If DeFi enabled ‘money lego’, the Web3 social is putting together the identity jigsaw. Different open protocols and decentralized social graphs can now combined in a single app. Orb is one of those apps. In this post, we’ll tell you about what Orb is, what you can do with it, and share the steps to join the newly launched Zerion community.
What is Orb?
Orb is a decentralized social media app with content discovery, NFT-gated communities, and collectible posts.
Orb is built on Lens Protocol, which builds a decentralized social media graph using NFTs. The greatest thing about Lens is that you’re not locked into one app and can take your social media graph with you. If you have already used another Lens-based app, you’ll immediately feel at home in Orb. Over 100,000 people are already there.
Besides Lens, Orb uses XMTP, an open protocol for wallet-to-wallet messages. If you enable DMs in Orb, you’ll get to exchange messages with any wallet. And those wallets don’t necessarily need to use Orb or Lens — any wallet or app supporting XMTP will receive your message.
But Orb is more than just a cool mashup of protocols.
It creates a unique user experience that feels like familiar Web 2.0 apps yet enables new ways of interacting with content and people.
Content discovery
Unless you follow a lot of people on Lens, it can often feel empty at first.
Orb solves this by bringing the ‘for you’ content, categorized by different media. Posts, videos, sounds (aka music NFTs), JPEGs, Orb has it all. Most of these content pieces are collectible as NFTs on Polygon.
Collectible posts
In Lens, any post can be turned into a collectible NFT.
Orb leverages this feature to make it extremely easy to launch your own NFTs (aka ‘digital collectibles’ on iOS) on Polygon. You can make it free or charge for it, define exclusivity settings, and more.
NFT-gated communities
If you’ve spent any time in Web3 chats, you know that spam and bots are a real problem.
Orb tackles this with NFT-gated communities. To join a community in Orb, you need to hold a related NFT.
For now, the launch of communities is permissioned. There are only about a dozen communities handpicked by the Orb team. These include well-known communities like Developer DAO and Pooly supporters as well as IRL events-related communities like ETHWarsaw.
Most communities now have less than 100 members. But all of them are genuine Web3 citizens. It’s a great chance to meet people before Orb gets too busy and loud.
The rumor has it that there is one new community that you’re sure to qualify for.
Join the Zerion community
We’re excited to launch the Zerion community on Orb!
Anyone who holds a Zerion DNA can join it. We expect it to be a great place to hang out with fellow Zers. This might even become the biggest community on Orb. So make sure you’re early to the party.
Note: You need a Lens profile to join communities.
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Install the Orb app for iOS or Android
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Connect your address that holds both a Lens handle and a Zerion DNA, and sign the transaction
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Connect your Lens profile and sign the transaction
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Go to the Communities tab and find Zerion
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Tap ‘Join Community’