Frequently Asked Questions
Use the Share App to sell digital products like audio and videos direct to consumer, to fractionalize earnings with community splits and to earn cryptocurrency through shared ownership with others.
Last updated
Use the Share App to sell digital products like audio and videos direct to consumer, to fractionalize earnings with community splits and to earn cryptocurrency through shared ownership with others.
Last updated
To get started with the SHARE App visit https://share.formless.xyz
Watch this video for an in-depth overview of how you can use the product to incentivize engagement and share revenue for any property on the Internet.
X, but when I created the contract, the final split number is different?As of October, 2024, the number of community splits must be a multiple of the total community split percentage, multiplied by any power of 2, including 1 (which is 2^0), 1/2 which is (2^1/2) and so on, up to a maximum of 10,000 splits. For example, if the split is 50% to the community, then valid community split counts are:
25
(1/2*50)
50
(1*50)
100
(2*50)
200
(4*50)
400
(8*50)
800
(16*50)
1600
(32*50)
3200
(64*50)
6400
(128*50)
Collaborator split percentages will impact the overall number of splits required by your contract. For example, if one of your split percentages includes a 0.5% percentage, it will require the number of splits to be at least 200, because a 0.5% percentage number is equivalent 1/200. This may impact your community split pie in unexpected ways. Here's an example:
The following is a 50% community splits contract, with 50 split participants, and with 12 collaborators sharing the other 50%, and with percentage resolution of 0.5%:
Note that in the above case, the number of community splits created will be 100, not 50. This is because in order to acccommodate the 0.5% precision in the collaborator splits partition, the overall split count needs to be 200. As a result, the 50% community share will equate to 100 splits. In order to grant splits to only 50 participants, you'd need to send join links that each include 2 splits. But note, your contract will show a remaining split count that corresponds to 100 available community splits, not 50.
The following is the same example, but with a percentage resolution of 1%:
In this case, the number of community splits created will be 50. This is because the collaborator splits only require 1% precision and therefore an overall split count of 100 is adequate. 50% of the share is 50 splits, and therefore the available community split count will display 50.
You can create a new account and transfer ownership of your assets to the address associated with your new account ID. Asset ownership transfers can be done using the SHARE Protocol Dashboard -> Create -> Edit Contracts -> Transfer Contract Ownership. For the destination address, use the blockchain address of your new Formless account ID, which can be found at Account Blockchain Address under the account tab of the dashboard.
Note that this will only work for contracts you have created and will not work for splits you have joined. If you'd like to transfer ownership of a split, which is a different kind of smart contract, please reach out to us directly at developers@formless.xyz, as we're in the process of evaluating demand for this capability.
Yes. The best option today is to (1) use a platform specifically designed for your content format, (2) pair that asset with a standalone community splits contract on SHARE Protocol, (3) use Formless payouts via the SHARE Protocol dashboard to distribute rewards into the contract.
The rationale behind this is that FORMLESS's objective is to build a flexible infrastructure layer rather than attempting to reinvent applications that already do an excellent job with different formats and file types.
Standalone community splits contracts paired with off-chain assets require the ability for you to distribute payouts to the contract based on the performance metrics of the asset. Because of this, it is a premium tier feature that you can purchase access to here.
Here's an example:
You write an essay and would like to decentralize ownership of it, sharing rewards with a community as views increase.
You create a standalone community splits contract using the SHARE decentralized application.
You distribute a join splits link to your community and incentivize a key behavior, e.g. you can distribute it to your mailing list subscribers, or to people that reshared your most recent social post etc.
You publish the essay on a platform such as Mirror or Substack and track views or any other metric using that platform's analytics.
You use the distribute payouts capability within the SHARE decentralized application to reward the community in accordance with the performance metrics in step 4.
Note that automation will increase to reduce the number of steps above, however you can get started with these steps today. Because step 4 is manual, it is essential that you communicate the limit of the reward amount and time period, e.g. "This essay will generate $5 per 1K views for the next 48 hours, paid to the community, powered by SHARE Protocol".
We've designed this to be as flexible as possible, meaning the mechanism for paying out split owners as a reward for post performance is independent of post monetization. There are no social media account monetization qualifications necessary to get started with community splits on social media posts. Instead, you can set a maximum spend budget with Formless by purchasing credits, and use the Community -> Distribute Revenue payouts feature within the SHARE dashboard to facilitate payouts. Note that the payouts feature requires premium access to SHARE, which you can learn more about here. Distribute Revenue will not appear in your dashboard until after the advisory call which comes with your free trial.
With this setup, the social media platform itself is not what generates the revenue to reward post performance. Instead, your budget is directly used to reward splits holders.
Since social post monetization and community payouts are independent, it is essential that you communicate the limit of the reward amount and time period clearly.
Here are the specific steps to get setup:
Construct the language of your post.
Here's an example from Instagram:
The message above is structured with several critical key elements, specifically for Instagram:
First, the CTA "Reshare to co-own this post!" is stated so that it is immediately visible even when viewed as a reel.
Second, the revenue share and number of splits are communicated, e.g. 1,000 co-ownership splits. This is important because it signals scarcity and clarity of the opportunity.
Third, the fact that it is completely free to receive splits is communicated. This is critical as it significantly de-risks the perception of the opportunity and informs the end user that this is incentivizing new behaviors and not a new purchase or investment.
The specific CPM (cost per 1K impressions) is communicated. These are the nuts and bolts of the smart contract. Note that the limits are also communicated, e.g. "until 100K impressions are reached" limits the spend on CPM.
