Decentralization in Web3.
Individual firms develop and manage the products and services that comprise the internet today. If you utilize an internet-based program, it is highly probable that a legal body controls it someplace. That firm hires people to work on it, selects which features are prioritized, manages the servers that host the application’s data, and decides what code is published to the product.
Web3 promises that there may be alternative possibilities. Perhaps we can create goods and services that are not controlled by a single corporation but are nevertheless as beneficial as their centralized counterparts.
These goods, like Bitcoin, would be “decentralized,” albeit the rationale for decentralization and its benefits may differ significantly.
Consider what a “decentralized publishing platform” may look like. This is a social network, similar to Twitter or Medium, where users may share information, comment on it, and “vote” for items they enjoy.
The platform has methods to encourage users to contribute. Instead of just “upvoting” items, users may make micropayments to one another or set up recurring payments for content producers whose work they wish to support — this is a predominant feature in Solidsocial.
The greatest Twitter accounts and Medium authors get paid directly on the platform, rather than needing to find out how to monetize their big followings in another way.
Even if each upvote earned simply a few cents, it would be a significant improvement over centralized platforms such as YouTube, where producers get only a few thousand dollars per million views.
No central organization on our decentralized network takes a substantial share of the money users pays each other. The company may leverage inflation financing to build a pool of awards given daily to the most popular content.
An open-source protocol defines the fundamental principles that govern our decentralized service. Users connect with the protocol using their preferred client software.
In other words, many apps would be created by various developers but linked to the same social network. These clients may have varied features, but they all adhere to the same shared protocol, similar to how email clients utilize the same standard for sending and receiving emails.
Users can use whatever client they like, and clients can implement various functionalities or provide third-party services.
Because we’re using a decentralized protocol, client developers don’t need authorization from any central entity, and they may create their product without worrying about having their API access withdrawn someday.
Users do not have to wait for Twitter to implement additional anti-spam or anti-harassment capabilities; instead, they may use a client that provides them.
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On top of the open protocol, an ecosystem of services emerges, allowing users to accomplish all they can do with Twitter today and more.
This exemplifies an underappreciated advantage of decentralized platforms: long-term ecosystems of third-party services.
App developers may build valuable products on top of a decentralized protocol without the worry of losing API access in the future because no one firm has the power to do so.
The platform may stay neutral, meaning that a wider community of developers will invest time and money in establishing businesses.
Why Decentralization Matters by Chris Dixon delves into this topic in depth.
Of course, we will continue to utilize centralized corporations’ products and services. However, these corporations will be able to limit their control over their goods, putting more control in the hands of people.
This already exists in encrypted messaging applications, such as Signal App (created by whispersystems), which never sees or retains customer messages.
They have purposely limited their authority over consumers by developing their program with end-to-end encryption.
Whereas early internet firms committed to the principle of “don’t be evil,” Web3 companies aim higher to assure that they can’t be wrong — at least not in particular ways.
Web3 technologies allow developers to limit their control over clients by refusing to provide them with certain types of power in the first place. That doesn’t mean we won’t have to rely on centralized corporations, but we can rely on them less.
Solidsocial was built such that no community in its platform will have centralized power. This means that, as little as this task seems to me, the community has to decide on how to treat spammers. And after the decision has been made, the community managers will carry out the actions whenever necessary.
Are you a content creator, brand, course creator, developer, entrepreneur, etc.? Solidsocial will be glad to have you on its platform to enable you to showcase your skill and reach more audiences.
Sign up today and invite your friends on Solidsocial
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