TLDR;

The management of Polkadot’s social media accounts is decentralized. Multiple entities contribute content, including ET90266, the Polkadot Social Media Editorial Board (EB), and Distractive. The EB has five members. This proposal is to fund their salary for their 6 month term (September 15th - March 15th). Each of the five members will receive 2,500 USDT per month.

Background

• Polkadot’s social media accounts are legally owned by Web3 Foundation. The Foundation has entrusted ET90266 to manage the accounts and delegate access to them.Announcement from W3F here.
• EB Announcement on 𝕏: https://twitter.com/Polkadot/status/1767188772595081305
• ET90266 works closely with the EB and Distractive for content creation and to ensure message/brand alignment.
• For a detailed overview of the Social Media Editorial Board (EB) concept, see this forum post.

Should this be funded by the Marketing Bounty?

• A proposal to refund the Marketing Bounty recently passed. However the Marketing Bounty is not yet accepting proposals, and will not begin making payouts until December at the earliest.
• In the future, the community may enact a Wish-for-Change stating that all marketing-related proposals go through the Marketing Bounty. In that case, a proposal like this may go through the Marketing Bounty if the community feels that is the appropriate channel.
• By going directly through OpenGov, the Editorial Board answers to the community and not the curators of a bounty.

The First Editorial Board

The first EB ran from March 15th, 2024 - September 15th, 2024. During that time, Polkadot’s account saw impressive growth in reach and engagement.

• First Report
• Second Report
• Third Report

Editorial Board Selection Process

• The application period for the second EB was announced at the end of August (near the end of the 6-month term for the first EB.)
• Application Announcement on the Polkadot Forum
• ET90266 then interviewed the majority of applicants, and had follow up interviews with the finalists, before selecting the final five members.

Members of the Second Editorial Board

The EB is composed of all-stars from the community. Their collective backgrounds are in business development, content creation, social media, copywriting, marketing and other areas of expertise within Web3.

🇵🇱 Emil (https://x.com/EmilKietzman) Content Conjurer & Threader Extraordinaire

🇬🇧 Esther (https://x.com/estherjade1) Wordsmith Wizard @ Unique

🇨🇭Flavio (https://x.com/Flavio_leMec) Maestro of Marketing and Brand Builder at Polimec

🇹🇷Goku (https://x.com/0xgoku_) Master of Engagement, the Shareability Shaman

🇺🇸 Irvin (https://x.com/irvinxyz) CT OG and Polkahaus provocateur

Their mandate is to work with the community to increase the engagement and reach of Polkadot’s social media accounts.

Funding

• The funds will be paid to a 4/6 multisig controlled by all 5 members + ET90266.
• The funds will then be distributed to 5 EB members in 3 tranches over the next 6 months to ensure all members are contributing. 
• ET90266 will not be compensated from this proposal.

Full Proposal

*edited October 28 @ 21:00 UTC to include mention of marketing bounty.