• The Signal
  • Posts
  • Is Decentralized Social Media the Answer? Here's What to Pay Attention to.

Is Decentralized Social Media the Answer? Here's What to Pay Attention to.

There is a growing demand for decentralized social media alternatives.

December 11, 2022

I created an Instagram post a few weeks ago about the rise of decentralized social media, and what you should be paying attention to.

The main benefits of decentralized social is that you can:

  • Own your content

  • Own your social graph

  • Control your data

  • Monetize directly

  • Censorship-resistant

These are direct solutions to the main problems with traditional social media today:

  • Centralization: a handful of billionaires owning everything

  • Ad-driven business model resulting in perverse incentive structures

  • Lack of ownership

There are several protocols powering the landscape: DeSo, Lens and Farcaster are the most popular.

Diamond App, a decentralized alternative to Twitter, is one in which I’ve been experimenting with most. I have 3 profiles on the app: personal, MV3, and Metav3rse.

I must admit, getting emails like the one below is refreshing as someone who’s been a power user of social media for over a decade.

Note: All of the money I earn on Diamond App will be used to support other creators. If you have a presence on Diamond App, comment with your profile below.

But decentralized social media does have it’s challenges:

  • Will lack of human moderation result in a cesspool of humanity’s worst?

  • It’s next to impossible to break the network effects of the big tech behemoths. How will an emerging decentralized platform compete?

  • Aren’t there mental health concerns of attaching a dollar amount to the ‘value’ of a creator?

I spoke with Nader Al-Naji, the creator of the DeSo blockchain, who had some really fascinating responses to the above questions, and went deep into the benefits of decentralized social media.

I hope you enjoyed. I learned a lot from Nader and he left me excited to continue to evangelize the decentralized social landscape.

This was my first attempt at a “narrated podcast” - let me know if you enjoy this type of content.

Appreciate you for reading. Let me know what you’re most excited for when it comes to decentralized social.