The value of social decentralization
The development of Web2 social applications has matured considerably, and users have a great demand for sticky social applications. However, there are some pain points in centralized social media networks, such as limited user control over data and content, and susceptibility to censorship, algorithmic manipulation, and privacy violations. Traditional centralized social media platforms have long dominated the market, but these platforms still need to address issues for data and content creators, such as interference from social media accounts, unequal income distribution, and the inability of content creators to fully control the content they produce. With the rise of the data economy and decentralized technologies, there is a growing need for a platform that provides a fair and transparent distribution and revenue system for data and content creators.
In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the trend toward remote work and digital content consumption, which has increased the need for platforms that connect creators and consumers in a decentralized manner. This need is not only urgent, but also provides an opportunity to drive the development of a new generation of decentralized social media platforms that can meet the needs of data and creator economies and provide a fairer and more transparent system for content distribution.
Decentralized social networks are built on blockchain technology, allowing users to control their own data, provide transparency and immutability, and promote more open and free exchange of ideas to solve the problems of centralized social media platforms. Obviously, decentralized social networking is a vertical field with high potential in Web3. It solves the growing demand for creator economy, privacy, ownership, content control, and censorship-resistant communication channels, which is very important for individuals and communities who want to protect their rights and publish content freely. The emergence of Web3 technology provides new possibilities for the development of decentralized social platforms to ensure trusted, interoperable and seamless value transfer within peer-to-peer social networks.
How to build a social graph in Web3?
The decentralized social graph aims to provide more value than ever to the next billion users in Web3 and return control of their data to users. However, calculating and analyzing the amount of social data on the chain is a very complex task, and the raw data is full of noise and information that may be misinterpreted. As the number of users grows exponentially, social data in Web3 becomes extremely important.
So, how to design data structure for such a large social network?
Social graph for millions of users
If we do not consider managing a social graph with massive social data, we can regard each person's NFT account as a node, and use NFT to represent the relationship between any two users, thereby building a relationship graph. If we need to find out the relationship between two people, we can start with a simple search from the NFT chain data of one of them and read the analysis information.
A social graph for billions of users
With the exponential growth of social graphs and social data, we can no longer rely on primitive processing methods if we want to analyze social networks.
The design goals of decentralized social networks dictate that we must use a common data model to represent, exchange, interoperate, transform, and query social network data in a decentralized manner in Web3.
RDF graphs can meet this requirement. Based on the development of tokenized decentralized social graphs, we propose an RDF-based social data model that meets the above requirements.
RDF, or Resource Description Framework, is a metadata modeling standard developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). RDF, also known as RDF triples (triplets), uses the sentence structure of subject-predicate-object to store and express information, consisting of two nodes connected by an edge. For example, Alice knows Bob. This information will be structured as a triple Alice-knows-Bob, where the subject is Alice, the predicate is Knows, and the object is Bob.
Decentralized social graphs based on a common data model make analysis faster and easier, increasing efficiency by nearly a thousand times. All RDF-based social graphs use the same standard framework and formal semantics to store and represent data, and use the same standard query language. Due to the syntax of RDF, sharing between RDF data stored in Web3 becomes simpler. RDF triples follow the same standard, making social graphs interoperable. This interoperability allows RDF-based graphs to integrate and exchange information. It also allows users to add new nodes and relationships, and even substructures, without rebuilding the dataset.
Encoding social connections in Web3
Relation Protocol builds an innovative decentralized social graph protocol that provides developers with a blockchain-native data layer through semantic SBT and standard data formats, providing a trusted, open and interoperable infrastructure for social interactions. In this protocol, when users interact with DApp applications, they will generate a lot of data on the blockchain. This data is standardized, machine-readable RDF data. At a deeper level, users will have more real data ownership and control. Users can share all the social data generated by them and decide how to use it.
Relation Protocol is building a decentralized social protocol layer for Web3, providing a blockchain-native social experience. This facilitates seamless data integration and customizable privacy settings so that the community can better coordinate and achieve enhanced user sovereignty and network effects.
o Native smart contract ecosystem on the chain
Relation proposes the EIP-6239 semantic SBT specification universal data model and events. According to this specification, both communities and individuals can build their relationships in the social graph by deploying smart contracts.
Using events as atomic units to integrate new or updated graph data into the global social graph is also a novel approach and makes it easier to maintain and update the graph database, making it more transparent and tamper-proof.
o General and flexible graph data model
Relation integrates RDF, a flexible and expressive graph data model for describing relationships between resources, which is very suitable for representing social graphs and other complex data structures. Using RDF, the Relation Protocol can easily integrate data from multiple sources and represent the data in a consistent and interoperable format. It provides a highly scalable and composable data model for social networks, allowing different applications and smart contracts to interact with each other and share data seamlessly. As a result, Relation implements a decentralized social data middle layer in Web3. It integrates multi-chain social data into a global social graph through RDF. Private SBT modules (Private SBTs) that configure privacy settings are a unique feature that enables users to control content access in different social environments. Through semantic SBTs, local on-chain or publicly visible data hosting, the Relation Protocol eliminates the need for trusted intermediaries and increases decentralization and security.
o Privacy Configuration
Relation Protocol is a protocol with social privacy programmability and identity management functions. It allows localized on-chain native data storage and decentralized access control, providing users with more control over personal data and content. The protocol provides users with the ability to customize privacy settings through innovative privacy SBT. Users can set their own privacy settings based on their social relationships and interaction contexts, thereby better controlling who can access their data and content. Compared with traditional social network platforms, Relation Protocol avoids centralized data storage and profit models through targeted advertising.
Unlimited Prospects for Relation Protocol
Relation Protocol launched its first pilot application, Relation ONE, in April 2022. Relation ONE aims to become a Web3 social portal for emerging social markets.
Relation ONE is able to build a bridge between Web2 and Web3 social identities, allowing users to manage their profiles in two or even multiple ecosystems. The application builds instant messaging capabilities based on wallet addresses, allowing users to communicate natively, securely and privately on Web3 chains across platforms, and form groups by using NFT-based identity chain verification. Relation ONE introduces a unique and effective new way to build social connections with common interests, promotes the formation of closely connected communities, and incentivizes community members to contribute and participate in discussions. This helps content creators attract more precise and interested audiences, thereby driving more meaningful interactions and a wider range of content exposure. Finally, decentralized access control features give users more control over the content they publish, ensuring that only those with appropriate permissions can access it, which is of considerable importance for maintaining privacy or limiting access to exclusive content.
Currently, Relation ONE connects more than 200,000 users, more than 3 million unique wallet addresses and social accounts, and has established more than 11 million social graph nodes. The application has social gaming features and has achieved exponential user growth through a built-in social recommendation mechanism.
Relation ONE is just one use case for building social applications based on the Relation Protocol. Any developer who wants to build social DApps on the Relation Protocol can do so. For example, developers can build decentralized dating platforms, decentralized credit loan systems, decentralized content distribution networks, and decentralized advertising networks. Currently, the decentralized wallet Hashkey Me and the Web3 recruitment platform Dejob have connected to the Relation Protocol to enhance the social attributes of their businesses. The potential of the Relation Protocol will attract more developers to jointly build an ecosystem for a decentralized society.