Hopefully, if you’re here, you don’t need me to explain why Big Social is a problem, and we can just dive right into how DeSo could fix it. Just kidding, I wouldn’t do that to you. I’ll start from the beginning.
Social media has a problem. A big one. So big, it’s a monopoly. The huge, centralized social media platforms we all use every day like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok are in complete control. Big Social owns the content you post on their platforms. They can censor you and they have no qualms about doing so. They can ban you. They can walk a runway in drag and own the room better than you could ever dream to! Ok — maybe not that last one. But it could totally turn into a dystopia.
Centralized companies have too much control over the modern townsquare we call social media. Of course, decentralization enthusiasts and free speech proponents have wanted change, but “go build your own” hasn’t worked so far. It’s hard when you’re an ant and Facebook has a magnifying glass pointed in your direction.
Why Web3 and alt-social hasn’t succeeded yet
We all know Big Social platforms are a problem for free speech and open information because they already have so much of the network effect. Up-and-coming alternative platforms like Parler can easily be stamped out when the Apple store removes them and Amazon Web Services boots them off its servers.
Web3 has a lot of aspirations, but because the whole infrastructure of the internet is so dependent on existing centralized companies, decentralization takes time. Plus, one of the barriers for blockchain projects has been data storage. Content-heavy applications like social media platforms use a lot of data, and that is difficult to store on a blockchain.
That’s where Decentralized Social (DeSo) comes in. The idea is to create a decentralized social media blockchain on which developers can create new platforms to replace the old, villainous ones. But will it work? Here are three things you need to know about DeSo.
Things you need to know about DeSo
1: What is it?
DeSo is a layer 1 blockchain aiming to host decentralized social media applications. It launched in 2021 and already and in short order there were 1.5 million wallets created on it. It’s done $1 billion in transaction volume, and its native token DESO is already listed on Coinbase. Like it or not, DeSo has some major VC money backing it, from the likes of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Coinbase Ventures, Winklevoss Capital and more.
Developers can build anything they want on the base layers and DeSo’s claim to fame is its ability to store data-heavy apps. It already has more than 200 apps running. A popular one called Diamonapp has a tipping feature built into it similar to Facebook likes, only you can give money, if you want. This enables creators to monetize their content in a new way.
People can create a wallet and a decentralized social media profile that corresponds to the wallet. It has NFT marketplaces integrated and the ability for creators to make their own tokens called creator coins. It also has on-chain encrypted and unencrypted group chats as well as social multisig wallets.
2: How it plans to change the scene
If it was a walk in the park to create decentralized social media, it would already exist. But there are many barriers in the way. For one thing, if a platform wants to become successful it needs to have a critical mass of users. DeSo is the first project of its kind so, if it does succeed, it will have a first-mover advantage.
One of the reasons DeSo has confidence it will be the first mover is because, being decentralized and open source, the network effect can also apply to building the apps themselves. For centralized platforms, all of the development is done in a proprietary way. If someone wanted to create something similar to or build off Facebook, they’d have a hard time. But as DeFi has already found out, open source projects can be shared in a way that speeds up innovation.
By becoming the home of new decentralized social media apps, DeSo hopes to have a compounding influence and snowball adoption by attracting the best developers.
3: Why it may not succeed
It sounds like an amazing project that could bring decentralization to a space desperately needing it. But there are a few criticisms as well.
DeSo founder Nader Al-Naji has a somewhat notorious reputation in the crypto world. Before announcing DeSo, he launched Bitclout, a platform that runs on the DeSo blockchain. There was some controversy over the platform’s launch, and high profile Twitter users called Al-Naji out for creating profiles for them before they gave their approval.
More recently, Al-Naji has also received some criticism for his DAO,DAO project that will also run on DeSo. Critics suggest the tokenomics of DAO,DAO are set up to siphon money from its member DAOs to profit investors and founders.
Not only that, Al-Naji has received backlash on Twitter for the security practices on DeSo. While claiming to uphold decentralization and be the pioneer of decentralized social media, the project has requested users’ seed phrases to log in. After being criticized for breaking the cardinal rule of wallet security (never share your seed phrase with anyone), Al-Naji tweeted that users could now log in with Google. It still used their seed phrase… but it was backed up on Google Drive. Every security nerd clutches their pearls.
Will DeSo finally bring about decentralized social media?
I think most people in the crypto space agree that centralized, Big Social is a problem. We all want to live in a world where decentralization wrestles unearned power away from the plutocracy.
DeSo gives us the hope of data-heavy applications running smoothly on a blockchain. It promises new advantages both for content creators and developers. It aims for a takedown of the powerholders like Facebook and Twitter. The question that remains unanswered is whether DeSo can overcome the hurdles and skepticism and truly revolutionize the digital townsquare.
About the Author
Michael Hearne
About Decentral Publishing
Decentral Publishing is dedicated to producing content through our blog, eBooks, and docu-series to help our readers deepen their knowledge of cryptocurrency and related topics. Do you have a fresh perspective or any other topics worth discussing? Keep the conversation going with us online at: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
