✈️ How Telegram could help TON

⚫️ The Telegram update that added a rating system has sparked a lot of discussion in the TON ecosystem. However, right now this rating is rather weakly connected to TON: it's only about stars and the gifts for them. In our #opinion column, we're publishing a subjective view on what could be done here.

⚫️ The idea of a rating itself is interesting. It motivates users to be active, and you don't have to pay them for it (as was the case with Tap-to-Earn), but on the contrary: it turns into a competition of "who will pay more". This is a psychological game, where there seem to be no objective reasons to do something, but some people JUST WANT TO GET AHEAD OF OTHERS. Duolingo works in a similar way, where you can just ignore that damn owl, but then your streak will be broken!

⚫️ Meanwhile, there is an important problem with the mass adoption of TON: it is difficult for the average user to understand at first, and it is not clear to them why they should do it. "Why are there two wallets in @wallet? What is DeFi? And since my banking application works just fine, why should I bother with all of that?"

⚫️ So here's the idea: apply the rating not only to gifts (which are already clear to the mass user), but precisely to this stage of "onboarding into crypto". Give the user a reason to understand TON: if you get a new level for this and surpass your neighbor, it immediately becomes more interesting! And then a person may find that they are already drawn in.

⚫️ Someone will say: "This has all been done before. The 'Open League', streaks in @tapps and the like are all about this." Yes, but these were all separate entities. And if a person does not understand "why do I need crypto", then they do not understand "why do I need the League".

⚫️ It's a completely different matter when everything is built into the main interface of the application you are already using. There's no need to explain what Telegram is and why you should participate in something: you ARE already participating. Here is your rating, here is your friend's rating, he is one level ahead of you, but you can get ahead of him like this.

💡 Although the rating is not about this right now, nothing prevents it from being expanded in this direction in future updates. So, if people who make such decisions read this: you are already on the right track, shall we go further?

@thedailyton