Written by: Kadeem Clarke

Compiled by: Shenchao TechFlow

 

Social media has changed the way we communicate, but not everyone thinks these changes are always positive. Many social media platforms have been criticized for not moderating content appropriately, leading to the spread of misinformation.

 

 

People are frustrated with the way social media handles censorship, privacy, user control, data theft and sharing. Facebook and Instagram, for example, have faced legal action for damaging user trust.

  • More than 4 billion people, or more than half of the world’s population, use social media. On average, internet users spend 2.5 hours a day on social media.

  • Data breaches are a common problem on social media. Your personal information could quickly end up on an illegitimate site. The 2021 Facebook breach is just one example — over 533 million users’ information was exposed. LinkedIn has faced similar issues.

  • While big tech policy is still being updated, the idea of ​​decentralized social media may offer a solution.

 

 

DeSo - Decentralized Social

 

DeSo is a decentralized social network that not only gives users access to the functionality of most Web 2.0 social media platforms, but improves on it by giving users control and monetization options over their content.

 

The native cryptocurrency of the Decentralized Social blockchain is $DESO. This unique layer 1 blockchain is open source and is designed to support and scale data-hungry social media applications.

 

 

The Beginning of DeSo

Former Google software engineer Nader Al-Naji founded Decentralized Social. His commitment to decentralized social media earned him the nickname "Facebook Killer". In May 2019, BitClout began working on the decentralized social blockchain. In addition, BitClout established the DeSo Foundation to help decentralize social media and blockchain development.

 

Several early investors supported the idea behind BitClout. A16z, Coinbase Ventures, Hack VC, Pantera Capital, Sequoia, and other investors contributed $200 million to the development of the DeSo platform.

 

 

In December 2021, just a few months after the launch of the DESO platform, DESO was listed on Coinbase. With its standards and requirements, DeSo became one of the fastest layer 1 blockchains to be listed on the exchange.

 

Salil Shah joined the DeSo team in November 2022 to help grow the company. His current goal is to further develop the creator economy and increase Web3 functionality of the decentralized social media platform.

 

 

DeSo's Goal

People with similar interests will be brought together through the DeSo platform, giving users more control over their social media interactions. Due to the platform’s blockchain foundation, users will be able to maintain a sense of privacy and an extra layer of security when communicating with each other.

 

DeSo provides users with a decentralized environment where they can manage every element of their social network. You will have access to all your social media content on one platform and therefore own your data.

 

DeSo also makes it simpler to scale social media applications. To accommodate billions of users, Web 2.0 social media platforms require massive amounts of digital storage. Compared to DeSo, uploading “likes,” pictures, and status updates to a blockchain like Ethereum would cost millions of dollars. Their website states that 200 characters of on-chain storage costs $0.000017, compared to $78.75 on Ethereum. The platform’s storage costs will not be exceeded by solutions like Cardano or Avalanche.

 

 

According to information on their website, the best part is that anyone running a node to manage their feed will also contribute data back to the common pool of profiles, posts, following, etc. that is stored on the public blockchain.

  • A post or a like on an ESPN node can appear on a Politico feed. A post in China can appear on a feed running on a node in the United States, and vice versa. With each node running, more content is contributed back to the global pool of data stored on the blockchain, making every other node on the network more powerful and more attractive to users.

  • In a sense, DeSo solves the collective action problem among independent publishers: instead of being forced to contribute to private data pools controlled by large corporations with which they are not aligned, publishers can now contribute to a public data pool that no one owns and will never be disintermediated.

  • As a result, we can move from a world where data is a closely guarded private resource to a global public utility that anyone can tap into.

 

 

How to Earn Money as a Creator on DeSo - Social Tokens, Social NFTs, and Social Tipping

The three product categories that DeSoare pioneered have already revolutionized how creators monetize their work online, but this is just the beginning.

  • Social Tokens

  • Social NFTs

  • Social Tips

 

Anyone in the world can experiment with new ways for creators to monetize by building applications on DeSo because it is open source and profitable.

 

For example, imagine that a well-known creator wants to start offering premium content in exchange for a monthly subscription.

  • As long as one person on the Internet builds this functionality, the entire ecosystem of DeSo applications can instantly access this functionality.

  • The same goes for other features, like the Inbox, where creators can get compensated for retweeting content or responding to messages from fans.

  • The world’s best machine learning researchers can develop solutions with unrestricted access to the full data stream, wherever they are, to tackle other problems like identifying offensive content or eliminating spam.

 

Fundamentally, the DeSo blockchain is an open protocol that anyone in the world can contribute to, which will ultimately lead to the creation of more ways to unlock the true potential of creators and bring competition and innovation back to social media.

 

 

6 key features of DeSo

Social media has several characteristics that differ from typical DeFi applications, particularly in terms of interaction and storage.

 

 

Hybrid PoW consensus

Currently, the DeSo platform runs on a hybrid consensus mechanism. By utilizing the PoW model, the blockchain can maintain a high level of security while using significantly less energy than other major blockchains. The model is constantly being improved, and the development team plans to transition to a PoS protocol in the future.

