Author: Zolo, Shenchao TechFlow

It seems that everyone is full of expectations for 2025, due to market reasons and hot topics. The project team, Leeks, KOL, VC... everyone is ready to do something big.

I am one of them. But I started to be wary of how to prevent myself from being "fucked" when everyone wants to do something big.

Looking back on 2024, I hope that what I come into contact with and what I create in 2025 will be real and have positive value to the industry.

Real information: Information cocoons are everywhere. What we pursue is not more information, but real information. Don’t be superstitious about a single channel

For the first time this year, I deeply realized that this matter is the United States general election. If you only look at Polymarket, you will always feel that Trump is sure to win, but the fluctuations in the middle will surprise you.

If you only look at "certain American party media", you will think that Harris still has a chance of winning; and if you switch the information channel to Twitter, you will find that Twitter is all about Trump News to win.

The information is not right or wrong, but it is also narrow-minded.

So, when we only use Twitter to evaluate the popularity and reputation of a project, we should also look at on-chain data, community discussions, communication with people, etc.

Enrich your own channels and let yourself receive more diverse signals.

Escape from KOL’s Prejudice

What impressed me most this year was the discussion about ai16z. By chance, I followed it from the beginning to now.

There are good ones and there are bad ones. For example, at the beginning, the founder's outspoken words made many people worry about their positions. KOLs such as Ansem and Him were also publicizing FUD ai16z.

On the eliza/Eliza capitalization debate, different KOLs hold very different opinions.

It is normal to have different opinions, and it is normal to criticize a project, but if all opinions are deviated from logic and become emotional and solidified, it is biased.

During this period, if you just look at those people who have been bullish ai16z, you will feel that the problems of the project are not worth mentioning. Of course, you also need to bear the selling pressure during that period.

Similarly during this period, if you only follow those KOLs who are still FUD no matter how good ai16z gets, the information you receive will always be negative, which will make you miss out 10 times or even a hundred times. income.

There is no right or wrong about KOL, it’s just that every KOL is an information cocoon. Their quality may be good or bad, but because they are individuals, they must have their own fixed perceptions and even some prejudices. When you are researching a certain project, don’t ignore those friends around you who have really in-depth research on a certain project.

Be wary of the cabal, all your gossip is "losing money"

Many friends have shared on Twitter that more than 80% of the "rumours" they get are money-losing.

I am the same. I am not sharing "grapevine" with you out of any ill intention, but because everyone is a part of Play.

You don’t know the authenticity of the message (whether it will be pulled);

You don’t know the validity of the message (where to pull it);

Don’t know I am the first person who also knows this news (is the buying point low enough?);

...

The probability of "distortion" of these news is too high. So much so that letting these "tattletales" reach you becomes "money-losing news."

Real users: Reject the false data boom, traffic is important, but don’t let the traffic in the traffic addiction industry become more fake, we need real influence

Whether it is Twitter fans, website traffic, or The number of people in AMA and fake traffic are increasing, which also supports many surrounding “traffic selling” services.

For my own work, I have a deeper experience.

The influence of the media and traffic are a very important judgment factor. Many people who do not understand the industry usually directly use some third-party tools to judge whether the media is worthy of cooperation from the perspective of traffic.

This also directly leads to "buying traffic" and attracting "business", which has become a common phenomenon in any industry.

But "bought traffic" cannot bring "real influence";

The "business" attracted cannot bring them "good results" either. .

In this cycle:

The platform needs to buy traffic to make itself look very influential;

The project side needs good-looking traffic to prove that Things are effective;

Different platforms compete with each other, and the cost of buying traffic gradually increases;

As the traffic increases, the superficial effect becomes better, and the industry enters a false prosperity, only Wealth has truly been transferred to “traffic service providers”.

I would like to call this phenomenon "Traffic Addiction TrafficSick". Once it is contaminated, it will get deeper and deeper.

How to judge the real influence?

Try to communicate with real people, communicate with different roles in the industry, and ask them what they think of a certain issue, whether they have watched certain content, what their comments are, etc.

This is also the reason why I participated in many activities last year. Only by truly contacting and communicating with different friends offline can I know what everyone thinks of us and what everyone is discussing now. Community What is the current atmosphere, what kind of content is really interesting to users, etc.

Real influence and real feedback can allow us to enter a positive cycle.

Don’t be afraid of low traffic, you might as well create an emotional one firstniche community.

When I was doing advertising in the past, I was deeply influenced by a point of view:

Everyone must have something in common at the bottom, so that no matter what you do, as long as it is "you are being "What is truly touching" and "what you deeply recognize", there will definitely be someone in some part of the world who has the same resonance as you.

Just like listening to music, "niche music" is always just a relative concept and there will always be a market.

So from a market perspective, the problems to be solved are actually very clear:

1- Are you doing something that you are truly moved and recognized by?

2- Have you spread the word widely enough?

For Web3, although our market is getting bigger and bigger, the good thing is that our traffic is not very scattered. You can count which areas your users are in, which social software they use, and what your competing products are.

Loyal Member must be attracted by one of your "extreme concepts, ideas, attitudes", etc. Once you find them, they will come for you and start to gather, forming a community.

You don’t need a lot of people, because these dozens of people may have much better results than tens of thousands of people. Therefore, we should not worry about the lack of traffic, but worry about whether what we do can really attract people.

Real creation: When AI becomes a creative tool for everyone, what kind of content will be attractive?

In addition to the hype around concepts such as AI Agent this year, AI as a tool is also greatly improving our productivity. But one point that everyone now generally comments on is: this thing has a strong AI flavor.

Whether you have discovered it or not, what you will gradually discover is:

The content you see will become more and more homogeneous; the content framework and reasoning logic will become more and more similar. ;The contents cited in the argumentation are gradually converging; there are more and more research contents (because it is becoming easier to publish hydrology).

I know that some content platforms actually use AI in the background to produce content, expand their own databases, engage in SEO, and earn money from traffic.

But users will also experience aesthetic fatigue.

So when AI is generally called a creative tool, what kind of things will be attractive? I think there are two aspects:

1-We should pay attention to Ideas.

Have your own ideas about the content you produce, break the inherent framework, and approach it from different angles.

2-We should create something new.

People always applaud and praise things they have “never seen before”. Creativity is illogical, random combination, and "never seen before".

We should pay more attention to creating content rather than organizing content.

Real link: Time is precious, don’t waste it casually

A long-term and healthy relationship should be mutually beneficial, not unilateralThose who keep having sex for free.

People who do not recognize the value of your labor will constantly ask you to "help";

People who are stingy with others/communities are unlikely to be willing to share your efforts. matching earnings.

In 2025, when everyone seems to be going big, I don’t want to be that person who “only takes” and is unwilling to give.

My puppy got seriously ill this year. When I spent a lot of time taking care of her, I realized that I had only been asking for emotional value from her.

When I was meeting my Maslow emotional needs, I couldn’t even meet her most basic dietary needs of eating on time.

Many people’s time is very valuable this year. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, but remember not to ask for it blindly.

Mutually beneficial links are Real and effective links.

There is no turning back. I think this should be the attitude towards doing things this year.

Bet heavily on things that you recognize, and don’t distract yourself too much, and don’t think there will be another opportunity if you don’t do well.

The above is my summary of 2024 and my expectations for 2025.

Finally, I would like to thank the partners who chose Shenchao in 2024. I hope to work hard together in 2025 and do more interesting and creative things together.

To everyone who sees this, I wish you will gain something in recognized things in 2025. Happy New Year?~