The rise of the TON ecosystem: from social media to traffic monetization

Against the backdrop of the booming blockchain sector, the TON ecosystem stands out with its unique development path. By drawing on the successful experience of mini-programs, TON's MiniApp not only drives the expansion of ecosystem users but also provides innovative business models and effective traffic strategies for Web3 projects. These MiniApps demonstrate strong traffic-generating capabilities on social platforms, enabling Web3 projects to quickly reach a broad user base. This article will delve into the rapid rise of the TON ecosystem, analyzing how it provides valuable business model references and traffic solutions for future Web3 users on social platforms and other Web2 channels through MiniApps, helping them succeed in a fiercely competitive market.

Significant rise in data on the TON blockchain

Common indicators for assessing the level of ecosystem growth include trading volume, the number of active addresses, the status of smart contract development, total locked value (TVL), network fees, validator participation, token transfer volume, and MiniApp interaction. These indicators comprehensively reflect the development status and activity level of the ecosystem.

User Acquisition Strategies on TON

Social Fission: Low-cost and Efficient User Growth Strategy

Social fission is a highly effective user acquisition strategy, widely used especially on social platforms. By relying on users' social networks, social fission achieves rapid growth through the dissemination of relationship chains. Compared to traditional advertising marketing, social fission has lower costs and higher persuasiveness, as users are more inclined to trust recommendations from friends or family. In addition, social fission leverages network effects and fission gameplay, capable of creating exponential dissemination effects, leading to precise user growth. Users acquired through fission are often similar in interests, needs, and behavioral characteristics to target users, making dissemination more effective. At the same time, relying on daily high-frequency usage social products increases user stickiness, allowing them to use these platforms and products more frequently.

Learn from WeChat's fission strategy

WeChat, as a successful example of social fission, offers rich reference experiences in areas such as mini-program operation, external link management, and personal account usage for other platforms. The fission gameplay that was once banned on WeChat can be attempted again on other social platforms. By learning from WeChat's operational experiences, projects on other platforms can leverage these social fission strategies to achieve viral dissemination and rapid user growth.

Application Scenarios: Games

Depending on the complexity of the product and business, the customer acquisition methods for viral fission can be divided into several levels:

• 0 Lure Earnings Type: Attract users through simple online earning mechanisms, such as projects like Notcoin and Hamster Kombat, which have hundreds of millions of users and a large number of channel subscribers on social platforms.

• Probability Gaming Type: Combines probability-based lottery mechanics such as red envelope splitting, lucky big wheel, blind box opening, etc. Typical projects include Catizen (cat raising) and TonGifts (red envelope distribution). These types of projects rely on social networks to quickly spread users.

• Casual Game Type: Attract users through more complex gameplay and entertainment scenarios, such as Catizen and PixelTap (robot battles). These casual mini-games increase user stickiness and engagement through deep user interaction.

Application Scenario: Memecoin

User acquisition strategies are not only applicable to traditional products, but also crucial in the promotion of Meme Coins. The diffusion path of Meme Coins can be likened to the difference between natural diamonds and synthetic diamonds. Natural Meme Coins spread spontaneously through the community, and the path typically extends from Reddit to social platforms and then spreads to a wider range of social media. In contrast, synthetic Meme Coins achieve viral rapid dissemination through social splitting strategies within social platforms.

To create a blockbuster Meme Coin, the key lies in the strategy of "putting in great effort to achieve miracles + rural encirclement of cities," using low-cost and high-impact social scenarios for promotion. A developer-friendly environment and fair design are also important factors in attracting users. Additionally, by creating a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out), more people are encouraged to participate, thereby forming a strong consensus and user traffic.

These user acquisition strategies not only played an important role in the incubation of Meme Coins but also provided a strong impetus for user growth on social platforms and the TON ecosystem. This strategy opens up broad space for the future development of the Web3 ecosystem.

Phenomenal Success Case: Notcoin

Notcoin is a social clicker game accessible through social platforms. Since its official launch on January 1, 2024, it has quickly attracted a large number of users. The game reached astonishing figures in just a few months: 40 million users, 8 million channel subscribers, and 6 million daily active users. Here are the key milestones in its development:

• January 1, 2024: Official launch of the game.
• January 26, 2024: Cumulative users reach 20 million.
• February 29, 2024: Co-branded event with a trading platform.
• March 8, 2024: Pre-Market opens at Getgems, 10M Notcoin points can be exchanged for an NFT voucher (equivalent to 10,000 $NOT).
• March 30, 2024: Announcement of the token economy, declaring that 100% of NOT tokens will be distributed to players.
• April 12, 2024: End game mining and announce the official economic model.
• May 16, 2024: Launching simultaneously on multiple major trading platforms.

