[DRAFT] [GF: Phase 1] Bi.Social

[Feddas]

Basic Details

Project name:
Bi.Social

Author name and contact info (please provide a reliable point of contact for the project.):

Stephen Cheung
SCheung@Bi.Social
TG: @Feddas
Discord: Feddas#0428

L2 recipient address:
TBD

Which Voting Cycle are you applying for?:
11

I confirm that I have read the landing pages for the Builders 6 and Growth Experiments 9 Sub-Committees and that I have determined my proposal is best suited to be reviewed by the Growth Experiments Sub-Committee:
Yes

I understand that Growth Experiments grants are subject to a “no sale rule,” as explained in this post 4, and I have read the terms of the rule:
Yes

Project Details

What are you building?:
https://Bi.Social a Web3 Social Networking Services Platform. We are a social media network service that offers a comprehensive solution that is similar to Lens + ENS + Mirror + Twitter. Currently, we have 55k DID Users and over 150k Registered Users. There are many web3 social media platforms but we are best in class in terms of UI/UX usability. We believe we can bring value to Optimism’s network with our Users as well as our site’s features. Thank you for the opportunity to collaborate.

Why do you believe what you are building is going to succeed?:

1. Our team expierence and dedication towards building the largest web3 SNS.
2. We believe that Web3 Social Media that is open and easy to use is critical infrastructure to on-board the next billion users on to crypto.

How many users does your project have currently?
150k+ Registered Users on our platform
55k+ DID registered Users

How will receiving a grant enable you to further the mission of maximizing the number of users interacting with Optimism? Please include a step-by-step flow of how you imagine this grant can lead to a greater number of user interactions with Optimism:

We will use this grant to directly incentivize the on-boarding of users to Optimism by registering on Optimism our BI DID. It will be required to use Optimism to earn any OP incentive.
This DID will be multi-chain interoperable and open for any dapps and wallets to use and connect with. Currently our main content creation protocol uses Mirror.xyz which is a native to OP. Users who are comfortable posting content on a twitter like platform will find that our platform is simple and easy to use.

Tell us about the users you plan to target with this grant. Include any defining characteristics that will help you identify and target them.:
First we plan on targeting web3 native users who use social media regularly but are concerned with the security

How would these users interact with Optimism? For how long?:
Our platform is designed to be used regularly.
Our Feed service gives updated user posts from mirror.xyz and updated transactions for any accounts followed (“smart money accounts” or “NFT traders”). This creates a user expierence that is tailored to each individual and creates a reason to visit often.
Our Post service will allow for users to monetize their content via subscriptions / tips / collecting of pages using Mirror.xyz which is built on OP.
We will be continually adding more features to enhance user expierence.

Provide us with links to any of the following for the project:

Demo: https://Bi.Social
Website: Bi.Social
Twitter: @Bitislands_
Discord/Discourse/Community: Discord
Github: NA
Technical/Economic Documentation: Bit islands – Medium
Other: https://about.bi.social/
Do you have any metrics on the project currently? (TVL, transactions, volume, unique addresses, etc. Optimism metrics preferred; please link to public sources such as Dune Analytics, etc.): NA

Who are your competitors, and are they on Optimism?:
Any Web3 related Social Media Networks are our partners, not competitors.
Our competitors are: Twitter / Meta / Discourse / Discord / Telegram

Please link to code audits (if any):
NA

Team

Who are your founders?:
Founder
Senior strategy and big data expert at Nasdaq listed Top US Tech Firm
Founder of one of the biggest blockchain media and community.

CTO
CTO of a Nasdaq Listed Asian Logistics Company, lead a tech team of 400+ employees
Ex-Chairman of Top Asian Company’s algorithm Committee
Tech leader at Top Asian Company

Due to privacy concerns, additional data can be provided to the team.

What makes your team well-suited to carry out the project described in this proposal?
Based on the background provided for the founder and CTO, it is clear that the team has significant experience in the technology industry, including senior leadership roles at major companies, and a track record of successful technology development.

Specifically, the founder’s expertise in big data and blockchain technology, coupled with their experience leading a large and successful blockchain media and community, suggests that they have a deep understanding of the underlying technology and its potential applications.

Meanwhile, the CTO’s extensive experience leading large tech teams, including a 400+ employee team at a Nasdaq-listed logistics company, as well as their previous role as Chairman of a top Asian company’s algorithm committee, demonstrate their technical expertise and ability to oversee complex projects.

Is this your first Web3 project?:
Yes, although the founder was in Web3 Media previously.

If not, what else have you built? (Share links, Github repository, or any other useful information.):

Grant Request

What is the size of the grant request? (250k OP max):
25k OP

How do you justify the size of the grant?:
We want to incentivize users to register a Decentralized ID by rebating an estimated amount of OP to cover registration and gas fees.
25k OP will allow over 100k users to register their personal DID for free.