Lastly, how the user will receive the link to join is communicated "We will DM the link to join––It’s free & easy!"
In general you can modify this outline to fit your needs, however these five elements are critical and platform independent. For example, in step 5, you may choose to distribute the join link only to community members who have subscribed to your mailing list. It's completely up to you, but must be communicated in the offer.
Here's an example from X:
Note that on X, each post section has less than 280 characters to ensure the critical information is visible without needing to tap to expand the post.
Create the smart contract. The reason we recommend constructing the post language first is that it will impact how you setup your smart contract. You can create community splits smart contracts linked to social posts using Dashboard --> Create --> Community Splits. You can create up to 10,000 splits per contract. Once your contract is created, you'll be able to link your social post to the contract metadata and distribute payouts to all community members who hold splits. Unlike pay-for-access smart contracts, this kind of smart contract is standalone and does not require you to upload any media.
As the KPI (for example impressions) increases, you can use the payouts feature to facilitate payments to the contract which will then be distributed to the community in real-time. This is a manual step, e.g. you will need to monitor the impressions and calculate the correct amount of revenue to distribute periodically until your goal is reached. To get access to the payouts feature, you'll purchase network credits from Formless. Once you have secured a premium account and your network credits, head to Dashboard --> Community --> Distribute Revenue where you can enter the community splits contract address and pay out the community. After payouts are distributed, split owners will see revenue in their dashboard and SHARE will handle KYC and off-ramping requirements to cash users out to their bank accounts if they choose to do so, same day. For more crypto native users, they can directly execute an onchain transfer of funds to an address of their choice.
Download your data. One of the most powerful aspects of community splits is that you will receive opt-in data, including email addresses, for all split holders, which you can then use to build your distribution network outside of corporate social platforms. Head to Dashboard --> Community --> Data where you can enter the community splits contract address and download the community split data for your smart contract.
It is not required that you upload your song to a distribution service like Tunecore or CD Baby before uploading to Share. That said, it's completely up to you and depends on your goal. Here are a few strategies you can use to combine the technologies:
Release a song exclusively on Share for a certain amount of time as a pre-release to your release on DSPs.
Release your song on all platforms, and create a community splits link to share streaming revenue from DSPs. In this case your fans won't actually play the song from Share, but they'll still join splits and you can payout your community in realtime as streams increase.
This is completely up to you. If you'd like buyers of your track to also receive splits, you can send them the standalone splits link immediately after (or before) so that they can join. For digital properties that have splits enabled, both the buy and join buttons will appear on the linked page, so ideally when you initially distribute the digital property link you can send a message like "You can support me by purchasing that track, and also join splits for free by pressing JOIN SPLITS". We've found that by using the single digital property link which includes both buttons, you can increase your conversions since the number of people viewing your track generally tends to increase as there's an opportunity to join splits as well as to purchase the song.
We've designed this to be as flexible as possible, meaning the mechanism for paying out split owners as a reward for song or video performance on streaming platforms is independent of the platform itself. Instead, you can set a maximum spend budget with Formless by purchasing credits, and use the Community -> Distribute Revenue payouts feature within the SHARE dashboard to facilitate payouts. Note that the payouts feature requires premium access to SHARE, which you can learn more about here. Distribute Revenue will not appear in your dashboard until after the advisory call which comes with your free trial.
Since streaming monetization and community payouts are independent, it is essential that you communicate the limits and time period clearly.
Here are the specific steps to get setup:
Construct the language of your message.
Here's an example from Instagram:
Create the smart contract. The reason we recommend constructing the post language first is that it will impact how you setup your smart contract. You can create community splits smart contracts linked to social posts using Dashboard --> Create --> Make Payments to Your Community -->Create a Community Splits Contract. You can create up to 10,000 splits per contract. Once your contract is created, you'll be able to associate your streaming link to the contract metadata and distribute payouts to all community members who hold splits. Unlike pay-for-access smart contracts, this kind of smart contract is standalone and does not require you to upload any media.
As the streams or views increase, you can use the payouts feature to facilitate payments to the contract which will then be distributed to the community in real-time. This is a manual step, e.g. you will need to monitor the streams or views yourself and calculate the correct amount of revenue to distribute periodically until your goal is reached. To get access to the payouts feature, you'll purchase network credits from Formless. Once you have secured a premium account and your network credits, head to Dashboard --> Community --> Distribute Revenue where you can enter the community splits contract address and pay out the community. After payouts are distributed, split owners will see revenue in their dashboard and SHARE will handle KYC and off-ramping requirements to cash users out to their bank accounts if they choose to do so, same day. For more crypto native users, they can directly execute an onchain transfer of funds to an address of their choice.
Download your data. One of the most powerful aspects of community splits is that you will receive opt-in data, including email addresses, for all split holders, which you can then use to build your distribution network outside of corporate social and streaming platforms. Head to Dashboard --> Community --> Data where you can enter the community splits contract address and download the community split data for your smart contract.
To embed the SHARE music or video player on your own website, copy the source code below and replace the iframe src attribute with the link to your digital content.
Copy
Notice that the src attribute link includes the embed keyword: https://share.formless.xyz/embed/polygon/0x3e22b4c345CfeA1052395298Ad84B158F2d14668?theme=light. You can modify values like width and min-height accordingly to match your site design.
Share Protocol uses a rotational payment system to distribute revenues to split owners. This means that each time a sales transaction occurs or a metric threshold is achieved (e.g. views on a social media post) payments are distributed in whole, and randomly allocated using statistical probability to split owners. Over time, and as transactions increase, the payments you receive will correspond with the split percentage you own.