Centralization has helped onboard billions of people to the World Wide Web and created the stable, robust infrastructure on which it lives. At the same time, a handful of centralized entities have a stronghold on large swathes of the World Wide Web, unilaterally deciding what should and should not be allowed. Web3 is the answer to this dilemma. Instead of a web monopolized by large technology companies, Web3 embraces decentralization and is built, operated, and owned by its users. Web3 puts the power in the hands of individuals rather than corporations.
What is Blockchain Social Media?
Blockchain Social Media are decentralized networking platforms built using blockchain protocols/platforms that allow the development of applications and smart contracts. To name a few, Ethereum, Steem, Stellar are some of the blockchain protocols that support the development of social media apps. Being decentralized, blockchain social media networks are not under any central proprietary authority holding all the data.
Rather, the data gets stored in a homogenous and decentralized manner across servers of each node of the network. Blockchain-based social media platforms support social networking, content sharing, and even blogging, but being decentralized, they enable end-to-end encryptions for every interaction. Also, most of them, support certain features typical to the blockchain ecosystems:
- In-platform transactions.
- Rewarding users.
- Crowdfunding.
So, blockchain social media provides revenue-generating opportunities to the users or content contributors.
Top 5 emerging trends of Web3
Web3 is a decentralized and open web based on blockchain technology. Here are some of the emerging trends of Web3.
1. BAAS
BAAS, which stands for Brands as a Service, is a brand-new trend in blockchain technology. It is a cloud-based service that enables customers to work with the blockchain to create digital products. It is a regulated industry and for businesses and consumers to interact with these financial services they need to gain access to banks.
2. Flux
Flux is the trustless data layer for Web3. Flux is a cross-chain oracle that provides smart contracts with access to economically secure data feeds on anything. With the help of Flux, one can develop Web 3.0 applications and decentralized projects.
3. Semantic Web
The term “Semantic Web” refers to W3C’s vision of the Web of linked data. The Semantic Web involves web principles, that are extended from documents to data, like that of a data web.
4. NFT’s will power up the Web 3.0 movement
The primary element to boost the Web3 movement is non-fungible tokens, the digital collectibles transacted with cryptocurrency. It will also lay the foundation for creators to associate with their users like never before.
5. Low code application building software
Low-code development is a visual drag-and-drop technique for development that enables enterprises to build applications considerably faster and with less hand-coding. As Web 3.0 has stepped in, the trend of wiping out the low-code or no-code app creations has sprung up.
Endnote
Although there are several advantages to using Web 2.0 technologies, there are also issues that require awareness and attention. Some of these issues include equal access, information control, intellectual property, copyright, authorship, trust, privacy, security, and cultural considerations. Web3 will solve these issues, return content rights to authors and build a new digital economy.
Web3, at its core, embraces automation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and blockchain technology, which are reputable for transparency, security, and their immutable nature. Because social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are centralized, users are at the mercy of company bosses, who demand compliance with their platform policies. If users fail to comply, they can lose content and followers they spent years building up in just a matter of seconds.
