The Web3 industry is on a mission to disrupt the World Wide Web, and one of its primary targets is social media. In a recent episode of Cointelegraph’s Hashing It Out, host Elisha Owusu Akyaw sits down with Ryan Li, co-founder of CyberConnect, to discuss the concept of decentralized social media. Li begins by shedding light on the rationale behind the creation of social media platforms running on blockchain.
One of the key advantages of Web3 social media platforms is that they provide content creators with the confidence that they won’t be abandoned as the platform grows or shifts its focus to ad revenue, unlike traditional platforms. This unique feature is built on top of a decentralized financial system, and the speculative nature of the space creates a strong case for what Li refers to as “SocialFi.”
In recent years, there have been significant developments that have put decentralized social media applications in the spotlight. CyberConnect’s addition of account abstraction and new gamified ways to increase engagement on SocialFi platforms have generated a buzz in the sector. However, one platform that has truly taken the decentralized social media space by storm is Friend.tech. Within two months, it became the most used decentralized application on Coinbase’s Base network, recording a revenue of 10,663 Ether (ETH) and a total value locked of over 30,000 ETH.
Despite its growth, Friend.tech has also attracted its fair share of critics. Li shares an interesting opinion about the platform, describing it as a security. He explains that the price of a key is not traded against another person, which raises concerns about its security and stability.
In addition to discussing decentralized social media, Owusu Akyaw and Li dive into the impact of recent changes at major platforms like Meta (formerly Facebook) and X (formerly Twitter) on adoption. Li believes that X’s new monetization strategy and Meta’s unsuccessful experiment with Threads could serve as catalysts for the adoption of Web3 social media. He explains that users are likely to migrate to a new platform due to a single feature they love and stick around because of the infrastructure they discover.
If you would like to learn more about decentralized social media and the insights shared by Ryan Li, co-founder of CyberConnect, tune in to the latest episode of Hashing It Out on popular podcast platforms such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or TuneIn. You can also explore Cointelegraph’s extensive catalog of informative podcasts on the Cointelegraph Podcasts page.
The rise of decentralized social media platforms is set to revolutionize the way we interact and engage online. With the unique features and advantages they offer, these platforms hold the potential to redefine the social media landscape as we know it.