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Blockchain is changing the face of technology in many ways. This technology is a result of decades of development and continues to revolutionize many aspects of modern human life.
Social media, which has more than 3 million users, is a vital part of modern life. As concerns rise about the flaws of modern social media, such as privacy issues and frauds, many people are becoming more skeptical.
Blockchain technology has the potential to address common problems that make people suspicious of social media platforms. Can it have a significant effect on the way digital networks work and a new era in social media?
This article will discuss how blockchain can be used to address some of the problems that are associated with traditional social media, as well as highlight some of its weaknesses. Stay tuned to the end for more information about blockchain-based social media networks.
An introduction to blockchain technology
If you’re tech-savvy and have a basic understanding of blockchain technology, but are not interested in seeing if you will be using a blockchain-driven social network in ten years, you can skip this section.
We will explain blockchain technology to the uninitiated because it is a confusing topic that we found out from the research.
A blockchain can be described as a chain of information that consists of blocks. Blockchain technology allows the secure sharing of digital assets over a peer-to-peer network. The files are stored within the network’s nodes.
Blockchain distributed or decentralized ledger tech is based on the distribution of data among several nodes. It is a P2P technology and does not require third-party involvement. Data is encrypted, distributed with many nodes, and immutable.
These features make blockchain an ideal choice for many areas that have an impact on human life, including social media. We will be discussing them.
Blockchain Is technology worth paying attention to. It is an emerging technology that is changing conventional processes at a rapid pace and is worth keeping your eyes on.
Let’s see how blockchain technology could change our perception of social media.
Social media and blockchain: The birth of decentralized social networks.
Social media quickly evolved from a simple platform that allowed people to connect with loved ones to a monstrous tool for altering their thoughts and selling user data. This personality shift has resulted in a decrease in the use of Facebook, the main social media platform. Facebook is known for its suspicious data mining and modification of users.
The following four issues are solved by blockchain and Blockchain can be used to open up new avenues for social interaction.
Privacy and Data Security
Who can forget the 10-hour-long ” chat” congressmen had with Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO/Co-Founder, on user data security.
Facebook, the largest social network, has not stopped accessing users’ data despite criticism and backlash. Their data collection is so suspicious that they were accused of collecting calls from users and SMS over years. It’s not just Facebook. Data collection is a problem on all major social media platforms, including Instagram, TikTok, and others.
Security and privacy are two of the most important concerns with social media. Unfortunately, we don’t know how much data our social media platforms have access to, starting with the time we create an account.
This problem is solved by blockchain technology, which decentralizes social networks. With blockchain-based social networking, there is no CEO or central entity that can access all the data of their users.
Every transaction made over a Blockchain network is encrypted. This ensures that personal and digital information is kept private and secure.
Blockchain social networks also allow users to create profiles without disclosing their identities. This reduces the chance of identity theft and misuse.
Blockchain technology solves the problem with data integrity. Blockchain technology makes it impossible to delete data and it is very difficult to alter the data.
Even if hackers break into one block and alter the information, it will affect the identity or “hash” of the entire block. This activity will then destroy the integrity of any subsequent blocks.
This is one problem blockchain can solve. But it has repercussions that we’ll see below.
Moderation of Unbiased Content
Users have a second problem with social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and Twitter: their biased content moderation.
You see, the decision-making power in central social media platforms, such as the ones above, rests with a select group of people. These people are either bound by a code or have political responsibilities to control certain content.
Social giants have been in the news for quite some time due to biased censorship issues. They are accused of removing volatile content and anything that does not “sit well”, with their decision-makers, under the pretext of “bugs” or “technical issues.
Red Dress Day in Canada saw a similar issue when Instagram took posts that were intended to raise awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Blockchain technology decentralizes social media platforms and eliminates censorship bias and advocates freedom of speech, expression, and speech.
By allowing users to create, consume, and moderate content, blockchain-backed social media takes third-party, influential moderators out of the picture.
This freedom of expression attracts radical voices and silenced activists to these platforms, as well as political harbingers.
Minds, a social platform built on blockchain technology, promotes freedom of speech and restricts censorship. It attracted over 100,000 activists from Vietnam, fleeing government-led cybersecurity crackdowns and fearing being silenced.
Incentive Programs for Users
The ad revenue generated by social media platforms in return for user information has made them rich. Facebook, for example, saw a sharp increase in revenue between 2020 and 2021.
Many people are demanding that social giants share the revenue they make in exchange for user data, and often with no knowledge from the users whose data they have taken.
Blockchain-based social media networks can offer users incentives and promise data security. When users post high-quality content, they often pay them with tokens or platform-native currencies.
Minds, an example of such platforms is paying their users in tokens which they can use to boost their posts and reach more people.
These decentralized platforms also offer better opportunities for crowdfunding campaigns because they allow users to collect tokens and cryptocurrencies directly from other users.
Revolutionizing Advertisement
Advertising fraud costs advertisers billions. Fraudsters? They can earn up to $5,000,000 per day just by making fake video reviews.
Are you thinking of changing careers? You might want to reconsider.
Digital advertising is plagued by fraud, transparency, and trust issues. The chances of fraud in digital advertising are decreasing with the introduction of blockchain technology to social media advertising. You should therefore keep your job.
Digital advertisers can track KPIs and impressions better using blockchain-based social networks. This ensures transparency and guarantees that advertisers are not paying for bot-induced results.
Blockchain technology, like I mentioned earlier, offers privacy and data security benefits. Blockchain advertising removes the mistrust among users that advertising companies buy their data to target them with relevant ads.
These platforms offer marketers newer and more secure ways to collect user data. A marketing company might offer to reward users for sharing their data. This way, users get something in exchange for their contributions, while marketers and advertisers have the right information directly from the source.
The decentralization of social media platforms using blockchain technology eliminates friction in the advertising channels.
Advertisers don’t have to set up separate ads accounts, then wait for central authorities (like Google), to verify. This makes it much easier for companies to reach their target audience and boost their posts with tokens that they can earn by simply creating great content.
We can now assume that the future of the social media industry is bright for decentralized, blockchain-based social networks based on the factors above. No. We don’t. We are not like that!
Blockchain-Based Social Media: The Other Side of the Story
There are two sides to every coin: the good and the bad. Decentralized social media has its downsides, including:
Bullying and hate speech
Blockchain-driven social media platforms can’t guarantee they won’t publish offensive, racist, or sexist content because there is no central content moderation.
All information that is stored in the blockchain will remain there for all time. It cannot be edited or deleted. If a racist person posts a culturally offensive message on social media, it will not be deleted or edited. The information is still there for all time.
Furthermore, platform owners or users are unable to delete user data upon request. This makes it non-compliant for the European Union GDPR which requires the deletion of data on request.
Even worse, because blockchain social platforms don’t necessarily tie back directly to the original user it would be almost impossible to track down and punish offenders.
Storage and Scalability
Minds have only 2.5million users. This is a far smaller number than Facebook’s billions.
However, if these P2P social networking platforms were to be integrated into the main digital network, it is possible that the blockchain nodes will not be able to scale-up and process the large-scale adoption of these platforms.
Technological Development
Blockchain social platforms are still a decade away. This is because technology is still in its infancy.
For example, central social platforms provide easy access to user data, which can be used as a supplement to marketing and advertising strategies. This might not be possible with blockchain-based social media.
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