Roadmap and Distribution Plan

Describe in discrete steps how you will successfully implement your grant plan:

How will the OP tokens be distributed? (please include % allocated to different initiatives such as user rewards/marketing/liquidity mining. Please also include a justification as to why each of these initiatives align with the problem statement this proposal is solving. Distribution should not include the sale of any tokens by the grantee or the use of tokens for compensation, protocol expenses, etc. See the no sale rule here 4):

1. Integrate OP into Bi.Social’s components like Feed, Search and Post
2. Deploy Bi DID’s contracts on OP
3. Cross marketing promotion for free personal DID for all OP users
4. On-board 100k OP Bi DID users to the platform.

Over what period of time will the tokens be distributed for each initiative?:

Developer time to complete steps 1 and 2 will require 2 months.
We believe it will take another 2 months to on-board 100k users with the OP incentives.
A total of 4 months.

Please define critical milestones for this project. Critical milestones are meant to show good-faith efforts to accomplish the project. Non-completion of these milestones could lead to revocation of remaining grant rewards. Do not use distribution of the grant itself as a milestone:

Each step above could be a critical milestone.

If the OP tokens are for direct distribution to users, why will incentivized users and liquidity on Optimism remain after incentives dry up?:
Initially the OP can be used to incentivize users to try out our platform, but ultimately it is up to us to keep them returning regularily. This is our goal and with the initial kickstart of the incentives we believe we can achieve regular users even after incentives dry up.

Please provide any additional information that will facilitate accountability (smart contracts addresses relevant to the proposal, relevant organizational wallet addresses, etc.):
Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions.

Optimism Relationship

Does your project solve a problem for the Optimism ecosystem? If so how?:
Bi.Social wants to create the largest Web3 Social Media Service that will create consistent and regular use of the Optimism ecosystem.

Why will this solution be a source of growth for the Optimism ecosystem?:
Bi.Social is not a stand alone social media service, we integrate other parts of the web3 ecosystem into our platform like ENS / Lens / Mirror all in efforts to grow the entire ecosystem including but not exclusive to the Optimism ecosystem.

Is your project Optimism Native?:
No

Confirmations

I understand that I will be required to provide additional KYC information to the Optimism Foundation to receive this grant: [Yes/No]:
YES

I understand that I will be expected to following the public grant reporting requirements outlined here: [Yes/No]:
YES

[Feddas]

Dear Optimism Grants Council Builders Subcommittee,

I wanted to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude for considering my grant proposal. I am deeply honored to have been given the opportunity to present my idea to such a distinguished group of experts in the field.

I would like to thank each member of the subcommittee for their time, effort, and dedication to reviewing grant applications. Your commitment to advancing the blockchain industry through funding innovative and impactful projects is truly admirable.

I am eagerly looking forward to the next steps of the grant process. As per the guidelines provided in the Grant Proposal Template for Cycle 11, I understand that the subcommittee will be reviewing all submitted proposals and will then contact applicants with feedback and next steps.

I would like to assure the subcommittee that I am available to answer any questions and provide additional information that may be needed to help evaluate my proposal.

Once again, I extend my heartfelt thanks to the Optimism Grants Council Builders Subcommittee for considering my proposal. I appreciate your time and effort in reviewing it, and I look forward to the opportunity to contribute to the advancement of the blockchain industry.

Sincerely,
Stephen Cheung
Bi.Social

[0xairboom]

Bi. Social, the website isn’t very clear about what it achieves. Also when I search for topics such as “Uniswap”, I didn’t get any relevant results. Can you please explain how this search functionality really works? “Lens + ENS + Mirror + Twitter” this just made me confused, and on checking the website a little more confusion. It would be really appreciated if you could share a Youtube Based Demo for the walkthrough of the platform.

[Feddas]

We are still integrating features and content as we speak. If you are looking for a topic to search by there are a few handy popular topics below the search bar. Currently we’ve integrated Mirror.xyz articles. All of our video walk throughs are out of date at the moment, the team is working on a new one.

The importance of Web3 Social Media

Media has evolved from traditional media to social media, we are now evolving to web3 social media. Building a web3 social media platform that integrates other web3 social media protocols is crucial because it can help break down the silos created by existing social media platforms. By leveraging the decentralized nature of web3 technology, a new social media platform can enable users to control their own data and connect with other users and communities across different protocols. This can create a more open and collaborative social media ecosystem, where users are not limited to a single platform’s filter bubble, engagement tactics, or ad targeting practices. Furthermore, a web3 social media platform can incentivize users to participate in the platform’s governance and share in the platform’s success through mechanisms like token incentives, creating a more democratic and equitable social media landscape. Overall, a web3 social media platform that integrates other protocols can help promote decentralization, interoperability, and user empowerment in the social media space.

