Greetings, ICP community! In this post, we’d like to tell you about the Raters app, and our ambitious but awesome goal to build a Web3 platform for movie lovers around the world!
Raters is a SocialFi ICP blockchain-powered platform designed for movie lovers, offering a space to share reviews, ratings, and discover films based on both personal and community preferences. With Raters, you can share your thoughts, rate movies, discuss them and get smart recommendations – on only one platform, no matter if you’re a Web2 or Web3 user! By integrating social elements and personalized recommendations, Raters enhances the movie-watching experience through community-driven insights.
Raters Web3 advantages
To ensure the influx of Web3 users to the platform and to engage more Web2 users in the world of Web3, Raters is the first among similar platforms to offer authorization through two methods that operate on the ICP blockchain - NFID and Internet Identity! These universal Web3 methods allow users to be assured of their account security and help provide additional anonymity regardless of the device they use.
Additionally, Raters writes every movie review from a user who’s connected one of the ICP authorization methods into the ICP blockchain! This allows Raters to secure and validate reviews, meaning such movie reviews will never be compromised or tampered with by anyone, rather than just storing them in a database like similar Web2 applications do.
How is it built
RatersApp is a blockchain-based SocialFi platform designed to enhance the movie-watching experience by integrating social elements and blockchain technology for transparency and security. Here’s a detailed description of how our project is built:
Frontend
The frontend of RatersApp is built using React.js, Next.js, and TypeScript. These technologies were chosen for their robustness, scalability, and ability to provide a seamless user experience. Next.js facilitates server-side rendering and static site generation, enhancing performance and SEO. TypeScript ensures type safety and better developer experience.
Backend
The backend is primarily developed in PHP using the Laravel framework. To handle blockchain-specific tasks, we use a Node.js service that interacts with the Internet Computer (ICP). NestJS is used for building efficient, scalable server-side applications. This combination allows us to leverage the strengths of both PHP and Node.js, ensuring robust backend services.
Blockchain Integration with Azle
For our blockchain interactions, we use the Internet Computer (ICP). We chose Azle for developing our smart contracts in JavaScript, as it aligns with our existing tech stack, allowing for faster implementation and easier integration with our infrastructure.
Azle is specifically used for the “canister” repository where we write smart contracts. The choice of Azle was driven by our familiarity with the JavaScript ecosystem, enabling us to leverage our existing expertise for efficient development. Although Motoko could have been an alternative, using Azle allowed us to avoid the learning curve associated with a new language.
ICP Blockchain Libraries
We use several key libraries for integrating with ICP:
- @dfinity/agent: For interacting with ICP canisters.
- @dfinity/identity: For managing decentralized identities.
- @dfinity/candid: For defining and validating data types in ICP.
- @dfinity/ledger: For retrieving wallet addresses using the fromPrincipal method.
User Authentication
User authentication is handled via NFID and Internet Identity. The frontend sends authentication requests to the intermediary Node.js service, which verifies the user’s signature. This service ensures secure and reliable user authentication by validating signatures provided by NFID and Internet Identity.
Database
The backend interacts with MySQL for traditional data storage and ElasticSearch for search functionalities. MySQL is used for storing user data and reviews, while ElasticSearch enables efficient search operations across the platform.
Security
Data encryption services are employed to ensure the privacy and security of user data during storage and retrieval. Robust security protocols protect interactions between the frontend, backend, and blockchain.
Summary of Key Technologies
- Frontend: React.js, Next.js, TypeScript
- Backend: PHP (Laravel), Node.js, NestJS
- Blockchain: Internet Computer (ICP), Azle
- ICP Libraries: @dfinity/agent, @dfinity/identity, @dfinity/candid, @dfinity/ledger
- Database: MySQL, ElasticSearch
- Authentication: NFID, Internet Identity
- Security: Data encryption services
By leveraging these technologies and design principles, RatersApp provides a secure, transparent, and efficient platform for movie lovers to share and discover reviews.
Internet Computer superpowers
For sure, we use 3 IC superpowers! We have NFID and Internet Identity as 2 secure methods of authorization to allow Web3 users to connect and be a part of the international cinephile community, and at the same time we help Web2 users to touch the Web3 world with ICP.
The third superpower is the ICP blockchain we use via our canister! As mentioned above, we write movie reviews to be transparent and true so every user can check it directly in the blockchain and be assured their reviews are never going to be compromised.
Go-To-Market strategy
To attract users, we’re going to user different strategies for Web2 and Web3, as Web3 is a new direction for Raters, and we do already have 250k Web2 users we would like to meet in the new Web3 world. Below you will find complete list of our strategies for Web2, Web3, and for Web2->Web3 converting!
Web2 strategies
- Content marketing: blog and SEO Optimization.
- Social media marketing: we have social media channels with over 100,000 followers. Of course we’re going to use it to collaborate with influencers and movie critics.
- Referral program
- Paid advertising: Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and other channels. Retargeting included too!
- Community building: to increase Raters user base, we’re going to participate in movie-related communities, and host online events and/or Q&A sessions.
- Email marketing
- Partnerships with theaters and streaming services (and we already do have some)
- User-generated content to involve more users to be part of the community.
- Events and promotions: host contests related to movie premieres and run campaigns around major releases to catch a piece of hype.
Web3 strategies
- Leverage blockchain technology: very soon we will introduce token rewards and promote even more blockchain-based transparency, some of it we already have thanks to ICP.
- Community development: create and nurture a Web3 community through social media and Web3-related influencers.
