Get Ready for Crypto-Powered Social Media
There are endless reasons why an industry would want to incorporate blockchain technology and the social media sector is no different. Over the last decade, social media has gone from a past time to affecting nearly every aspect of daily life. The growth of this technology has led it to become a highly influential source of information in the community. As such, it has become targeted by censors and officials seeking to control the narrative.
Today’s massive social media platforms influence many conditions across multiple industries. They have even gained enough following to influence elections and other government tasks. All of this power has led to regulators and officials tightening the reins and taking control over these platforms.
The average person is now being spoon-fed whatever the social media platforms deem proper. Sadly, the main goal of social media platforms isn’t to connect with you but rather to get you to engage and provide data that can then be used to customize advertisements. That’s why your feed contains a mix of exciting and angering posts to make you respond and interact.
A New Day is Here
The social media wars are in full swing with the major contenders being Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, and many more. These companies are all centralized and their primary focus is to create profits for their shareholders. This skewed focus has made these platforms increasingly dangerous.
Blockchain social media companies have begun to flourish. These firms take the best aspects of cryptocurrencies and combine them with community-focused features to enable users to benefit as much as the platforms. Here are some of the key reasons why blockchain social media platforms are here to stay.
Censorship Resistant
Anyone who has seen the news over the last few years can attest to the ongoing debate surrounding social media content. The debate usually surrounds to what extent are large social media firms responsible for what their users post. For example, if a Twitter user tells a group to meet up and cause chaos, is it Twitter’s responsibility to take the post down?
The truth is that there is no right answer in terms of a government-focused approach. However, the answer is much clearer when you look at the needs of the people. For centuries, censorship has been used to retain power and leave the population in the dark. The introduction of social media has made it possible for people to see what’s going on in real time without the info being processed and curated to meet certain demands.
This capability has led to massive changes in the way governments can act. The global community has been able to watch and reprimand governments who have been caught on social media doing their citizens wrong. These actions have led countries such as China, to restrict internet access to these sites and information.
Government Crack Down on Discourse
Sadly, in some nations, the only way to access social media is through a tor browser and IP obscuring protocol. There are even nations in the world where you can be imprisoned and tortured for posting anti-government statuses on social media. Sadly, this style of censorship is on the rise.
One of the best aspects of blockchain networks is their immutable nature. These protocols are extremely resistant to censorship because they don’t have a centralized system to conduct these tasks. Blockchain social media protocols operate as pure code with very little human interaction on the back end.
Once data is placed on an open blockchain, there is no way to delete, alter, or censor the information. The data is then viewable to anyone in the world. This level of open communication is a first in the history of man and could one day potentially help keep governments accountable for their actions.
At the very least, these networks provide a place where people can have open discussions regarding sensitive topics without prejudice. Of course, along with this openness, there will be the usual flood of negative and derogatory posts which users will need to ignore or block to cater their timeline to their interests
Decentralized
It makes sense for social media networks to be decentralized from a technical standpoint. Decentralized networks don’t suffer from last-mile issues like centralized ones. Last mile issue is a term that refers to the loss of signal from a centralized transmission point as it extends away and as more users take from the signal.
This degradation of the signal has become more obvious for centralized networks as video has become a major form of online communication. These high-quality clips take up a lot of bandwidth and it’s becoming common for large social media platforms to go down for a few hours due to congestion.
A decentralized social media platform has the reverse effect. The more people that use the platform and the better it operates. There are no last-mile issues as network nodes rebroadcast the data making it ideal for massive global networks like social media platforms. Additionally, it’s more secure thanks to the redundancy of the platform.
Content Creator Benefits
One of the main advantages of blockchain social media integration is the ability for content creators to secure higher returns. The social media content creator sector has gotten very congested lately. Content creators have been forced to think of out-the-box scenarios and push the envelope to stand out against the competition.
The desire to stay ahead of the competition has led social media influencers to injury, jail, and even death. While there is no cure for someone acting recklessly, it can be said that if they had more ways to capture revenue, they wouldn’t have gone to such great lengths to secure a few more followers.
Content creators could post without discrimination on blockchain-powered social media platforms. The openness would allow more discussion on vital topics that have been considered taboo or blocked on other networks. These discussions are often political and their censorship can be traced back to government pressure in most cases.
Content creators gain access to a larger user base as blockchain social media platforms are global. Anyone, from anywhere can access these networks. They, like cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and META 1 Coin, were built to serve a global audience. As such, those in repressive nations could find these platforms as the perfect way to share their experiences with the world.