Bi-Social = “Lens + ENS + Mirror + Twitter”

Lens Protocol- Composable and decentralized social graph, ready for you to build on so you can focus on creating a great experience, not scaling your users.
ENS- DID, Decentralized Identification, protocol
Mirror- Mirror is a web3 publishing platform.
These three Web3 protocols/platforms are some of the best Web3 social media building blocks. What is lacking at the moment is a unified UI/UX that is built with the importance of Web3 Social Media.

Stephen Cheung

[Feddas]

Additional links:

Bi DID Contracts
Polygon: ERC1967Proxy | Address 0x5e9475b8db383387922d0aba50d6b5c5b8dd1d9e | PolygonScan
Ethereum: ERC1967Proxy | Address 0x5e9475b8db383387922d0aba50d6b5c5b8dd1d9e | Etherscan

[GFXlabs]

Thank you for submitting this grant application! Throughout the application process, this forum thread will be one of the official means of communication. Please be sure to monitor it for updates over the course of the review period.

Nothing in this reply should be construed as support or opposition by any members of the Grants Council.

@Feddas

Please define critical milestones for this project. Critical milestones are meant to show good-faith efforts to accomplish the project. Non-completion of these milestones could lead to revocation of remaining grant rewards. Do not use distribution of the grant itself as a milestone:

Each step above could be a critical milestone.

While benchmark milestones are simply a “soft” way for the community to judge the process of your grant plan, the critical milestones must be met in order to unlock each tranche of your grant.

We strongly recommend high levels of specificity for benchmark milestones, and even more so for critical milestones. This is for the applicant’s benefit as well - unambiguous critical milestones avoid delays or questions over whether those milestones have been met.

An example of a critical milestone for this grant plan could be, “Onboard at least X new users within 6 weeks of token receipt, and Y% of those users are active at least once a week on average, as defined by Z metrics. Documentation will be provided to the Grants Council to allow for speedy verification of this milestone.”

Typically, we also recommend clearly stating that team wallets will be excluded from both rewards and any key metrics being measured.

Further guidance on milestones can be found here: Milestone Assessment

Thank you, and GFX Labs or other Grants Council members will follow up here with any further questions throughout the process. Do not hesitate to ask questions here (tagging whichever Council Member a question is for, or @GrantsOps generally, will increase the speed of response).

[Feddas]

Thank you for your feedback and guidance on setting clear and specific critical milestones. We have revised our critical milestones based on your recommendations:

1. Deploy Bi DID’s contracts on OP within 1 months of grant approval. Successful completion will be defined by the successful deployment and functioning of the Bi DID contracts on the Optimism network.
2. Integrate OP into Bi.Social’s components like Feed, Search, and Post within 3 months of grant approval. Successful completion will be defined by the seamless integration of OP into the platform, allowing users to interact with these components using Optimism.
3. Cross-marketing promotion for free personal DID for all OP users within 4 months of grant approval. Successful completion will be defined by the launch and execution of marketing campaigns targeting OP users and promoting the free personal DID registration offer.
4. Onboard at least 100k OP Bi DID users to the platform within 6 months of grant approval. At least 60% of these users should be active at least once a week on average, as defined by their interaction with the platform’s features (e.g., Feed, Search, and Post). Documentation will be provided to the Grants Council to allow for speedy verification of this milestone.

Team wallets will be excluded from both rewards and any key metrics being measured.

We appreciate your assistance in helping us create clear and actionable milestones for our grant proposal. If you have any further questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We look forward to working with the Optimism Foundation to bring our vision for Bi.Social to fruition.

Stephen Cheung

[GFXlabs]

@Feddas

Thank you for your feedback and guidance on setting clear and specific critical milestones. We have revised our critical milestones based on your recommendations:

Just so other reviewers see these and they’re not buried in the comments, we recommend editing them into your original post. (Attn: @GrantsOps so other reviewers are aware in the meantime)

[Feddas]

Unfortunately, I am unable to edit because of a new user - 2 links rule and thread got re-sent to mod to re-verify I am not a bot.

Stephen Cheung

[Feddas]

Hi @GrantsOps,

Is there anything else you need from me to review this proposal? Thank you.

Stephen Cheung

[Feddas]

@GrantsOps Bump

Stephen Cheung

[thinking]

The web3 social networks are the future and I see a huge potential in there.
imho the name though gives vibes that its related to bisexualism and woke culture. However, when I took a look at the website, changed my mind. The design is cool and website loads fast. good job. But the landing page could also improve with better content.