Playground, a Web3 social experience network built by creators for creators, announced its launch from beta. The company today removed its waiting list of 4,800 people
Playground: A Web3 social network for creators
The launch of Playground marks an exciting new chapter for one of tech’s most promising startups. The platform unites and increases the participation of members of creator communities. It also provides community management and monetization tools.
Its CEO and founder, Jia Ling Yang, has stated that Playground aims to facilitate communities. At the same time, it is about building relationships and co-creating experiences.
As a Taiwanese-American, the daughter of immigrants, who grew up in a culturally diverse neighborhood in Santa Fe, founder Jia Ling Yang understands the value of bringing people together. But while working as a freelance creative director for brands like Facebook, Google Play and E! Entertainment, she decided she wanted to help build an online community in a new way.
Of course, social networks already create communities, from neighborhood book-swapping groups to the Twitter feed of One Direction fans. But online life can also be isolating.
Yang said:
“It’s about spending time well and feeling more alive. Creating more connections and communities does just that. We see ourselves as the next meaningful social platform built around group functions that encourage play. We have intentionally removed scrolling, filtering and passive entertainment. What remains is a platform that allows creators to build community and inspires people to participate.”
“Instead of scrolling and looking at each other’s lives, I say, hey, let’s put-put together. Let’s make Filipino food together, let’s exercise together,” Yang said.
Through Playground, creatives and professionals can connect and play in a central portal to a decentralized digital world. In addition, Playground members and creators can move seamlessly between virtual event discovery and IRL, allowing them to grow and monetize their networks.
All-in-one platforms are valuable for creators, as it’s easier to manage one account than juggling Discord, Patreon, Eventbrite, Mailchimp and so on. But there’s also an inherent risk in entrusting your entire business to a startup. Still, Playground gives its creators full control over their subscriber list and contact information, so they don’t rely on Playground’s platform to reach their fans.
“It’s really frustrating when you don’t own your community,” Yang says. “Let’s say you’ve built an audience on Clubhouse or something, and that platform disappears. Then your audience is just whoever messaged you in your Instagram DMs.”
The company’s lead investors, Animoca Brands and DeLand, are working with Playground to complete a new round of fundraising. The funds will help support the next stage of growth for the platform which will be a Web3 native product within four to six months. They will also introduce Playground tokens and roll out new tools for creators.
Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, commented:
“We led Playground’s seed round because we believe in their vision of a connected community economy. Playground is building the tools to help anyone create, grow and manage their own social spaces in a way that is experiential, serendipitous and full of discovery and fun. We believe Playground can be the bridge from Web 2 to 3 and look forward to its growth and success.”