More Earning
Anyone who is a content creator currently will have a few stories of how they are increasingly at the mercy of the platforms. Whenever a platform like Youtube changes its policies or algorithm, it can mean massive changes in a content creator’s income. In many instances, a policy change has led to a defunding of videos that were up long before the creation of the new restriction.
Blockchain social media platform content creators avoid these headaches. They have more ways to secure returns and they aren’t dependent on the algorithm to decide the value of their digital assets. This openness provides content creators with flexibility to build their brand and connect with their followers in new ways.
Followers Gain
Many aspects of blockchain-powered social media experience improve the UX as well. Users gain more earning opportunities. They can secure returns by completing normal social media tasks such as reposting and sharing their moments with the community.
More Privacy
The saying “if there is no product, you are the product” rings true for social media more than any other industry. While large platforms like Tik Tok and Facebook seem free, the truth is much different. These networks harvest your data on a ridiculous scale.
There have been reports that show companies such as Snapchat monitor the location of their followers and other vital data. This information is then used to compile a targeted ad campaign and more. The truth is there is no restriction on how this data is used so it could have endless negative effects on followers.
New Engagement
Unlike traditional social media, the introduction of tokens and other blockchain assets opens the door for a more balanced experience between users and creators. Users can secure returns simply by participating in the community. There are already social media platforms that give you rewards for writing blogs or hosting competitions.
Access to exclusive content
Users have many more ways to connect with their content creators in a blockchain atmosphere. Creators could provide their followers with special tokens for their interactions. These tokens could be exclusive content or an offer that regular followers wouldn’t have access to.
Metaverse Options
When you combine this technology with other fast-growing sectors like the Metaverse, it opens the door for an entirely new social media experience. Imagine a content creator giving his most loyal followers a unique NFT token. The token could act as a collectible that could be traded.
It could also be the access to a variety of special offerings such as private Metaverse concerts and memorabilia. Already, there have been massive festivals thrown in the metaverse with one lasting three days and seeing thousands of attendants. Now imagine getting backstage access and being able to communicate with your favorite creators at a digital festival directly.
Interesting Blockchain Social Media Platforms
There are now more blockchain-powered social media options than ever. Additionally, the major contenders in the market have begun to seek out ways to integrate cryptocurrencies into their systems. These desires will lead to a blockchain-powered network one-day becoming the dominant option in the market.
There are already some cool products that offer a variety of features not found in the competition. These protocols are less known but have the backing of some well known experts and provide open access to their services. Here are a few of the coolest blockchain-powered social media networks in operation today.
Forum
Torum is a social media network that takes cues from both Twitter and Facebook. You can join for free and share your experiences with others. The familiarity makes it ideal for new users as they will have no problem navigating the platform’s many cool features. Interestingly, the Torum network’s development refers to it as an experiment in SocialFi (Social + DeFi + NFT).
Torum is a Metaverse ecosystem that offers an immersive experience to users. You can secure rewards in a lot of different ways on this censorship-resistant network including creating content. There is also a tipping feature to provide support for content creators you enjoy. Notably, all rewards are paid out in the network’s utility token.
Minds
Minds are one of the first blockchain-powered social media platforms to gain popularity. The platform has been in operation since 2015. Its unique combination of features enables it to offer open communication globally and the ability to secure crypto rewards for all users.
The main draw of Minds is its censorship-resistant attributes. You can create insightful blogs and share them with others without fear of having your work reviewed or blocked. Notably, Minds is the brainchild of Whatsapp seed investor Eron Wolf. To date, the platform has seen considerable growth with over 15 million global users.
Dtube
Those seeking an alternative to Youtube for their video hosting purposes will find that Dtube offers a familiar experience with more options. The goal of Dtube was to create a high-censorship-resistant video posting site. Today, the network provides an excellent location for discourse on several topics that mainstream social media has banned.
The platform offers no ads to users which already makes it a better UX than YouTube. You can also see more data on videos such as who liked or disliked each post. Best of all, content creators and users secure returns for sharing videos and producing content. As such, the platform has become a crucial decentralized video search engine.
Crypto-powered Social Media is Ready to Take Over
When you look at the history of social media it’s interesting to see what platforms were victorious and what networks faded. When you review the data it becomes obvious that the platforms that offered users and content creators more were able to secure the best returns. As such, the crypto social media integration will continue without delay.