When we talk about decentralized social, we usually refer to a class of products or protocols that have decentralized features and are related to social. When we talk about how to build such products, we usually think about how to use decentralized technology or even blockchain technology to build products, and how to bring the benefits of decentralization and blockchain to social users.
Thinking from this perspective is correct, but it is more like Maslow's hammer: "If you only have a hammer, then everything looks like a nail." Decentralization is the hammer, and social products are things that look like nails.
Let's change our perspective. Instead of thinking about what kind of social products decentralization can bring, we should think about: if there is a decentralized social network, what products can be created based on this network. We already have some such networks, such as those brought by Farcaster. I would classify all products or protocols built on decentralized social networks as decentralized social, even if the product itself is centralized, even if the product is not a typical social product.
To answer the question "What can be created based on decentralized social networks", the first question to be answered is: When we have a decentralized social network, what do we have? We at least have decentralized data, decentralized relationships, decentralized identities; and we can carry out decentralized development and construction. This article will explore the possibility of decentralized social networking from these aspects.
Decentralized data
Decentralized data often reminds people of data ownership and data privacy, which may be the future but not now. At this stage, decentralized data only means that the data created by users no longer belongs to centralized companies (this is already a revolutionary step), but these data do not belong to users either. They are common land owned and used by everyone. On this data commons, three types of products will stand out first.
The first category: information services and media services, which refers to how to present data/content to users again. For example, client products based on different feed algorithms. @liang said: "The feed algorithm should be a protocol. Good opportunity for builders." I totally agree. Another example is information search and information processing services combined with AI. There are already some such products on Farcaster. On a smaller scale, channels whose main feed content is strictly controlled by the host are essentially media services.
Second category: Products and product marketing based on user portraits, which refers to analyzing data to obtain user portraits and providing products to users based on user portraits. The most familiar product of this type is advertising, which is the commercial core of Web 2.0, but it is just a type of product in decentralized social networking. Thanks to embeddable frames and programmable feeds, social feeds are no longer just information flows, they are also product flows, or even, as @raulonastool said, "feed-as-an-interface". Products appear directly in front of users without the need to jump through advertisements, and data is open rather than closed. These two changes will usher in a new era for products and product marketing based on user portraits.
The third category: content incentives, which refers to pricing data/content and bringing economic returns to data producers. There are many design ideas for this type of product. Content rewards are one type, such as Degen and Build; bounty platforms are one type, such as Bounties and Rounds; casts transactions are one type, such as Jam; channel incentives are one type, such as far_terminal... This category of products may solve the problem of content incentives that has been plaguing Web 2.0, but we also need to be wary of the problems caused by excessive financialization.
Decentralized relationships
Our social relationships have also changed from closed to open, from private to shared. Based on decentralized social relationships and decentralized social graphs, there may be the following four types of products.
The first category: products that present social graphs. In the Web 2.0 era, products came before social graphs. Once users established social relationships, it was difficult for them to switch to other similar products. However, decentralized social networks make it possible to build products on existing social graphs. Products present social graphs in different ways to meet users' different needs for social space. For example, if every node in the graph is presented equally, the space will be closer to a "square"; if the content is organized around the user's own node, the space will be closer to a "small corner" and a "maze". The design of social space is like the architectural design of the offline world. As we spend more and more time online, space design will become increasingly important, and the demand for space design will tend to be diversified. (@bumblebeelabs mentioned in "The Evaporative Cooling Effect" that "square" and "maze" are two basic modes of social space.)
Second category: using social relationships to develop brands. @v once pointed out a fact that many people don't realize: "Centralized social networks closely control users' ability to reach their audience. However, reliable access to audiences is extremely valuable to users." This practice makes users who want to use social relationships to develop their own brands subject to the platform in every way. Decentralized social networks have changed this situation. Users' social relationships are their own social capital. Using social relationships to develop personal brands may become something that everyone will do. At the same time, there will also be a category of products to help users realize their brands, such as Hypersub. Each Hypersub subscription product is a user brand, and its products may be information services, digital works, or even physical goods. I saw @samantha working on a candle brand.
Third category: products based on social graphs. The most anticipated of these products is social games, which were once all the rage. Social games can bring offline social relationships online and bring a large number of new users to social networks. New opportunities for social games include: open social graphs, decentralized development, financial attributes or the investment and speculation brought by blockchain.
Fourth category: Products using social graph data. Social graph data can help users and companies find people they are interested in and target audiences, establish connections with them, and expand their social graphs and other relationship networks. A type of professional product is needed to help them complete this process. For example, I tried a frame on Farcaster that was used to find new friends, and I actually established connections with some of the users it recommended. In addition, social graph data can also be used to draw user portraits. It is the most valuable type of data created by users and is a gold mine.
Decentralized identity
Decentralized identity is the user's digital self and the identity proof of the digital self. It defines the user and determines the user's rights and interests in cyberspace. There may be three types of products related to it.
The first category is products related to the establishment of decentralized identity, which can be large reputation systems such as Talent or small badge products such as Power Badge. The second category is the incentive system related to decentralized identity, such as Moxie, which aims to achieve economic incentives at the protocol level. The third category is products related to the use of decentralized identity, such as allowing identity to be used for social gating, witch identification, and online and even offline rights-related verification.
Blockchain plays an important role in the construction of identity and incentive products. It can realize the confirmation of ownership, the tokenization of content and social capital in social networks, and provide a permissionless and trustless trading market.
Co-building Ahaha moments
When we have a decentralized social network, we have decentralized data, relationships, and identities. We can come together in a decentralized and autonomous way to develop and build composable things based on this network. This is not using blockchain plus social networking, nor is it deriving Web3 from Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. This is growing a brand new ecosystem on a brand new piece of soil.
People will ask "Why hasn't Web3 social taken off yet?" I think the main reason is that this decentralized social network is not big enough, and the network effect has not even started to occur. Unlike the social products in the Web 2.0 era, which were isolated and competed with each other, on a decentralized social network, the success of any social product based on this network will expand the network, and expanding the network will benefit every social product based on this network, making them more likely to succeed. Therefore, although it is difficult for users to rebuild social relationships, if we maintain an open and co-constructive attitude and are committed to growing the network rather than sucking the blood of the network, then every product and every construction can push the network forward a small step, and the aha moment will come sooner or later.
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