Playground: Introducing a community focused NFT social platform

Playground is an exciting and immersive new community platform made by creators for creators. The next-gen social platform is currently in invite-only beta – with a broader launch set for early this year.

In an exclusive interview, NFTevening spoke to Jia Ling Yang, founder and creator of Playground. We talked about her upcoming platform and the exciting future of the startup.

What is Playground?

The young team designed the platform to be a social playground, where users can experience different communities based on their passions and interests. The platform will enable users to follow the events and drops of their favourite creators across art, music, film, sports, comedy, activism, wellness and more.

Meanwhile, users can also participate in community discovery, online/offline events, discussion threads, more tailor-made to consumer interests and community building.

Community is at the heart of the platform. Jia Ling tells us that Playground is “a worldview; it’s the idea that no matter who you are, what you look like, and where you come from, community surrounds you and you always belong.” The company ethos echoes that, Jia Ling stated, “We think technology should exist to bring people closer together, and we can do this better through facilitating shared moments and experiences.”

A Stand for Creators

Playground not only curates this discovery hub of communities, but it is also building the tools required for a creator revolution. The platform has cultural creators in mind, empowering them with tools to run their entire community.

When a creator builds on Playground, they can drop all the experiences from one place, including events,  podcasts, merchandise, NFTs, and even discussion threads where they can interact with their fans and community members.

There are also several monetization tools to help creators grow, allowing them to nurture their community and monetize when it matters. “We stand with a movement of creators building their dream world. And for the first time, they can create, own, and run their communities however they want to. We’re here to make all of this more accessible”, Jia Ling told NFTevening. 

Furthermore, in the future, Playground will reveal web3 features that will “unlock the full potential of communities, and enable them to run more equitably, and connect their members more deeply.”

An Inclusive Worldview

Jia Ling explained that Playground is democratic, and they want to create a space for all artists to come and play and create. Indeed, diversity is a crucial aspect of the platform, and they want to ensure that it is accessible to all. 

Playground will feature a wide range of artists and creators, and people will discover them naturally. Jia Ling went on to say, “Discovery could enable serendipitous collisions, from a really small wellness community in Brooklyn to a very large art institution based in Berlin or Tokyo. I like that high and low, internationally connected aspect of it”.

Playground wants the people informing product decisions to represent a wide range of backgrounds, with various life perspectives and experiences. Jia Ling explained that her life of travel had shaped these ideas.

Significantly, the platform works with many experts globally, including graphic design specialists, marketing communications teams, crypto wizards and notably — social health organizations, to ensure the platform is an experience that’s designed for healthier ways of connecting.

Playground is a space for all

“When it comes to inspiration, nothing beats your own personal experience”, Jia Ling told NFTevening. “Being Taiwanese-American and growing up in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I was used to belonging to culturally diverse and niche, micro-communities. This helps you relate and empathize with so many different types of people.”, she recalled. 

Jia Ling also attributes her inspiration to her professional upbringing. She has over ten years of experience working with various technology, entertainment and culture brands, including YouTube, Facebook, Activision, Beats and Converse.

Early on, she learnt about the creator economy, producing social activations and ideas around what has now become the metaverse.

Jia Ling leaned on this combined knowledge to create Playground along with her team. Obviously, this has shaped how the project will move forward.

Playground debut at Art|Basel

Playground recently debuted their immersive creator platform at Art|Basel in Miami. According to Jia Ling, the debut was a huge success. True to form, Playground worked with Jessica Levy, the Sr. Partnerships Manager at Frieze Art Fair, to host a launch party showcasing a local art community. “The reception in Miami was beyond my expectations. There was a clear excitement and buzz for the space we’re in, everywhere I went.” 

However, they believe there is a long way to go, bridging the gap between culture creators and crypto. Playground will undoubtedly be poised to do so. 

The best of NFTs is yet to come

Playground believes that we are just beginning to see the early possibilities of NFTs. Jia Ling stated that “the most inspiring projects to me are the ones that are yet to come. Web 3 is just getting started, and this is only the beginning of creators getting ahold of these tools.”

Of course, Playground creators will introduce NFTs within their communities, giving them a chance to monetize their events and drops and establish deeper connections with their fans. 

Jia Ling also explained that different communities on the platform could get together and create unique partnerships in the future. “I think that by its nature, communities are really collaborative. So, by having the right communities on Playground, many exciting and interesting NFT projects will come out of this.”

Of course, this is a fascinating concept, and it will be interesting to see what collaborations the Playground creators come up with along with what Jia Ling describes as “our killer web 3 features.” 

Future of Community

Jia Ling sums up the platform as playful, participatory, communal, empowering and connected. 

If you want to know more about Playground, you can view their site here. They are friendly and welcoming, so now is the time to join if you are a creator. Indeed, it is a beautiful concept, and NFTevening looks forward to seeing what the platform can create in the future. 

To find out more about upcoming NFT projects, and keep up to date with the latest drops, check out our NFT calendar.