The idea is simple, though: while ad-block is enabled by Brave by default, users can choose to opt in to view ads. By watching ads, users can earn BAT, which can then be used to support content creators or just to withdraw for fiat or other cryptocurrencies. It’s akin to Twitch Bits, a successful tipping system implemented by Twitch exclusively for its platform. Bits are used to send tips to streamers and can either be purchased or earned by also watching ads.

Auto-Contribute

Auto-contribute is a background-tipping system. By enabling it, you distribute a set amount of BAT to all of the websites that you visit every month, based on the amount of time you spend on the site. You can set the total amount you want to distribute every month, and the browser takes care of calculating all the allocations.

I think this feature can be further flushed out, because it does leave a lot of room for unintentional tipping unless the user manually intervenes in the Settings area. For example, I have been doing some web development for a client, and I visit his existing website to copy over content. I noticed that his website showed up as one of the pages I will be tipping this month — but it’s he who should be tipping me!

It can also negatively impact user experience. Websites that want to earn more BAT can separate their content into multiple pages, which means more clicks and page loads for the user, but also more potential tips for the website. Or maybe it can encourage writers to include more fluff to keep a user’s eyes glued.

Attribution is also a concern right now. For example, if I’m reading an article on the Washington Post, where does the auto-contribute tip go: to the Washington Post, or to the journalist? Depending on the situation, I may want it to go to one or the other.

While Auto-Contribute is an interesting feature that can encourage tipping as a passive habit, I do would like to see the feature more mature before I personally enable it. Also, I probably need more BAT than I have now.

Tips

Tips are more active than Auto-Contribute, as it requires you to remember to send BAT to the creator. That being said, it also allows you to choose where your contributions go, which gives you more control than the Auto-Contribute feature. I personally prefer the Tips feature for now over Auto-Contribute for the reasons I mentioned above.

Because Brave is such a new project, though, its availability to integrate with content platforms is limited. Currently, content creators can only connect and start receiving Brave’s cryptocurrency, BAT, if they are YouTubers, Twitch Streamers, or own their personal blogs. In other words, I can’t take BAT on Medium! If you try to tip me on here, you’ll notice that you’re actually sending a tip to Medium. If you click on my Brave Download link, you’ll see that it says “It’s easy to support Kenny Li on YouTube” because I can’t link my Medium account.