There is no question that social networks have revolutionized the way we communicate by eliminating the distance gap. It doesn’t matter where you are from or what language you speak, instant communication and lifestyle sharing is always one tap away.
The crypto industry has risen through the use of social media and proved that the disruptive capabilities, along with a passionate and motivated community, can change the landscape worldwide, and this is, my friends, the real power of social media. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter altered the way we communicated and brought us together.
But there is a particular aspect that most of us overlook, our data. The scandals of Facebook and Cambridge Analytica has made people, and governments, questioning the practices of giant companies and the privacy policies people have to agree.
Facebook is the primary tool for many marketers, they consider it the best advertisement platform, and they are right. The targeted reach you can get on Facebook is extraordinary, but would they manage to accomplish this without squeezing our personal information?
In the age of information, privacy is an innate human right, and while creators have lost control over their content, blockchain shines like a rock-star ready to score even.
IOTA to hand power back to the people
The truth is, a lot of companies are developing decentralized social media that somewhat respect people’s privacy like Revolution Populi, but most of them won’t make it. SOCIETY2 is working to create a platform for social media dapps on IOTA’s distributed ledger, where users can regain control of their personal information. On May 5, Society2 outlined that there is no mainstream adoption yet for DeSM (Decentralized Social Media) in a blog post, and the team started developing a DeSM framework to create new privacy standards along with interoperability of data shared between various social media platforms through the use of IOTA’s Decentralized Identity (DID) system.
Why allow others to sell your data when you can do it your self?
Society2 Users will be able to choose the level of privacy, depending on the specific social media they use. The zero-fee micropayments enable transactions in MIOTA as rewards for those who decide to provide their data. As an example, users can get rewarded for seeing advertisements, based on the interests they chose to share.
While transactions have no fees, the IOTA Node owner will get a cut from the user’s earnings. Ben Royce, head of development at Society2, told CoinTelegraph that the framework is very different from existing social networks. An owner of an IOTA node can run a social media site or app as easily as downloading an open-source template and customize it accordingly.
The system of Society2 is based on the IOTA Streams framework, which is designed for cryptographic applications. The company is expanding its capabilities to serve as a tool chest of social media functions.
Twitter going blockchain?
Jack Dorsey, CEO, and founder of the Twitter platform announced that there is a team called BlueSky that develops a decentralized standard for social media since late 2019. Society2 tech might be a candidate for this initiative.
Besides Society2 and Revolution Populi, there are a few other platforms available such as Diaspora, Minds, Mastodon, Mith Network, Manyverse, and a lot of others.