Social journalism is gaining widespread popularity, and CoinScribble is the latest company to try and capitalize on the concept. Initially, the newly launched platform is focused on news from the cryptocurrency industry but has plans to create a network where anyone can post to CoinScribble’s platform for free. The platform allows for the publishing of press releases, news, opinions, article bounties, and more.
AlleyWatch spoke to CEO and founder Ty Smith about the newly launched company and its future plans.
Tell us about the product or service that CoinScribble offers.
Coinscribble is a 100% free and anonymous social journalism platform focused on the cryptocurrency industry. Anyone can post to the platform and the platform can be used to post press releases, news, opinions, article bounties, and much more. Posting to the platform improves Google search ranking and creates an article that can be easily shared. Content is automatically shared to all the major social media channels and many of the top cryptocurrency news aggregators.
CoinScribble is the first of many “districts” of the ScribbleBuzz network. Each district will have a unique focus (music/entertainment, business, geographic areas, etc). The value offered by our model is certainly not specific to the cryptocurrency industry. I’ve chosen to start with crypto because it is an industry I am heavily involved in.
CoinScribble is the first of many “districts” of the ScribbleBuzz network. Each district will have a unique focus (music/entertainment, business, geographic areas, etc). The value offered by our model is certainly not specific to the cryptocurrency industry. I’ve chosen to start with crypto because it is an industry I am heavily involved in.
How is CoinScribble different?
We’ve been fortunate enough to create some really great partnerships in the industry that help us offer a level of distribution far above that of a traditional news site or content-hosting medium. Better yet, we’re able to offer it 100% free.
The layer of anonymity is another big differentiator. Everyone wants free press but not everyone is prepared to stamp their name on something. No one likes self-promotion.
How do you plan on regulating the quality of the content if submissions are both free and anonymous?
Content on CoinScribble is moderated by the community through an upvote/downvote system similar to Reddit. Users are encouraged to downvote poor or irrelevant content and upvote content they feel adds value to the network. I think putting this power in the hands of our users puts us more aligned with the vision of decentralization. Power to the many, not the few
What market does CoinScribble target and how big is it?
The cryptocurrency marketing industry is massive and, as I said, crypto is just the beginning. The PR industry alone is a $11B industry and that’s only a portion of users that can derive value from the ScribbleBuzz network.
CoinScribble is already being used for a slew of different purposes. Many existing bloggers use it to attract additional traffic to their own site by posting content linked to their blog as the original source. We also have a large number of bounty hunters that use CoinScribble as a medium for hosting article bounties (sponsored posts promoting ICOs). However, our biggest user-base is that of ICO Marketing and PR managers. To them, it’s a no-brainer to spread press releases and information for free.
What is the business model?
For even more reach CoinScribble users can promote their “Scribbles”. Scribble promotion is a paid service that gets the user’s content in front of thousands of additional viewers. Our unique set up allows us to offer a much better ROI than most other methods. We plan to experiment with additional revenue models in the future but our main focus at this point is user acquisition.
What inspired the start of CoinScribble?
I’ve been in the cryptocurrency/startup sphere for some time now. In the process of marketing and securing press for my previous projects I noticed a massive discrepancy between the cost of publishing press releases and the value it offered. Most sites charge several hundred to thousands to copy and paste your content and bury it somewhere on their site. Even then, the majority of the traffic the content gets is driven from the startups’ own sharing of the release. I said to myself, “Surely there’s a better way to do this”, so I made it.
What are the milestones that you plan to achieve within six months?
Within the next few months, I hope to secure enough funding to get us through the next level of development and marketing. I would consider our current platform to be the MVP stage. There are so many new features with respect to improving analytics and increasing content distribution that I’d love to add to offer more value to our users. I’d really like to build a robust analytics suite, so our users can see exactly how far their message is traveling. Funding will get us there a lot faster than continuing on the path of bootstrapping.
What is the one piece of startup advice that you never got?
Starting a business is like buying a lotto card that can only be cashed in in hell. The lucky ones have the right numbers at the right time. The extraordinarily lucky ones can withstand the heat. The even luckier can make it out with their soul intact.
If you could be put in touch with anyone in the New York community who would it be and why?
New York has so many incredible people that it’s very difficult to name just one. I supposed I’d really love to meet with the team of Union Square Ventures. They’ve funded a ton of companies that I really respect and I’d like to pick their brain.
Why did you launch in New York?
I launched in New York because New York is home. Being born and raised in Long Island, I lived in the shadow of the most beautifully hectic city in the world. The opportunities in New York really can’t be found elsewhere.
What’s your favorite restaurant in the city?
Wow. Tough one. Bread & Butter on 29th and Park. It’s just a normal run-of-the-mill deli but it’s where I cofounded my first startup. I spent nearly every day there for a solid 9-month period. It will always have a special place in my heart.
