Social Media to Change Forever?
Are Blockchain-based social media apps the answer to Facebook's social media monopoly?
The massive Facebook outage that took down three major social media platforms for hours this week has sparked countless memes, videos, and posts. But more importantly, it has once again sparked a conversation about how monopolies are harmful.
The Facebook outage not only caused Mark Zuckerberg's wealth to plunge by a whopping $6 billion but also impacted many small business owners who rely on these networks to conduct their business, leaving them outraged.
A testimony from ex-FB employee Frances Haugen which stated that the company's apps harm children and weaken democracy further fanned the flames. This has led many US lawmakers to call on the country to update its laws about monopolies so they can either regulate Facebook better or break it up.
However, Nader Al-Naji has a better solution to counter Facebook's monopoly. Al-Naji believes that instead of counting on the government to break or govern monopolies, we should take matters into our own hands and allow the free market to end their reign.
How is this possible, you ask? And, who is Nader Al-Naji?
Well, some time back, Al-Naji had anonymously created a new crypto-based social media platform called BitClout. The platform worked as a social crypto exchange where you could bet on the popularity of celebrities and influencers. How? With fiat money?
Nuh-uh. It had its own cryptocurrency, called BitClout! Several major companies like Coinbase, Sequoia Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz invested in the platform, considering it to be the future of social media. In fact, the platform even earned Al-Naji a new nickname: "The Facebook Killer"! (You can read further about BitClout here).
Now, you must be wondering how one platform can be enough to counter the supremacy of Instagram, Whatsapp, and Facebook: the social media Bermuda Triangle which sucks up most of our time.
These apps have become a way of life for us. But Al-Naji has revealed that BitClout was only a proof-of-concept for his new blockchain, DeSo, which he believes will revolutionise the social media space.
Jargon Alert! What is a proof-of-concept? Just a fancy term for an experiment that helps you judge if a business model or concept is feasible.
So, basically, BitClout was an experiment that helped Al-Naji understand whether his blockchain could perform the task that he intended.
Before we go into the details of the DeSo blockchain, let us understand what a blockchain is. A blockchain is a distributed ledger that records transactions in groups known as blocks. The decentralised ledger is tracked by all operators and every time a new transaction takes place, a copy of the same is posted in everyone's ledger. This makes it safe and transparent. (For a deeper dive into blockchains, here you go!)
What makes DeSo so special?
The DeSo blockchain wants to do for social media what cryptocurrencies have done for finance: decentralise it. This means that no single organisation will be controlling the social media space, rather, the control would be distributed among several small organisations or creators.
But, there are several existing blockchains already. How is DeSo special?
Well, social media apps generate a lot of data, which the currently existing blockchains are incapable of handling. DeSo claims it is the only blockchain that was built from scratch for the very purpose of scaling social media apps.
Al-Naji says that hundreds of other apps apart from BitClout have also been made using the blockchain, proving that it is ready to shake up the social media space. DeSo has also launched a $50 million fund, called the Octane Fund, which will help creators build demo apps on the DeSo blockchain or integrate their existing products on it.
Okay, but why should I even care about yet another blockchain?
It does sound interesting but can it really take down the likes of Facebook and decentralise the social media space? So what changes will DeSo bring?
Worry not, Al-Naji can answer all these questions.
He says that blockchain-based social media apps will be great for small creators and influencers as they can include certain features that are difficult for non-blockchain-based apps to add.
For instance, on DeSo-based apps, you can use the $DeSo cryptocurrency to buy social tokens and NFTs, create posts, and do a lot more things. The crypto can also be used to tip creators for their posts. This gives small creators, who might not get a lot of money from advertisements, another source of revenue. And well, creators may endorse products that they don't actually believe in, preventing you from being the victim of false advertising.
What's more?
DeSo is 100% open-source, meaning all its code and data are available for anybody to view, unlike Facebook. Al-Naji says that this will help control the spread of misinformation on the platform.
Currently, Facebook does not give data scientists access to its data to understand how misinformation spreads on the platform. Why? Well, posts that are filled with misinformation or have harmful content usually become more popular on the platform, bringing more money to Facebook.
But DeSo's open-source platform will allow data scientists to study how misinformation spreads. They can then provide effective solutions on how to control this. Even the government can get involved and create laws against the spread of misinformation. In this way, DeSo wants to pave the way for social media apps that are honest and reliable.
Do you think DeSo is the Brahmastra that can destroy all that is wrong with social media? Or does it sound too good to be true?
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