Good news for “NFTmaniacs”: you can now turn your non-fungible token (NFT) into a Twitter profile picture.
Yes, you could do that before, but now you can verify, via a blockchain, that you own it, and Twitter will reward you with a hexagon around your profile picture.
This is only for Twitter Blue subscribers who have iPhones and are only in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It also only applies to NFTs issued on Ethereum and stored on OpenSea.
Is this big news?
You could say yes (for fans of NFTs and for Twitter as a company). But it’s also a moment that will help critics of NFTs and Twitter add fuel to the fire.
Twitter had teased this feature four months ago, when it was “full of promise” but also “fraught with danger”.
Now the feature is available and whether you’re a Bored Apes collector who tweets “wagmi” (or “let’s all make it”, in Portuguese) and “looks rare” (or “seems rare”) all day or a staunch hater of NFTs that threatens to boycott every game-making company that implements NFTs, or somewhere in between, here are five reasons to pay attention to how this feature plays out.
1. Feature shows people how NFTs work
The big phrase used by people who believe that NFTs are stupid is: “I can just right click and save it”. Anyone with a lot of patience will usually explain that NFTs are certificates of ownership built on blockchain.
While anyone can take a screenshot of the NFT and display it, it’s not the same as own it. The Twitter feature is worth a thousand words: only the owner of an NFT can prove, by entering the Ethereum blockchain, that they own it and obtain the verification hex.
2. The divide between NFT fanatics and haters is getting worse
The prevailing hatred that many people (particularly gamers) have for NFTs is not going to go away overnight and the way Twitter is displaying verified NFTs is making the situation even worse. Emma Langevin, a Twitch streamer with 725k followers, tweeted:
Twitter just asked me if I want to turn my profile picture into an NFT. I’m shaking, vomiting, crying. I just wanna go back to the time before these nerds popularized this shit.
Just search the word “hexagon” on Twitter for more mockery.
Ross O’Donovan, another Twitch streamer, encouraged people to “write a script that automatically blocks everyone with a hexagon profile picture.” Another person compared profile picture with hexagon to a “kick me” sign.
They may not be wrong. Daniel Roberts, do Decrypt, signed up for Twitter Blue and selected one of the two NFTs he has as his profile picture. It was an anticlimactic feeling.
He likes his NFT (it’s a Satoshible) and believes the art is cool, but didn’t like it as his profile picture nor the hexagon around it. On the other hand, he does not regard himself as a crypto anonymous who uses his NFT as his entire online identity.
3. Even people who like NFTs are not so comfortable with the feature
On Thursday (17), there was a debate on Twitter Spaces called “Did Twitter just use us to sell a feature without prioritizing our needs?”.
In a fervent three-hour forum, fans of NFTs complained about Twitter using the NFT feature to sell Twitter Blue subscriptions.
Capitalists can remind them that Twitter is a company, with shareholders, and it needs to generate revenue. But this might be something to keep track of: if fans of NFTs don’t use the profile pictures feature, the feature could be a failure.
4. The feature makes Twitter an even more pro-crypto company
It wouldn’t be right to call Twitter a Web 3 company (not even operating on a blockchain), but adopting NFT profile pictures and cryptocurrency tips shows what it’s all about.
After bitcoin (BTC) maximalist Jack Dorsey left Twitter, some observers questioned whether the company would move away from cryptocurrencies.
Instead, Twitter has delved deeper and gone beyond bitcoin. Still, most of its shareholders won’t like it.
Facebook and Square both experienced dips in their shares when they were rebranded to Meta and Block, respectively. The implementation of the NFT feature has not helped Twitter’s stock, which has dropped 9% in the last week.
5. Twitter gave OpenSea a bigger lead
OpenSea is without a doubt the top NFT market and has recorded its monthly record in just two weeks.
It has a great lead compared to its opponents like SuperRare, Foundation, Nifty Gateway, Zora, Rarible and LooksRare. If you’re one of those markets, you’re not happy to see the Twitter feature.
It’s like Facebook added a feature for you to share your sneaker collection, but only supported Nike sneakers. What are these markets going to do now to stand out and compete?
The author of the text, Daniel Roberts, has changed his NFT profile picture to his real photo, but will follow as the drama of these images intensifies.
*Translated and edited by Daniela Pereira do Nascimento with permission from Decrypt.co.
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