- Conversion/onboarding of existing Users: we’d like to educate current users on Web3 benefits, and simplify Web3 adoption by offering incentives for Web3 transition, including bonus tokens and exclusive content.
Converting Web2 Raters to Web3 Raters
- Onboarding process: we’re going to allow users to create or link their existing accounts with Web3 wallets during the sign-up process providing step-by-step guides. And! Provide token rewards for users who complete their Web3 onboarding, encouraging more and more users to meet the Web3 world. Of course, that all should be covered by user-friendly UI/UX, with clear navigation and intuitive design. We also think about incorporation of gamification elements to make the Web3 transition process fun and engaging, such as progress bars, badges, and leaderboards.
- Educational tips and resources: create interactive tutorials explaining blockchain technology, how it works, and its benefits for the Raters platform. Also, we’re going to create short video guides and tooltips, pop-ups
- Incentivizing Web3 Engagement: introduce a token reward system for activities like writing reviews, rating movies, and engaging with the community. Mint NFT statuses for active users, rewarding them for their contributions and engagement on the platform. Provide exclusive features and benefits for users who fully transition to Web3, such as advanced analytics, premium content, and early access to new features.
- Community building and engagement: we will foster a strong community on social media platforms and within the Raters app to share tips, success stories, and help each other.
- To be a Web3 user is cool: we’re going to emphasize how blockchain technology enhances transparency and trust in the review process, making their contributions more valuable, and also highlight the benefits of having ownership and control over their data and assets through blockchain.
By providing comprehensive onboarding, educational resources, user-friendly UI/UX, and continuous support, Raters can successfully convert its Web2 users to Web3, ensuring a smooth transition and enhanced user experience on the platform! The start has been made. 
Monetization
The platform generates revenue from multiple Web2 monetization channels, and as Raters is becoming a Web3 platform, in the very near future we’re planning to start Web3 monetization channels too!
Current monetization channels (Web2)
- Film promotion: charging from $10K per movie for promotion.
- Premium accounts: $2 per month or $12 per year for premium account subscriptions.
- Display advertising: earning an average of $0.63 per click from display ads.
- Affiliate revenue: earning 1-8% of the purchase or rental price through affiliate partnerships.
Near future Web3 monetization channels
- Transaction fee: we’re going to charge a 10% fee per transaction.
- NFT collection sales fee: we’re going to take 100% of initial sales and a 6% resale fee.
- Fee for NFT status mint: we’re going to charge a 10% fee per transaction for minting NFT status.
- Premium accounts: $2 USDC per month or $12 USDC per year for premium account subscriptions.
Far feature Web3 monetization channels:
- Launchpad Fee: we’re going to charge a 5% fee from investors and a 5% fee from producers using the DeFi Launchpad.
Status of the project
At the time of writing this post, we’ve already completed the development of the described functionality! Now everyone can log into the platform using NFID or Internet Identity on the platform, become a Rater and write a review into the blockchain. We invite you to give it a try!
Current Product Metrics
As Raters is currently live, and we have already gathered significant traction across various metrics:
- Registered Users: 252,000
- Monthly Active Users (MAU): 37,300 (Peaked at 650,000 MAU in 2023)
- Daily Active Users (DAU): 1,500
- User Retention Rate: 24% monthly retention
- User Reviews and Ratings: Over 1,000,000 reviews and ratings submitted
- Social Media Followers: 100,000+ across Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, Youtube, Discord, Telegram
- Platform Engagement: Average user session time of 12 minutes
- Android App Installations: 100,000+
- iOS App Installations: 120,000+
- TikTok: 7,700,000 likes and over 120 million video views
- YouTube: Nearly 1 million video views
- Instagram: Several million video views
Future Plans
At Raters, we are continually striving to innovate and enhance our platform. Our future plans include a range of exciting features and developments aimed at expanding our capabilities and improving the user experience. Here are some of the key initiatives we are working on below:
- Integration of other ICP wallets: we plan to integrate additional ICP wallets, providing users with more options for managing their digital assets securely.
- Advanced Billing System Development including points collecting.
- Cryptolikes Feature Development: a feature that allows users to show appreciation for content using cryptocurrencies, adding a new layer of engagement and reward within the platform.
- Discussions and comments will be written directly into the blockchain, ensuring transparency, immutability, and trust in user interactions.
- Users will be able to purchase Pro accounts using their ICP wallets, simplifying the process.
- We are developing functionalities for users to mint NFT statuses and stake their NFTs, providing new opportunities for engagement and investment.
- For our business users, we will deploy a decentralized application (Dapp) within the ICP canister, offering advanced analytics and business insights.
- Human-to-Human Recommendations: This feature will enable users to receive real-time film suggestions from other users within the app. Recommendations will be compensated with RATE tokens based on the relevancy and usefulness of the suggestions.
- RATE Token Emission on ICP Blockchain, enhancing our ecosystem and providing more utility for our users.
- We are developing a niche marketplace for NFTs, which will include capabilities for NFT generation, catering to specific interests and collections.
- Our platform will include a DeFi launchpad, facilitating the launch of new projects and providing investment opportunities for our users.
To support these initiatives, we are actively looking to participate in industry conferences and apply for relevant grants. Attending conferences will help us stay updated on the latest trends, network with industry leaders, and showcase our innovations. We are also seeking grants that align with our vision and can provide the financial support needed to bring these features to fruition!!
Through these ambitions we aim to remain at the forefront of the SocialFi space, delivering unparalleled value and experiences to our community. 
