These days, it feels like singing the praises of Web3 is about as popular as ankle monitors are at the Bankman-Fried household. Still, one thread in the “the future is decentralized” conversation is being taken (kind of) seriously. And that is the notion of the decentralized social network.
What, you might ask, is a decentralized social network? This is a social network that is not controlled by a single entity. Think like Elon Musk and Twitter, or Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook/Instagram. A decentralized social network is apparently the opposite of that.
So there is no one to threaten engineers with their jobs if the CEO’s content isn’t amplified. Stat.
This concept is closely associated with blockchain. And the Web3 ethos of decentralization. The latter notion is built around storing social media data on the blockchain. This means with no central authority running the show. Therefore no one to “censor” content or toss users off a platform for being toxic, weird, or whatever. And no one to sell consumer data to third parties. In other words, the user controls their content and their data. That’s pretty Web3.
Blockchain is not required for a social network to be decentralized. Arguably the best-known decentralized social network is Mastodon, which does not exist on a blockchain. Rather, Mastodon, which was actually launched back in 2016 and operates as a non-profit (Mastodon gGmbH), is a collection of independent servers. Each of these servers is organized around a specific theme or topic. For example, music, technology, and so on.
Enter Jack and Edward
Another emerging player in the decentralized social space has two familiar names behind it. Nostr (which stands for Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays) is emerging as the preferred social network for hardcore Bitcoin enthusiasts.
Nostr’s ardent supporters include Twitter and Square founder Jack Dorsey and national security whistleblower Edward Snowden. That’s quite a pair.
What is #nostr?
Unlike the old social media "platforms" where the platform-owner (FB, Tiktok, Twitter) gets to decide who can speak—and what can be heard—#nostr is an open protocol.
If a platform is a silo, a protocol is a river: no one owns it, and everyone is free to swim. https://t.co/NOW06ouJIw
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) February 1, 2023
Dorsey reportedly helped get Nostr off the ground by gifting the platform 14 Bitcoin, which had a current value of about $245,000. Nostr was created by a pseudonymous developer called fiatjaf. Well, “Satoshi Nakamoto” was already taken. Fiatjaf was the recipient of Dorsey’s Bitcoin.
So what, you might ask, is Nostr? It appears to be a platform on which other decentralized social apps can be built. These include Damus, Astral, Iris, Snort, and of no doubt others with similarly weird names.
A Real Threat?
So what is behind all this? Should Mark and Elon be worried?
Well, there does seem to be a hunger, in some circles at least, for platforms that promise freer speech and more data privacy. About half the world is on social media. And most of it isn’t on Nostr or Mastodon. Mark Zuckerberg and his cadre of lobbyists are likely more fearful of regulators, at least right now, than they are of Jack Dorsey and his 14 Bitcoin. Elon, above all, seems to fear irrelevance. But who knows?
Still, while crypto, Web3, NFTs, etc. have taken it on the chin in recent months, they never seem to die. As 2023 hits its stride, Bitcoin is hovering around $25K and there is at least some talk of an NFT revival. We will watch with interest to see if Jack Dorsey puts more than 14 Bitcoin of his fortune behind this notion. Or if VCs now keeping their powder dry will see this as a risk worth taking.
