On a screen with a stream of text, our eyes gravitate towards color. The NFT pfp (profile picture) you choose captures eyes and engagement.
Out of the 7,000+ NFT collections on Magic Eden, why… that one? Maybe you chose it because you minted a Trippin’ Ape NFT? Adore that 1/1? Found your ‘forever NFT’?
Whatever the reason. NFTs are visceral and evoke social and sentimental value. NFTs are a form of expression. Changing your NFT pfp serves as a social signal. What you choose is an indication of what you value. And how you’d like the other NFT pfps to perceive you.
📊 As liquidity flows to newer, hyped collections, the amount of attention momentarily decreases in ‘blue-chip’ collections.
Let’s take Trippin’ Ape Tribe’s (TAT) successful mint on May 24 as an example. In less than 12 hours, their mint generated over 210,000 $SOL trading volume.
- According to nftinspect.xyz, the last 24H saw 6.6K tweets with NFTs and 1.7K TAT pfps. Among them are influencers with big followings, and people who have never used an NFT pfp. The latter makes up 67% of all TAT pfp changes (note: nftinspect groups ‘unknown’ collections in this category).
- This indicates that it may have been their first mint. It also indicates that some profiles had a web2 human pfp and made the web3 possible-mammal pfp switch.
- The top 7 accounts by social reach with TAT pfps have a total of 773,200 followers. That’s an extensive reach. More eyes on TAT, more thoughts on TAT. However, it’s still too early to tell the duration that these pfps will last. And switching to another pfp can be viewed as a lack of endorsement.
- By comparison, more people have Okay Bears NFT pfps but, last month’s most hyped mint saw a 2% drop in the number of unique NFT pfps on Twitter and a 3% decrease in tweets with NFTs. In the last 24 hours, 86 Okay Bears NFT pfps and 50 Cets on Creck NFT pfps changed into TAT pfps.
- Looking at Magic Eden’s floor price and volume chart on Okay Bears, before TAT’s mint their floor price hovered around 190 SOL and during the mint dropped to 160 SOL. Now, at 194 SOL. Cets saw a similar price correction. There’s always a demand for ‘blue-chip’ collections. Even if people flip, liquidity often flows back to more established projects.
A few reasons why people choose their NFT pfp:
- First “big” NFT purchase: Imagine starting with a free mint and flipping your way to a blue-chip. There’s a story behind it.
- Clout: After a hot mint, you switch your NFT pfp, amass followers and switch back after 3 days.
- Community: Within the sea of profile pictures of bears, apes and frogs, you stand out as one of us. The community backs you as you support them.
- Personal Brand: You use an NFT so much that you’re now identified with it. If your NFT pfp is from a project known for building, you are recognised as a builder, or one who values building. And it’s full of like-minded people.
- The “Forever NFT” pfp: You’ve found the most authentic web3 representation of you (or maybe you just LOVE the art), so you were willing to spend more. Purchasing at a higher price point, you’re likely to use this on all your socials forever. Even if you change your pfp, you always gravitate to your forever NFT.
Some NFT traders are also in the business of NFTs. Nothing says “I’m a serious jpeg collector” like having a blue-chip NFT. In an anonymous space, the right NFT pfp adds credibility and legitimacy to you. Even if you’re not a serious jpeg collector, you’d want something that reflects your personality. It’s the thing that people are most attracted to when they’re on your profile. It says… “THIS IS ME.” And subconsciously, this is who I’m choosing to be. This is a key indicator of how bullish a community is on the NFT collection (and it should be taken with how long an NFT pfp is used). Out of all the NFTs to choose, you chose this one.
The Great NFT Dream
“It takes one mint.” To change your life. It's incredible to hear the success stories: someone paid off their parent’s mortgage, another person got themselves out of debt. How that one life-changing mint shifted the course of your life. We all hope that the next mint is the mint. It’s addictive because we cling on to an ideal — the NFT dream — like the American dream, it’s the ideal that we gmi. By sporting this pfp with a high floor price, one feels a sense of security. That they’re part of a successful project. As much as it shows others, it shows themselves that they are going to make it.
(this may not apply to whales… they’re a whole different species 🐋)
Thanks for reading,
Ann
P.S Feel free to DM me if there are any topics you’d like us to explore next 💜 & s/o to @warbucksssss & @derellnft for the conversations that added more spice to this piece.
🪄 What’s happening?
- We’ve partnered with Brave: In a few weeks, users can use $BAT (Brave's reward token) to buy/sell NFTs on Magic Eden!
- Thank you to all 200,000 Discord members. We love all of you 💜
- Increased Security: Phantom introduced a "Hide Suspicious Collectibles" feature within "Device Security" to hide NFT spam.
- Famous Fox Federation is kicking off our first SPL token-only auction with $FOXY. Bid only in $FOXY. Stay tuned!
- The Solana Security Playbook: The Joe Shmoes team lay out a 3-step process to keep your assets (NFTs, crypto) safe.
- Watch: Dive into Okay Bears. Hit that subscribe button!
