Q: What do you think of DFINITY Marketing?
A: I think it would be a great idea!
I’m a new member- since I cannot seem to post a thread of my own until I post a few times, I’ll paste this in a couple of threads until I can get my own.
After 18 months of pure frustration have built up, I had to write a post. I hope it will be considered with an open mind. My intention is not to disparage but to raise awareness of some issues as I see them and to finally speak my mind, even if it’s as anon.
Of course, it’s a bear market, and of course, it can be argued that we got ICPerped by FTX.
But forever playing the victim doesn’t allow for introspection and growth, and whether true or not, it doesn’t do us any good moving forward.
DFINITY has a vast funding reserve. Why isn’t any of it being spent effectively on marketing? Is there even any intention to market properly?
Has anyone heard of Fastblocks? Me neither.
All jokes aside, DFINITY spent a ton of money on this venture yet doesn’t market it. I have never seen Fastblocks articles shared anywhere. At the time of writing, the Twitter has a whopping 378 followers.
Today they published FIVE articles- that would be a minimum of $250 outlay for ZERO return. I counted 19 (might be more) articles published in the last week. That’s $3800 a month. With Editor/management salaries, who knows how much you’re talking? It’s not cheap, though. And it’s not efficient.
Why publish five articles in a day? I cannot see any sense in it. Even the world’s biggest fan wouldn’t read five articles in one day on a publication. Not to mention, it gets lost and bogged down in any social sharing. Where would you even start? Maybe that’s one of the reasons why it’s never shared.
What exactly does Dfinity Special Projects do other than provide us with photos of members grinning in the Headquarters in Palo Alto and Zurich, giving us snack updates? Even they don’t take their role seriously. I’ve seen a podcast once in a while (with no traction) I’m genuinely not trying to be facetious here- I have no idea what any of the team actually does. I see no content creation. Once in a while, a small ‘event’ perhaps, but if that’s all it amounts to, much better off putting the money into DFINITY booths at EXPOs to build networks and partnerships. At least something might come of that.
I shudder to think how much has been spent on these little ventures with all the flights, salaries, and not to mention beer and snacks 
As if that isn’t enough, individuals are then shilling their projects as an attempted little side earner. Wait, are you trying to teach me something about the IC or shilling your shitty JPEGs?
It all stinks of a High Society Club, and guess what? Most of us aren’t invited, especially retail.
If you think the photos of individually lording it up (rather than any proof of work) are insensitive, how about the obligatory monthly banquet photo, complete with champers, cake, and foie gras? They might as well be drinking the tears of retail and dining on broken dreams.
It screams of disconnect and not understanding the community ethos. People are hurting. NOBODY except seed is in profit. Seed investors will not carry the project forward. They have already dumped or are in the process of dumping their bags.
This insensitivity is carried further with the whole ‘clique’ vibe that DFINITY gives off.
The community is not stupid and has understood this. They feel excluded. Projects, too, except the lucky few that are clearly favored, not necessarily because of their competence, but because they are part of the clique.
Don’t even get me started on grants. The amount of waste I have seen being spunked on ‘metaverse’ NFT projects that, in reality, were junk rip-offs that amounted to nothing was insane. 25k for an Angry bird rip-off that never materialized is just one example amongst many.
Another example was 50k for a ‘Youtuber’ with no followers who literally had some paper taped to the wall behind him with ‘like and subscribe’ scrawled on it made me wonder whether to laugh or give up (nothing against the guy, and good luck to him (50k gift seems like a great deal of luck)).
Some initial ideas, moving forward:
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Get rid of special projects and restructure it as ‘Project Support Team’ and allocate resources accordingly to projects after interviews- fuse this with grant allocations- this will also ensure KPIs are being met consistently.
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Purchase PR packages/YouTube Influencer videos when something of gravity needs to be disseminated. Stop being so stubborn. We need network effects.
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Speaking of network effects, why are there no attempts to coordinate marketing or create cross-chain partnerships?
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Why isn’t Dom’s Twitter more carefully vetted and professionalized? He literally went off on a ‘Solana Paid FUDDER,’ which was literally set up as a satire account (which was admittedly hilarious).
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Create a sense of community. Be more inclusive.
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Support projects with time and human capital. Don’t just throw money and hope it sticks.
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Clear up all this governance mess one way or another. Any time DFINITY trends, you know shit has gone down.
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Fastblocks needs total reorganization or, better still, dissolution where something better takes its place.
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A new marketing division needs to be created. Performance-related pay should be initiated and connected to KPIs. A cull of oxygen thieves ought to be conducted.
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DFINITY employees must agree not to market their own projects and to focus on the brand itself. They also ought to be impartial and promote official DFINITY-endorsed projects, only (Project Support team/grant recipients).