At the time of Musk's acquisition of Twitter, why does the decentralized social network represent an inevitable historical trend?
Original source: Mask NetworkOriginal source: Mask Network
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Compilation of the original text: Hu Tao, Chain Catcher, Mask Network
——Once we relinquish control of our self-perception and nervous system to the private manipulation of "those who try to profit by renting our eyes, ears, and nerves," we are paupers, paupers without any rights. Renting out our eyes, ears, and nerves to make money for others is as outrageous as "letting private industry teach people how to speak everyday" or "giving the earth's atmosphere to a corporate monopoly."Understanding Media: An Extension of the Human
, Herbert Marshall McLuhan, 1964
The age of decentralized social networks has arrived
We are now at a historical inflection point: the decentralization of social networks is inevitable based on the reconstruction of the monetary system, financial markets and labor force planned by the Web3 revolution. Cyber citizens need a new-age public forum and information marketplace that aligns with the values of decentralized cyberspace.
Social networks have effectively served as public discourse infrastructure for decades, and their role as public infrastructure (social networks as utilities) will become even more important in the Web3 era, with its public nature and current centralized profit-driven Platform models conflict.
There is evidence that centralized social media platforms in Web2 are stifling third-party innovation and have hit their own user and profit growth ceiling. For new builders and giants themselves, decentralization is the ideal way out. Witnessing how Web3 technology (blockchain, cryptography, P2P network) shakes the global economic order gives us enough confidence that Web3 will change the pattern of social platforms and establish a new order.
Understanding and participating in the historic movement of decentralized social networks will make us—builders, investors, and online citizens—more sensitive to change and the future, and able to participate and be part of it.
The Heart of Social Networking: Providing the Digital Commons Infrastructure for Information Exchange and Human Interaction
Each generation of the web has inspired innovative and native ways for online citizens to share information, but has its own flaws.Web1 is an open protocol for decentralization and community governance. Most of the value accrues to the edge of the network -users and builders. Online citizens are free to share information openly as long as they know how to host a server and build a website. exist"Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace"
In China, the internet is a place of borderless idealism and radical individualism. However, Web1 does not provide a space online to reflect and enhance "online social relationships". Thus, Web1's network is shaped as a many-to-many public broadcast. Distribution channels for content are also more fragmented, making large-scale public debate more difficult.
Social networking as we know it today, the so-called Web2 giants like Twitter and Facebook, solved the previous era's lack of public spaces for the exchange of ideas. Through a centralized platform, social relationships and conversations in the physical world began to spread in the online world.While social media platforms serve as public forums for civic discourse and government censorship—similar to the Ekklesia of Athens in the Internet age, these platforms are, paradoxically, owned by private companies—by Mark Zuckerberg
Large corporations led by others build castles in the name of privacy. Users are trapped in feudal city-states and adopt "user" thinking, which weakens the agency that the Internet has given people. When "netizens" become "users", we gradually change from "netizens" to Zuckerberg's data. We are lured from the public square into the closed social media castle, and the social network shape of Web2 is increasingly alienated and distorted.
Web2 social networking is similar to any other intermediate form brought about by past technological revolutions, where private companies act as providers of public utilities. To profit from this model, these privatized social networks make money in two ways: 1. Collect rents from advertisers; 2. Take advantage of regulatory arbitrage, favor certain political winds, and algorithmically censor and distort the flow of information.
This is the ultimate dilemma: as social networks begin to be seduced by commercial interests and political pressure, they become less and less effective providers of public services. But if they go against their corporatist interests, the capital markets punish them with plummeting stock prices.
When Web2's social network fails as a public forum, what's the way forward?In both the US and China Web2 technology ecosystems, there have been attempts to reform from within, with little success. we have seenThe Decline of RSS Subscriptions, and how Facebook usesSuppression of friendly social browsers in the name of privacyCambridge Analytica(Friendly Social Browser), while inappropriately using
process its data. In China, third-party extension developers on top of Tencent QQ even face jail time. These are just the tip of the iceberg of innovation being stifled by third-party developers on centralized platforms. Fundamentally, the Web2 social network cannot reconcile its need for profitability and reduced regulatory risk with the value and social impact created by new applications built outside its commercial jurisdiction. They choose to exist as a competitive commercial entity rather than being something that is beneficial to the wider ecosystem.In a mature decentralized crypto economy and increasinglybroad ideological consensus
With the support of , challenge the centralized social network - now is the time to disrupt.
Given the failure of the Web2 platform to become a public forum provider, we see two paths forward:
Web3 native protocols and applications change the existing social networking order. Using cryptography and blockchain, we are witnessing a renaissance of RSS feeds, enhanced usability built on top of RSS3, and how users can privately communicate and transact on Twitter using top Web3 layers like Mask Network. Insights into social graphs and social interactions are no longer monopolized by walled gardens, as we see more and more DApps built on the open source Lens protocol, RSS3, and Cyber Connect. Our vision for a Web 3 social network will combine the protocol-first decentralized governance ethos of Web 1 with the enhanced usability and social elements we love about Web 2.The current social network giants reflect on themselves, examine past mistakes, rethink and rectify their business models and relationships with users. We see Web2 networks like Twitter and Telegram as activists in this regard.Elon Musk strikes $44 billion deal with Twitter and promises to change Twitter
, which allows us to start a radical thought experiment: imagine Twitter's future business value measured not by its profit and loss as a private company, but as the most powerful network powered by the Web3 protocol and allowing more protocols to access its open API. Social Network Ecosystem. Telegram is leading the way and has seen the growth of dozens of third-party apps. In this case, Twitter and Telegram would come close to being providers of an open and impartial public forum infrastructure — which is what social networks are meant to be. In fact, a large portion of today's discussion related to Web3 and new decentralized applications is actually happening on Twitter. Regardless of who owns Twitter in the next decade, we hope that its owners will recognize this trend in Twitter and consider its potential as a decentralized social network and ecosystem provider.
The emergence of decentralized social networks is inevitable
In the age of Web3, social networks still serve as marketplaces of ideas and public forums. The Web3 revolution is cultural, financial and social, and the impact of this revolution will permeate every corner of cyberspace.
From this perspective, the prerequisites for revolution are all met:
Independent vault (BTC, ETH)
Independent Financial System (DeFi)
Independent Arts and Culture Federation (NFT)
A New Way for Humans to Collaborate and Organize Workforces (DAO)
The missing piece of the puzzle is the new infrastructure and ecosystem for online citizens to gather and participate in public discourse. Today, most people are largely using the Web2 communication stack (Discord, Twitter, Telegram, Google) to do so, but the various limitations of Web2 social networking will inevitably put off early Web3 adopters. limit and call for change.
At the same time, we don't want to give up the value and importance of Web2 social media. The platform effect of Web2 social network can amplify voices and mobilize massive actions. Because of this effect, the Web3 revolution is spreading like wildfire. Digital citizens have also become accustomed to using social networks to share and receive information every day, establishing social media as the infrastructure for network society operations. The goal of the Web3 social network is not to build a blockchain replica of the Web2 giant, but to use innovative design and technology to fight against Web2's centralization and monopoly, and to take back the information and digital identity rights on the platform to netizens.
From new financial systems, to new cultural symbols, to workforce organization, the Web3 revolution is here. These prerequisites establish an open, transparent and fair public forum and information market for Web3 citizens who aspire to freedom and autonomy, free from political interference. Now, the latest phase of this revolution is the decentralized social network.
——Vitalik Buterin，2017
"It is more difficult for participants in a decentralized system to collude to behave in a way that benefits other participants at their expense."
"I would choose freedom over comfort every time."
