DeSo: A New Era of Social Media 👍

Hey everyone, Kendall here on the intro! 👋🏼 By now you all know that every week Chad and I write about topics that are timely and relevant, whether in the news or our lives. This week’s post is a bit of a blend between the two. We’re talking all things social media…

…but make it decentralized. IYKYK.

This week in the news, we saw TikTok’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, take the stand to defend TikTok from being banned in the United States. If TikTok is banned, this will be especially tough for creators who rely on the platform to connect with their fans (#centralizationprobs).  On a more personal note, this past weekend I attended a Demo Day for Wharton’s Blockchain Accelerator and met a fellow blockchain babe, Sophie, who I got to nerd out with over what some cool DeSo platforms are building.

If you’re an OG subscriber, you may remember I wrote a little bit on this topic about a year ago, but at that time I was just sharing my predictions for what the future of decentralized networks could look like. In this post, Chad and I are going to provide an overview for where decentralized networks are now, which company is leading the way, and what this means for you. 

What is decentralized social media?

Like the name kind of states, DeSo the social media we all know but ✨decentralized✨. What does that mean? It means that unlike Meta, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp, SnapChat (you get the picture) - it’s not governed by a central authority. Instead, the social networks are built upon decentralized technology - you guessed it: blockchain! And this technology that we know and love helps put the power back in the hands of the users. So now unlike a platform listed above saying “ah ah! You can’t post that”, users can now post whatever they want without worrying that it will be taken down. 

DeSo sounds too good to be true… Is it?

Of course, like almost anything, there’s a lot of pros here, especially for the users, but also a few concerns when there’s no central party running the show.

Let’s start with the positives…

• Censorship resistance: if no one controls what is and isn’t published, users can post whatever they want

• Ownership over personal data: users have more control over their data and can choose how it is used and shared

• Less data breaches: this isn’t just because user data is stored across a decentralized network of nodes rather than on a central server. Users also create accounts without linking them to real-world identities (e.g., email addresses or phone numbers). Instead, they often rely on public key cryptography rather than trusting a single organization to protect user data

• Governance: through decentralized autonomous organization (DAOs - you can read about them in this newsletter), users have the ability to decide on the direction and deployment of the platform through various built-in mechanisms

• Economic neutrality: say goodbye to those ads that are in your face every 5 pictures you scroll by on Instagram. Instead, these platforms are usually financed by digital currency or other financing (like the ones mentioned in this newsletter) 

And now for the drawbacks…

• Switching costs: as much as we hate them, it’s incredibly tough to walk away from these web2 social media sites, especially if it a lot of our network isn’t using the next best thing (DeSo, duh!)

• Limited functionality: it took some time for Meta to add a lot of features that keep us on the platform. DeSo is still in its early phases so its lacking some of the frills found on web2 networks

• Volatility: sadly, if these networks are native to a cryptocurrency that sees a lot of fluctuation in the market, that could impact the its longevity. Which means that if the network were to shutdown, users could lose their social connections out of nowhere 

• Lack of moderation: in a world of free speech online, there’s a greater chance of there being political misinformation, cyberbullying, and even criminal activity

Lens Protocol: the next best thing in Decentralized Social?

Now that we have an understanding of what decentralized social media is, it’s time to introduce you to one of the key players in the space: Lens Protocol by AAVE. 

According to Cointelegraph, “Lens Protocol is a blockchain-based open-source social graph created to reshape the future of social media concepts in the era of Web3 and decentralization.” If you’re wondering what an online social graph is, it’s a data structure that shows the relationship between users on a social network platform, people, places and things they interact with. Lens Protocol empowers users to completely own their data, take back control of their information and links, and even provide features to monetize their content by leveraging the emergence of the decentralized social graph.

So, how does it work?

Lens Protocol was designed to look just like our current social media functionality but in a Web3 setting using blockchain technology, NFTs and smart contracts. When we first saw the applications, we honestly thought it was a Twitter profile! But really, it was a blockchain lookalike lol. You can post, comment, update your profile, and follow friends, just like all of our favorite Web3 platforms. Check out this breakdown by Prestmit of how Lens works:

1. The first step of a Lens Protocol user is to create the Profile NFT. Possessing this NFT is a key to adding content, linking, communicating and gaining control over your data. 

1. The Profile NFT permits users to track other profiles through the personal Follow feature. This is not exactly the same option in Web2 social media.

1. When a user of Lens Protocol follows a profile, they get a Follow NFT which can be encoded with additional value.

1. The Collects feature of Lens Protocol allows users to monetize their accounts by setting a Collect option when uploading a publication to their Profile NFT. By being totally in possession of their content, creators can sell it to their followers under certain determined conditions.

Even though we’re only going deep on Lens Protocol in this post, there are MANY other companies building solutions in this space that are worth checking out:

While everything has its pros and cons, decentralized social networks have the potential to be one of the catalysts to onboard people like us and you into Web3 in a way that makes sense and benefits us. Would you use a DeSo network? Let us know in the comments. Until next week!

– Chad & Kendall