 

 

Social Graph

Every post you like, friend request you accept, and status update you make contributes to your social graph.

 

The connections between users, groups, and organizations of a social network are displayed in the social graph. All user data on decentralized social media is accessible. Therefore, social platforms and external parties cannot use your connections against you. Users can store all their posts and social graphs directly on-chain.

 

 

Hypersync x DeSo

To increase efficiency, most blockchains are made to store only small amounts of data. Social applications require unlimited amounts of data, while DeFi protocols typically only require a few bytes of storage. This problem is solved by Hypersync, which also allows for greater scalability.

 

Block downloading is the typical method used to synchronize blockchain activity. Block transactions are downloaded one by one. While it can happen quickly, each transaction requires a lot of data. By giving users a snapshot of block activity, Hypersync helps users use less data. Records are compressed to make them more compact and useful.

 

 

Infinite state application

Even using bridges to storage-focused blockchains like Arweave or Filecoin, most Web 2.0 applications are not feasible on general-purpose blockchains today due to the high cost of on-chain storage. Storing even a link to Arweave or Filecoin on any of the chains shown above would cost anywhere from $0.10 to over $1.00 at current exchange rates, which is unaffordable.

 

Most blockchains were developed to support finite-state applications with fixed storage requirements; as these chains grow in popularity, costs are likely to increase further. Social media applications, on the other hand, are infinite-state programs that can scale infinitely. The DeSo platform uses a sophisticated, purpose-built indexing system to increase scalability.

 

 

DeSo Identity Services

The DeSo Identity Services Development Tool enables users to quickly store key pairs or credentials in applications based on the DeSo platform. Developers do not need to create complex forms or input validation to confirm the user's identity. Instead, this is seamlessly incorporated into the application.

 

 

Decentralized social applications

There are hundreds of decentralized social applications on the DeSo platform. New applications emerge frequently as some development tools become available.

 

The most popular ones are:

  • Diamond: This decentralized version of Twitter encourages participation while providing new ways for content creators to monetize.

  • Stori: A decentralized app comparable to TikTok, focusing on video content.

  • NFTz: Like OpenSea, this decentralized NFT marketplace adds more social and community elements.

  • DeSocialWorld: Connect with users around the world in multiple languages.

  • DAODAO: Take your social fundraising to the next level with this unique Web3 platform.

  • Vibehut: Meet new people based on common interests or video chat with friends.

 

 

What are its advantages?

Decentralized social may seem complicated, but the DeSo platform is simple and requires little instruction. In addition, there are several unique advantages to using the DeSo platform that you won’t find on other Web 2.0 social platforms.

 

 

Own Your Content

While the most widely used platforms allow you to retain your intellectual property, you may not be able to control who sees it. Your content remains under your rights on the DeSo platform.

 

 

Make your content rewarded

As mentioned earlier, the DeSo platform makes monetization more straightforward. There are several ways for content creators to make extra money. Whether you want to earn money by convincing people to buy your creator tokens or through social tipping, all you have to do is start creating exciting content and communities to make money on DeSo. As more and more people interact with your content, your potential income increases.

 

 

Building applications is easy

The DeSo platform makes it simple to build new applications, and there are many resources available. The DeSo Developer Center is a great resource to use as a starting point for research related to your project. Additionally, you will be able to use any programming language you already know, such as Python or JavaScript. The DeSo platform is open source, so there are countless options for leveraging the Web3 social layer and creating new applications.

 

 

Increased privacy

Maintaining your privacy on social media is much simpler with blockchain technology. Your data is securely stored on the DeSo platform instead of being kept by private companies. Just like blockchain for financial applications, they cannot be accessed without your permission.

 

 

Reduce spam and fake news

While the network's content is not regulated, it does employ a reputation system. The accuracy of the content you see can be rated using this decentralized system. Users are less likely to run into someone with multiple accounts because they are charged for all activity. Since there are no algorithms, users can more precisely tailor the content they see.

 

 

DeSo’s Roadmap

Phase 1 is still in progress - the social layer of Web3, while Phase 2 - the Internet of DeSo is coming, and the most exciting Phase 3, or the so-called revolution, is also coming:

 

 

Token Economics

DESO’s price has experienced significant volatility since its initial launch in June 2021. The token was valued at over $178 at the time of launch.

 

The token briefly saw a price surge after it was listed on Coinbase in December 2021. Its price surged significantly, reaching a high of $438.10, a staggering 151% increase.

 

The blockchain is open source, but a significant amount of funds are currently reserved for further development. The blockchain may experience price fluctuations in the future and gain more individual users as a result of additional investment.

 

 

 

Conclusion

Over time, integration with other blockchain technologies can enable wider adoption of blockchain. For example, MetaMask integration allows users to interact cross-chain with various social applications.

 

Decentralized Social appears to use cutting-edge Web3 technology to apply the benefits of blockchain and social media. Investors may still need to figure out what the future holds. Nonetheless, there are some advantages to the Decentralized Social platform, such as low storage costs, better privacy, and a range of decentralized social applications. It will be interesting to see how this developing technology will affect social media in the future.

 

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