In the days of blockchain becoming a buzzword, social media, too, saw some major innovations of late. Now comes with what falls under the ambit of Decentralized Social Media (DeSoc), a new breed of platforms built on blockchain purported to change the way interactions happen online so that the users do better in retaining data, privacy rights, and issues related to content. In this article, we shall look at what blockchain-based social media platforms are, how they are very different from your conventional networks, and will also put out some pros and cons of decentralizing social media.
What Are Blockchain-Based Social Media Platforms (DeSoc)?
Blockchain social media platforms are decentralized networks that make use of blockchain technology to store user data transparently, securely, and in an unalterable manner. In contrast with traditional platforms such as Facebook or Instagram, which are centrally controlled by companies, DeSoc platforms operate on a distributed network. Thus, there is no single entity that has total control over the platform or its content, giving increased control and transparency to the users.
Blockchain empowers people to maintain ownership over their data and content. It provides an encrypted ledger that records every single transaction so that users can monitor the usage of their data while imperiously preventing unauthorized alterations thereof. Some popular blockchain-based social platforms include Steemit, Hive, and Minds, which differ more in features but with a common agenda of user autonomy and data ownership.
How Do Blockchain-Based Platforms Differ from Traditional Social Media?
While creating and sharing content is common to both blockchain-based and traditional social media platforms, their foundations differ greatly. The following distinction points explain:
Control and Ownership of Data
Traditional platforms collect standard data from users that are stored in centralized servers owned by the platform. This data would either be channeled for targeted advertisements, sold to third parties, or exploited for profits. In contrast, blockchain platforms decentralize data storage, ensuring that the user owns and controls their content-in-other-words, they decide what data they want to share and with whom.
Blocking
A significant drawback faced by traditional platforms is that they can censor content at will. Hence, social media giants might remove posts, ban users, or make certain topics disappear, with or without regard to public policy, maybe even due to external pressures. In contrast, the absence of the central authority in decentralized platforms makes the act of censorship or content manipulation quite difficult to accomplish. While they have rules just like any platform, censorship practices are kept to a minimum, thus giving users more freedom to say what they would like.
Monetizing and Earning
On traditional social media platforms, while the platform owners get paid through advertisements and data collection, the users usually are not monetarily rewarded for contributing to the platform economically. Hence, we may state blockchain-based platforms upside down from traditional social platforms where users get paid for their contributions. Whether it is creating content, shaping content through an engagement mechanism, or voting on governance proposals, users gain cryptocurrency tokens as a reward. These tokens can then be spent on the platform or sold for real-world currency, thus providing users with a tangible reason to engage and contribute.
Privacy and Security
User data stored in a traditional platform is considered most attractive by a hacker. However, blockchain-based platforms use encryption along with decentralizing the network to keep data away from being breached. Each user interaction gets recorded on the chain, which helps create an infinite history of actions that are more secure and transparent. In comparison with traditional central server technology, blockchain platforms reduce the incidences of data breaches and frauds to a great extent.
Advantages of Blockchain Social Media Platforms
All the potential benefits of decentralized social media are numerous and attractive for users who wish to have any sort of control or security on their online interactions.
Greater Control and Ownership
The greatest advantage of blockchain social media is that these platforms provide users with total ownership of their data. Users have a choice to display, share, or store their information in whichever way they want. This liberates platform operators, transferring the power into users’ hands to select how their digital presence will be managed.
More Privacy
Blockchain networks offer a greater level of privacy since user data is not held or stored in a centralized system. The data is encrypted and stored in a decentralized manner across the network, making it much harder for third parties to access or exploit it. If they want, users can also remain anonymous vis-à-vis the platform, which adds more privacy to the system.
Censorship Resistance
Since blockchain is decentralized, no single entity has full control over the content. Therefore, this diminishes censorship threats for blockchain-based social media platforms, allowing users more freedom to convey themselves. This is very crucial in regions where governments lay down stringent norms for online speech.
Disadvantages of Blockchain-Based Social Media Platforms
With all the benefits, several challenges and drawbacks remain for decentralized social media platforms.
Scalability Issues
Blockchain technology, especially with Proof-of-Work (PoW) systems, can have scalability issues. The decentralized nature of these platforms usually slows down the processing speed and increases transaction fees when the network is congested. This would definitely hamper user experience when the platforms expand.
Complexity for Users
Unlike traditional social media, blockchain-based platforms can be unwieldy to use. First, one needs to understand cryptocurrency; second, one needs to manage the wallets; finally, one needs to look after the private keys. So, the unfamiliarity with blockchain technologies can prove to be a difficult barrier. This layer of complexity might impede users opting for the mass adoption of these platforms that are supposed to be simple and intuitive.
Challenges in Content Moderation
By way of free speech, sometimes the problems of content moderation arise within blockchain platforms. Without an authoritative power to remove and regulate, unsuitable content like hate speech or misinformation is able to creep in very fast. While some platforms go about content moderation with a community-based approach, the key challenge for decentralized social media lies in finding a viable middle ground between freedom and responsibility.
Future of Blockchain-Based Social Media
Blockchain-based social media platforms are a new frontier in digital interaction where users have more rights, privacy, and security. Alternatives they posit to the status quo are favorable, with models more geared towards users in terms of data ownership and monetization. As blockchain technology gains further advances, these platforms should be able to eventually overcome their current drawbacks, especially scalability and adoption by users.
What decentralized social media platforms could do is completely change the way we correlate online, making for a more transparent, fairer, and safer digital space. Will they replace traditional social media networks? The answer remains unuttered. What is apparent is that DeSoc presents a window into what social media could be in the future: where users are endowed with power, privacy, and the ability to craft their own digital worlds.