The world of crypto airdrops is ever-changing and Sonic is at the forefront with their unique approach. Sonic has evolved from simply rewarding DeFi behavior. Now, it’s compensating individual users for their social media interactions on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. This article breaks down how Sonic's airdrop works through its partnership with Kaito, focusing on the 'Yap' point system and how anyone can maximize their rewards by creating quality social media content.

Understanding the Sonic Airdrop and Kaito Integration

The Sonic airdrop program was designed by Sonic, a decentralized finance blockchain. Through this initiative, we’re able to offer users rewards based on their high level of engagement with the Sonic ecosystem. What makes this airdrop especially cool is that it’s able to blend in with Kaito. Kaito is a Web3 platform for tracking and rewarding social media engagement. To make the Yapper Leaderboard even snappier, Sonic is working with Kaito to level it up. This interactive leaderboard follows and ranks users according to the quality of their Sonic-themed content on X.

This partnership is a notable change in terms of how airdrops have usually been executed. Previously, airdrops were mainly used to reward users for DeFi-centric tasks such as staking or liquidity provisioning. In contrast, Sonic’s approach focuses on building community and getting people engaged with the process via social media.

Users will continue to earn points by posting Sonic-related content on X. They tag their posts appropriately in order to make it easy for Kaito to find and track them. As users create and share this valuable content, they’ll see their names move up the Yapper Leaderboard. The further up a user’s ranking on the leaderboard, the larger their possible rewards in the Sonic airdrop. This creative strategy fuels arts advocacy on social media. It empowers users to be educated and engaged members of the Sonic community.

How to Earn 'Yap' Points and Maximize Rewards

Accumulate. Yap points are the secret to earning the most in Sonic airdrop. Kaito’s social-graph algorithm is key to making sure all of those contributions are fairly counted and rewarded. Facebook’s new algorithm prioritizes educational and informative content. That’s because the users who create more quality, original content have a better shot at accumulating the most Yap points.

Kaito's system tracks user activity from June 18, 2025, and retroactively updates and verifies each tweet, linking it to the user's on-chain wallet address. This makes it easy to ensure that all contributions are accounted for and that rewards are shared equitably. Sonic will be opening claims for its Season 1 airdrop starting a few weeks after June 18, 2025. Beginning with Season 2, users will be able to accrue points by engaging in DeFi activities. They can build points through social media engagement, creating a holistic system of rewarding participation.

To accumulate Yap points, users must produce original content and consistently interact with those around them. They can further increase their points by competing in project leaderboards through the Kaito Yaps platform. The platform uses three evaluation dimensions to assess user contributions: volume, engagement, and semantics.

Evaluation Dimensions

  • Volume: The amount of content a user creates.
  • Engagement: How other users interact with the content (likes, shares, replies).
  • Semantics: The quality and relevance of the content.

The algorithm favors quality and relevance, rewarding high-quality, unique content while punishing regurgitated or spammy content. Creating conversation with other users via reply, like and share features increases a user’s engagement which is then calculated into their Yap points.

Examples of Content That Qualifies for Yap Points

Here are some examples of content that can help users climb the Yapper Leaderboard:

  • Original Explanations: Create posts that explain complex aspects of Sonic or its technology in simple terms.
  • Informative Threads: Develop threads that provide detailed insights into Sonic's ecosystem or its potential impact on the DeFi space.
  • Educational Content: Share tutorials or guides on how to use Sonic's platform or participate in its community.
  • Thoughtful Analysis: Offer thoughtful analysis of Sonic's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis).

Additional Tips for Earning Points

  • Participate in live sessions: Engage with brands in real-time through live unboxing of rewards, Q&A sessions, or other interactive content.
  • Respond to comments and hints: Reply to comments from brands with personalized interactions, such as acknowledging reward hints or milestones.
  • Use branded hashtags: Share content featuring the brand's rewards and use their designated hashtags (e.g., #LoyalTo[Your Brand]) to earn points and visibility.
  • Join challenges: Participate in brand-hosted challenges, such as sharing a photo of a reward haul (e.g., #MyRewardHaul) to earn bonus points.
  • Engage with explainer content: Watch and interact with explainer videos (e.g., "How to Earn Points in 60 Seconds") to learn more about the loyalty program.

The Shift Towards Social Engagement in Airdrops

Sonic’s decision to reward social media engagement demonstrates the crypto space’s emphasis on innovation as a buzzword over a sustainable product. The community of developers and designers is hard at work making connections and attracting users. They’re incentivizing active engagement, taking the attention beyond just what’s going on in DeFi. This change comes with big implications for the projects and the users.

For creative projects, it helps them to cultivate deeper, more connected audiences for their work. By rewarding users for sharing information, creating content, and interacting with others, projects can foster a sense of ownership and loyalty. And that, in turn, drives more adoption, more usage, and that flywheel keeps driving as the growth compounds.

For end users, it unlocks new ways to earn passive income via DeFi. Social engagement-based rewards open the platform to a more diverse user base. These are not exclusive to those with a singular focus on staking or liquidity provision, allowing for much broader and more inclusive participation. The algorithm very much favors small accounts. They can be successful if they double down on microcontent or original angles. Airdrop farming is evolving into a permanent, more sustainable strategy. Now, participants can earn incentives by positively contributing to the project on many levels, far beyond just DeFi-focused actions.

Sonic’s airdrop—driven by Kaito’s Yapper Leaderboard—is the perfect illustration of this new paradigm. Sonic incentivizes users by rewarding effective social media advocacy. This strategy not only encourages early and often participation, but helps create a better-informed and engaged constituency. This creative use of airdrops will likely become more common in the future. In turn, it will open up thrilling new ways for users to earn rewards and collectively contribute to the growth of the DeFi ecosystem.