How FlickPlay is building the web3 creator economy

FlickPlay, a web3-based social media app that describes itself as "Pokémon Go meets TikTok," is trying to boost the sagging NFT space by offering more real-world value.

Why it matters: The NFT market has crashed as sales of collections and general interest in the space dropped in recent months.

Driving the news: The social media app has been introducing NFT verification for social utility in recent weeks, which allows NFT holders to create videos with their NFTs in the real world via augmented reality.

• To start, it's adding verification — a typical process that confirms the NFT's authenticity — for NFT collections from Pudgy Penguins, Lil' Heroes and Snoop Dogg's Sandbox-based project, The Doggies.
• Those who create videos on FlickPlay can see their NFTs' ranking increase based on the likes, views and "FlickCoins" they receive.
• "We think about the value of NFTs purely from a financial standpoint: What's the floor price? What's the rarity of your version?" CEO and founder Pierina Merino says to Tim.

The big picture: This is what the next generation of the creator economy looks like, Merino says. Companies' relationships with their customers go beyond advertising and point of sale.

• "I could buy a physical pair of shoes from Nike and never use them and put them in my closet. They don't know how much of a fan I am; they don't know how much of the brand I am involved with."

Catch up quick: FlickPlay launched last year with $5 million in seed funding from Lightspeed Ventures and Abstract VC.

• In July, FlickPlay was selected as part of Disney's 2022 Accelerator Program.