The success of Notcoin can be attributed to the three major elements of "timing, location, and harmony."

• Demand for social platforms: Platforms need a thriving ecosystem, requiring a large number of applications similar to mini-programs, and enabling developers to profit from them. Notcoin just happens to meet this demand.

• Demand of the TON Foundation: The TON Foundation needs to establish the utility and business model of the TON token by building an application ecosystem, and Notcoin is an ideal application scenario.

• Demand from exchanges: In the current market's sluggish sentiment, exchanges are urgently in need of new Web3 users, and Notcoin's large user base provides them with this opportunity.

• The needs of Web3 and Web2 users: The success of Notcoin is also attributed to meeting the demands of different user groups, such as the fairness sought by experienced Web3 users and the desire for low barriers and high returns from newly entering Web2 users.

Main Business Model of Social Platforms + TON

1. In-app purchases (virtual rise)

This model, as the main revenue model for mini-games within the WeChat ecosystem, has given birth to several hit paid products, such as "Sheep A Sheep" in 2021.

By the end of Q2 2024, WeChat mini-games will have over 500 million monthly active users, and the estimated annual revenue will reach 40 billion RMB.

Similar to WeChat mini-games, in the social platform + TON ecosystem, in-app purchases have become a successful business model, especially in the gaming sector. Catizen is a typical representative of this model. Since its launch in March 2024, Catizen has attracted over 50 million users in less than four months and generated over $20 million in revenue through in-app purchases. Notably, Catizen's success is reflected not only in its large user base but also in its high ARPU (Average Revenue Per User). Furthermore, 40% of the platform's premium users are Catizen players, indicating a high level of integration between virtual value-added services and social platforms, providing significant profit opportunities for developers.

2. Token issuance

The token issuance platform is another major business model in the social platform + TON ecosystem, and the Notcoin project is a successful example of this model. Since its official launch in January 2024, Notcoin has rapidly accumulated 40 million users and successfully pushed the NOT token to the market through a series of events and strategic partnerships (such as co-branded events with trading platforms and Pre-Market on Getgems). This model not only helped Notcoin quickly expand its user base but also achieved a seamless transition from gaming to the financial market through the token economic model. Ultimately, Notcoin's token was successfully listed on multiple major exchanges, further consolidating its market position. In late September, Catizen and Hamster also successfully listed on exchanges.

3. Traffic Conversion -- Sales, Joint Operation Incubation

Traffic Selling: Strategies for Efficient Monetization

In the social platform + TON ecosystem, traffic sales have become an efficient and direct monetization strategy. Holdcoin, Tomarket, and Banana are representatives of this model, operating multiple projects daily and generating considerable income by selling user traffic from social channels. Depending on the number, quality, and regional distribution of purchasing users, the selling price per user on mainstream platforms ranges from $0.03 to $0.1. This model not only allows for rapid cash flow acquisition but also provides a convenient user acquisition channel for small and medium-sized projects.

Traffic Alliance: Incubating New Projects with Mature Ecosystems

The traffic cooperation model is known as the "Cheetah Model" and has been widely used in the social platform + TON ecosystem. Catizen's long-term plan includes this strategy, aiming to incubate 200 games that were once popular in the WeChat ecosystem. By leveraging the existing user base and traffic advantages, the traffic cooperation model helps these games quickly acquire users on new platforms and rejuvenate their vitality. This model not only reduces the market promotion costs for new projects but also significantly increases the success rate, allowing previously successful games to be reborn in a new ecosystem.

Meme Incubation: Comprehensive Promotion from Community to Market

The Meme incubation model is an extension of traffic sales and joint operations, combining the functions of launchpad and DEX to provide a one-stop solution for Meme Coin projects from incubation to market promotion. Blum is one of the successful cases of this model, with 20 million social channel users. Through the MVP program of a certain trading platform, the Blum project successfully promoted multiple Meme Coin projects in social platforms and the crypto market. The Meme incubation model leverages the powerful social networks of social platforms and the blockchain technology of TON, allowing emerging Meme projects to quickly attract community attention, gain initial traffic, and ultimately achieve trading on DEX. This model not only promotes the spread of Meme culture but also provides investors and community members with the opportunity to participate in innovative projects.

![User Growth Path of the TON Ecosystem: From Social Fission to Traffic Monetization](