The growth and popularity of social media platforms can be associated with their appeal to basic human need; to belong in a group and to socialize. However, there have been a lot of disadvantages and negatives associated with the traditional sites, as many people claim that the sites have turned to spying and negative use of user data.
With these issues in mind, a lot of attention has been put to the possibility of adapting peer-to-peer blockchain-based tech apps which do not harvest user data and which allow users to control what appears on their timelines.
Social media run on the blockchain technology (decentralized social media) will have certain features such as;
- a distributed consensus mechanism which ensures privacy and security
- elimination of a central server gives users more control over their own content
- the blockchain eliminates censorship and safeguards freedom of speech by making meta-data anonymous
- use of tokens, coins and smart contracts in blockchain will make payments, transactions and pee-to-peer commerce easier
- through use of the blockchain, users are not a product
- crowdfunding for startups will be easier with external payment methods and decentralized networks.
The following decentralized social media platforms have gained a huge user base and following.
This platform describes itself as the first social network built on the Steem blockchain. It is a form of Reddit where by posting content on the platform, users earn the crypto coin, Steem. Steemit is one of the highest used decentralized social media platforms, with hundreds of thousands of users and it believes that users need to be rewarded for their attention and contribution.
Steem is blockchain based hence the points can be traded on the market as tokens. Users can buy, sell or hold the tokens in anticipation for increase in their purchasing power for various Steem related services.
Sola describes itself as the next-gen social network with open information for the open world. The platform uses artificial intelligence and user reactions to generate revenue from partnerships, advertisements and user payments. The social platform is powered by Sol utility token, which is used to reward users, who are able to monetize their content, unlike in the traditional social media platforms.
This platform does not rely on the concept of followers or following. Rather, through AI and user reactions, information shared is spread and the network identifies quality content, making sure it reaches interested in such type of content.
Sola uses node architecture to fuel its existence and any user can host the Sola node on their computer and receive a reward for each post that is delivered to the end user. Decentralization makes this platform almost immune to censorship and blocking, at the same time keeping costs low.
Obsidian
This is a proof-of-stake, Stratis-based blockchain that can bypass surveillance and cookies. The CEO of Obsidian explained that the decentralized approach scatters the metadata across the globe hence it is not used for advertising and analytics.
The Obsedian Secure Messenger was created to focus on state-of-the art applied cryptography to provide an edge over presently viable and future attacks. It does not require any PII which could potentially compromise user identity and all text messages are encrypted end-to-end ensuring complete protection from middle ware attacks.
onG Social is a blockchain-based social dashboard that provides ease of control for central-decentralized social media platforms and also supports community building and social interactions with crypto rewards.
The decentralized social media network runs on both Ethereum and Waves platforms making its encryption measures more secure and stable. Through onG network, a user’s content can be distributed to all their networks, hence bringing their social networks to one place.
Posts on the site are validated by measuring their global impact and verified truths through community consensus which is aimed at motivating the public to generate more quality content. onG Social also supports other crypto projects such as Storj and Golem.
It is based on the Ethereum blockchain as an alternative to LinkedIn that promotes a skills economy with its own currency. The site uses various ways to validate skills in a simple and objective way such as a decentralized consensus where the skills are judged by random anonymous users. It also validates the skills on a real-time basis using AI based systems.
Users have to attach proof of their skills for members to verify their claims. Users are rewarded for endorsing the skill sets of other users with IND tokens, which can later be traded or used on the platform to purchase services such as company pages with validated connections and advertising.
This site relies on three main principles; decentralization, freedom and privacy. A user does not need to reveal their identity when signing up to use this site. New users have the option of making their presence known by others through the user of #newhere tag and writing a few words to introduce themselves to the platform. Also, users can use different #tags according to their interest and also to help other users to find their content.
Synereo
This platform offers blockchain-enabled Attention Economy solutions, allowing for uninterrupted and platform agnostic monetization of original content posted anywhere on the internet. The first tool of Synereo known as Wildspark allows content to be monetized through a distributed meta-layer on top of existing media hubs and social networks.
Through this, users get incentives to reward both content creators and curators directly with AMP token without Synereo or media hubs taking and cuts. On this decentralized social media platform, users will therefore reward one another, supporting the creation of value on the platform directly without fees and intermediaries.
This is a highly customizable, democratized social news platform that is built on the Ethereum blockchain. It describes itself as an alternative to social news platforms such as Google and Facebook. The mission of Sapien network is to champion users and truth, but not for financial incentives. Through the blockchain, Sapien will reward millions of content creators and curators without centralized intermediaries.
It is a social media network as well as a publishing platform that is based on the Ethereum blockchain that allows its users to record their content without fear of censorship. Akasha has implemented an incentivizing mechanism which incorporates voting with micro transactions and mining, allowing users to earn rewards in ETH for quality content and facilitating mining.
Moving forward
There are many other decentralized social media platforms such as Nexus, Sphere, PROPS Project, MeWe, Mastodon, Peepeth and Minds.
The traditional social media sites have been faced with different challenges that are affecting their users. This will affect their numbers and the above platforms have seen the potential of the blockchain in solving these issues and providing more features. The blockchain promises users more incentives and also to move social media sites to a different level.
If your aim is to earn for creating content for social media, boost your security or eliminate adverts on your timeline, join one of the above decentralized social media sites and interact with users from across the globe.