Web3 in Social Networking: A Gateway to Decentralized Social Networking and Communication

Undoubtedly, web 2.0 has made it easier than ever to keep in touch with family, friends, and colleagues. Web 2.0 sites like Facebook and WhatsApp facilitate constant text, voice, and video messaging between geographically dispersed friends and family. Studies show that almost half of all Internet users are active on at least one social networking site. Many people rely on it as a means of establishing themselves publicly. Since its inception, social media has played a crucial role in countless users’ success stories, helping them gain notoriety and financial success. There are also major disadvantages despite all the benefits.

Due to their centralized nature, traditional social networking sites have been plagued by problems such as security breaches, censorship, privacy invasions, server failures, de-platforming, and more. Even though they are free of charge, they cause more problems than they solve. Web3 social media platform development has many advantages over traditional social media, so many developers and businesses are switching to it. The benefits of web3 in social networking and its advantages over web 2.0 will be discussed in this article.

What Is Social Networking? How Is It Different from Social Media?

Despite their frequent synonymy, “social media” and “social networking” refer to distinct forms of online communication with specific goals. Social networking on the Internet is all about connecting with people outside of one’s immediate circle of friends. Networking is the act of connecting people and organizations online so that they can work together more effectively.

However, social media serves as a venue for communication between users. Social media websites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Discord, LinkedIn, Telegram, WhatsApp, and countless others have become ubiquitous on the web 2.0 platform, allowing users to share and discuss content through likes, comments, and private messages. Accessing social media has never been easier than with the rise of web-based apps and software.

The Four Main Functions of Social Networking Are:

• Information, photos, and videos can all be freely traded between users on social media sites.
• Social media allows people to have conversations with one another regardless of their location or the amount of time that has passed. Video chat and messaging apps like WhatsApp enable users to have in-person conversations.
• Users of social networking sites can gain from sharing information related to their educational or professional pursuits and receiving timely and relevant updates from friends and family.
• Using paid promotions on social media platforms is a great way for businesses to reach out to their target audience and build relationships with current clients.

What Is Web3 in Social Networking?

User’s personal information is not secure on Web 2.0 social networks because of their centralized nature. Only a few tech giants have complete control over the market because they have cornered it on user data. Moderators do not vet content created by users in web 2.0 social media platforms. The tech giants behind social media platforms control what users see and can remove content at will.

Web3 is very different from the typical web 2.0 social network. The ultimate objective is to build a social networking ecosystem where users have complete control over the data they choose to make public. Currently, users spend a lot of time watching videos, reading blogs, and scrolling through feeds. Though these sites generate substantial revenue, it is kept from the users in any form. What Web3 can provide goes far beyond incentives and supplementary services for users.

How Will Decentralized Social Networks Work?

Consider for a moment the prospect of creating incentivized online experiences. We spend most of our time online interacting with others through Web2 applications.

We spend a lot of time on websites that make millions, but we get almost no tangible benefits in return. With Web3, things are very different because users are incentivized to participate.

Numerous Web3 platforms, including web browsers, video-sharing sites, blogging platforms, and social media platforms, are powered by blockchain technology, which has many advantages for creators and consumers.

Instead of the usual zero-sum online game, in which one side must win for the other to lose, these platforms use their tokens to create a situation where everyone benefits.

Monetary Transaction Capabilities

And users can buy, sell, and trade native assets without any barriers between platforms because they are fully interoperable. For instance, content creators can simultaneously use NFTs to sell their work in more than one market.

Using the native token of the platform, they can create subscription models and complementary services for their communities.

At the same time, content creators can benefit from the growing metaverse by using Web3 platforms to create a variety of play-to-earn, learn-to-earn, and related incentive programs for their communities.

By participating in these ways, community members can earn platform-native tokens that can be used to purchase access to premium features, tip creators, or trade for other tokens.

Social network members who hold the network’s native token have a say in how the network evolves in the future. In contrast to Web2, users are no longer solely responsible for propelling the platform’s future development on Web3.

Token holders can vote on proposals they think will benefit the platform’s user base, giving them a say in how the platform evolves. These suggestions cover various topics, from brand-new features and enhanced functionality to modifications to established processes and advertisements.

Why Web3 Social Media Platforms?

Users are vulnerable in Web 2.0 social networks, and web3 in social networks has the potential to alter how people communicate and work together radically. To see how web3 social networks stack up against web2.0 social networks, we need to look at both.

Free and Available to the Public

In the third generation of the Internet, data is stored on a permissionless public blockchain. The API is uncensored and cannot be disabled by any third parties. The open nature of web3 allows developers to take any existing social media platform’s codebase and build a new version with better features and user experience. Due to web3 being open source, anyone can use the current on-chain code to advance the project quickly.

Interoperability

Despite web3’s current lack of full interoperability, progress is being made. Web3’s mission is to break down barriers preventing blockchain ecosystems from communicating and working.

Free of Bots and Spammers

In the age of Web 2.0, it’s not uncommon to find millions of phony profiles. Most of those accounts are probably fake or run by spambots. Blockchain technology helps reduce the number of fake accounts by encouraging direct verification of identities and data.

Unique Content Generated By Audience Members

Your content on a Web3 social media platform is stored permanently in the blockchain, making it impossible for the platform or any third party to remove or alter it. You can take your information with you if you switch platforms and access it through a new user interface.

Web 3’s Security Advantages

One of the main advantages of using a decentralized identity system is that you retain full authority over your digital identity and data. With Web3, you can more precisely manage how and with whom your data is shared across the web.

You will also be provided with a cryptographically sound means of confirming the truthfulness of the data.

In contrast to the current system, which makes it simple for information to be duplicated or stolen without the user’s knowledge, blockchain technology is secure and tamper-proof; data cannot be altered or hacked without detection.

Since many web3 apps are not secure, you should only use those that have undergone a thorough review.

A (Decentralized) World of Opportunity

By incentivizing users to participate in a creator-driven economy, Web3 technology ushers in a brand-new era of social media.

In contrast to the Web2 model controlled by Big Tech, Web3 provides a social network ecosystem.

Due to the decentralized nature of Web3 social networks, content created by users will once again belong to them.

In tandem with other Web3 offerings, these social networks will provide a censorship-proof, ad-free, and creatively-centric ecosystem that will provide equal opportunity for all.

The proliferation of community-driven global social networks, the growing acceptance of community-focused DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations), and the emergence of Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) powered immersive experiences are all examples of how Web3 social networks are catalyzing a transformation focused on the interests of the community rather than that of the gatekeeper alone.