Blockchain

Soma: Connecting the Dots Between Consumers

Soma Decentralized social market

Let’s take a moment to think about how humans have traded through the ages. Going back to the very beginning of civilization people used a bartering system to trade their goods or services.

Be it the necessity of exchanging hide for flint in the Stone Age, or in the Middle Ages when bars of precious metals were exchanged for a taste of spices imported from the unknown. Fast forward a few centuries and most customer-to-customer trade now happen online between anonymous shoppers scrolling through their phones or laptops. Here’s the main point: social interaction is intrinsic to human nature and ultimately the key to an efficient and successful trade.

In America, 96% of people with internet access have purchased online in their life, with 67% of Millennials choosing the internet over in-store shopping. As the common phrase goes, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. For years now eBay has been the key player in providing the world with a place to sell their unwanted stuff.

Although eBay has been very successful at this, Soma has stepped up the game and is taking the sharing community to the next level. As an eco-friendly-conscious platform aiming to create a cleaner environment, you will earn Soma community tokens for exchanging your stuff with other members. Incentivised exchange is a new concept that will help change the consumption habits of the Western world and the damage it’s causing to the bigger picture.

Online shopping platforms like eBay and Amazon have completely cut the social aspect out of bartering and trading. As the online world advances towards a decentralized future, never before has an online marketplace provided so much more than buying and selling. Soma is the new blockchain-based social marketplace providing a unique online trading experience. Unlike current platforms including eBay and Amazon, Soma is a genuine free-market which has uprooted the social and interactive core of trade and planted it firmly back into the digital marketplace.

Soma Community Tokens

Soma Connecting Dots Consumers

With 23% of Americans being influenced by social media recommendations when they shop, there is a growing need for validation of ‘social worth’ in the online marketplace.This is one of the founding ideas behind Soma, the first ever marketplace which will financially reward you for socially interacting. Soma, a digital marketplace platform established on the blockchain will provide its own cryptocurrency called the Soma Community Token (SCT). Although dollars, Bitcoin, and other currencies can be used, members of the community will soon see that there are many rewards to reap by using SCTs in the platform.

It’s evident from the development of ‘social approval’ functions in social media such as Facebook and Instagram that we are liking, sharing and following more than ever. Let’s say someone is selling a sofa. You then hit like and also share it on Facebook. By actively engaging in the positive social interaction you are promoting others and contributing to the overall growth and success of the Soma community. Personal wealth increases by contributing to the wider social capital, and vice versa.

Interactive Item Cards

Two of the biggest frustrations users face on current C2C platforms are false information and authenticity. In January 2017 Amazon Canada was fined more than $1 million dollars for comparing its prices to standard price lists which mislead customers to thinking they were saving money, and in October 2017 warnings were issued about a counterfeit MAC lipstick containing traces of lead being sold on eBay. Interactive Item Cards allow you to verify specific sellers, authenticity and price history so you know exactly what you are paying for. As a decentralized platform Soma allows you to reclaim total ownership. You are no longer just a passive user.

As a decentralized platform, Soma is a trustworthy trade community. Every item that is shared and traded on Soma has its own Interactive Item Card (IIC). Think of this as a digital fingerprint containing chronological information users have listed such as ownership history and condition rating. What’s great, is that each time you add information to an item card your contribution is monetized with a Soma Community Token as you created and sustained a tangible quality content for the community. As the IIC accumulates more social interactions it’s social worth increases which will most likely increase the item’s physical value. This new sense of transparency solves the problems which cause so many frustrations for customers using current online platforms.

Resolving Wider Issues

Lastly, another major issue which is not addressed by current C2C platforms is the lack of opportunity for organic capital growth of small-scale production in developing countries. Facilitating the use of the Soma Community Token as the main currency, the only thing needed to trade is an internet connection which is much more accessible than basic banking facilities in many developing areas. Traditionally when goods such as carpets, clothes, and furniture are made by talented craftspeople they receive only a fraction of the fixed price which is decided by bigger corporations for profit purposes. Soma bridges those gaps and provides a new definition of fair trade.

A True Freedom Of Trade

There’s a common concept arising from each unique feature of Soma: a true freedom of trade. Whether you’re using Soma to sell or buy, as a business or for personal use, a decentralized marketplace ensures the fair distribution of wealth for the whole community. Never before has there been such a transparent online marketplace where the price you see is not manipulated and determined by third-party intermediaries. Soma is a genuine free market that will keep on giving, and it’s not the future of online trade because it’s happening now.