What is REOS?

REOS is a blockchain-based ecosystem for user generated content (UGC) that empowers content creators and consumers. The platform enables content creators to monetize their UGC, such as short videos, in a variety of ways, without a middleman, while making sure that the content is validated by the REOS community. All digital content contributed by content creators are also registered on the REOSchain, the main blockchain for the REOS community, to ensure accurate attribution of ownership of the digital assets. Content creators can be securely paid by various stakeholders, bypassing any intermediaries, by using REOS, a utility crypto-token issued by REOS Foundation. The value of the content will be determined by the REOS community rather than by any central authority, thus honoring the belief that “Truth is Value.”

The Problem with Today’s Social Media Landscape

We see two shortcomings of existing Internet UGC platforms. First, on platforms like Yelp or JD.com, there is no effective way for regular users to validate the content that other people upload. An online shopping app could be filled with spam comments with even pictures auto-generated by robots. A consumer cannot tell whether a review of a product or shopping experience is valid or bogus. Furthermore, centralized platforms often intentionally allow this to happen because they are benefiting from it financially.

Second, there is too much concentration of power among a few large Silicon Valley Internet giants like Google and Facebook, to the extent that they not only dictate how much money a content creator can make on their platforms, but they also routinely censor content based on their business interests and political leanings[1] while disregarding users’ rights to privacy[2]. A content creator often needs to have millions of views in order to generate meaningful revenue, and then the platform, acting as the middleman, takes a large cut and exerts editorial power. YouTube and Facebook routinely take a 45% cut of the total advertising revenue generated by a user’s video[3]. Ultimately, those platforms answer to their advertisers, not the content creators or other users.

How does REOS Solve this Problem?

REOS overcomes these shortcomings by using blockchain technology. We believe that the fundamental value of UGC is dependent upon reflecting the truth of content validity, ownership and rights-of-usage. Therefore, we try to create a community of content creators, promoters and consumers where members are incentivized to dig out the truth. Inspired by Reddit’s Up-vote/Down-vote mechanism, we are developing a truth ratings system on top of the REOSchain, along with the issuance of REOS tokens[4]. REOSchain uses a consensus mechanism based on the Delegated Power of Stake (DPoS) protocol[5].

The roles of the community members are described below:

· Content Creator: Any member can create a piece of content and upload it, thus registering it on REOSchain.

· Content Promoter: They are similar to content curators in the real world, and they are responsible for initiating REOS validation process. They are also owners of REOSchain master nodes where the blockchain is created and maintained.

· Content Consumer: They consume the content, and they can participate in the content validation process if they own a certain number of REOS.

Content Validation Process

The validation process for a piece of content is initiated by a content promoter, and any eligible content consumer can participate in the validation process by up-voting or down-voting the content provided that the consumer puts stakes (say 10 REOS each) in an escrow account in order to vote. During the validation process, nobody can see the number of up-votes or down-votes. The result will be announced after the validation process ends, and it will be permanently associated with the content after that. The side with more votes will take all the tokens in the escrow account while the other side will get nothing back. In the case of a draw, which is unlikely assuming a large number of participants, the platform will provide incentives to all participants.

A Fair Reward System that Incentivizes All Members of the Ecosystem

Content consumers participating in the content validation process are able to earn REOS by voting correctly on a piece of content.

Content creators can monetize their content in new ways without a middleman. If they succeed in the content validation process, the content will also be much more credible and thus more valuable. Traditional UGC platforms sell people’s attention to advertisers and share a portion of the income with UGC creators and curators. However, a centralized platform inevitably becomes the focal point, and it will decide how much the content can earn by directing data traffic (eyeballs) to it. As a result, content creators are increasingly focused on eyeballs rather than quality of their work.

Content creators are expected to share percentage of their earnings they make on the REOS platform to reward content promoters, (a.k.a. master node owners) and pay for other operational costs of the network.

The following is a scenario showing how the REOS content validation system can open up monetization possibilities for content creators while rewarding all members of the ecosystem:

Scenario: Pay Per View of Premium UGC

A content creator can create a piece of premium content with a desired price tag on it. A content promoter can start the validation process that allows consumers to vote if the price tag is appropriate or not. When the result is out, the content creator can decide if she wants to finally publish the content with that price or make some adjustment otherwise.

Our ecosystem aligns everyone’s interest that way. As more consumers are willing to pay for premium UGC, there are more transactions fees to support our master nodes and the REOS platform. As a result, content promoters will also be more likely to conduct their jobs properly because they have high stakes in the system.

Conclusion

We believe it is time for a new kind of UGC platform that challenges today’s advertising-driven, centralized social media platforms. It is REOS’ mission to make it a reality by effectively leveraging blockchain technology to give power and control back to content creators and consumers while validating the truthfulness of the content.

For more scenarios and further insight into how our content validation process works, read our whitepaper at https://reos.me

[1] Robert Epstein, “The New Censorship,” US News and World Report, June 22, 2016. https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2016-06-22/google-is-the-worlds-biggest-censor-and-its-power-must-be-regulated, accessed March 12, 2018.

[2] Celicia Kang, “Facebook Faces Growing Pressure Over Data and Privacy Inquiries,” New York Times, March 20, 2018. https://nyti.ms/2GKGNxj, accessed March 27, 2018.

[3] Eric Rosenberg, “How YouTube Ad Revenue Works?” https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/032615/how-youtube-ad-revenue-works.asp, accessed February 8, 2018, and Olsy Sorokina, “Here’s How Facebook Videos Can Help You Make Money?” https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-facebook-videos-can-help-you-make-money/, accessed February 8, 2018

[4] REOS Foundation plans to issue a total of 10 billion pre-mined REOS tokens.

[5] Myles Snyder, “Delegated Proof of State: Features and Tradeoffs,” March 2, 2018. https://multicoin.capital/2018/03/02/delegated-proof-stake-features-tradeoffs/, accessed March 11, 2018.