Hello Readers,
In this modern world, undoubtedly social media has become an integral part of our daily lives and revolutionising the way we communicate, share and connect not only with our friends and relatives but with people across the globe. However, while we are getting addicted and giving utmost priority to our social status, beneath the glossy interface of these platforms lies a fundamental flaw - the centralized control of our personal data and the exploitation and sale of that data for profit.
The need for SocialFi
Let me give a real-life example and many of you may have heard about this news already. In 2010, the personal data of millions of Facebook users were collected without their consent by a British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica and the data was used for political advertising. This alarming incident has triggered social media users globally to rethink sharing their data online while on the other hand, Meta, the owner company of Facebook social media platform also agreed to pay a whopping 725 Million US Dollars to settle the legal action of data breach.
This tragic incident sparked a revolution among social media users globally and a need for a better environment to share their content online, where there should be no compromise with personal data security and no centralized control over users. Thus thought later gave birth to the concept of SocialFi, a groundbreaking collaboration of social media and decentralized finance (DeFi) principles that offers a permanent solution to these challenges that we are currently facing in web2 social media platforms.
Understanding SocialFi
SocialFi represents a brand new approach in the landscape of social media systems while prioritizing the needs of its user base rather than favoring the companies owning and running the platform. The word SocialFi comes from Social Media and Decentralised Finance (DeFi) and this approach focuses on seamlessly integrating the principles of social networking with the decentralized nature of blockchain technology. While leveraging the groundbreaking blockchain technology as a bedrock, SocialFi platforms empower users with full control over their personal data and freedom of expression and also open a new avenue for monetization.
Challenges of Web2 Social Media
Before we start exploring the transformative potential of SocialFi, it is crucial to acknowledge the disadvantages of traditional web2 social media platforms that we suffer as users. Looking at the current time, these platforms face several challenges that can’t be ignored at all and as users, we must ask for solutions on these points below..
- Centralized Control and Exploitation Traditional web2 social media platforms are often found exploiting personal user data, interest and attention for profit and can be found selling that data to third parties for monetary or other gains, just like the example of Facebook I provided above. This evil practice of these social media companies is leading us to concerned about our privacy, ethical practices and rights as a social media user.
- Censorship and Freedom of Speech Most of the Social Media platforms, if not all are actually Centralized platforms and hold immense power over content moderation and can decide which content is suitable or profitable for their platform and which is not without caring about the freedom of speech about the user. This approach often leads to unwanted or immoral censorship of published content from users and acts as a shield against free expression.
- Lack of Digital Ownership Another disadvantage of Web2 social media platforms are that the users have very limited control over their personal data and content and this approach is often leading to issues of digital piracy and identity theft but these global social platforms have not come out with any solution so far that favors the users.
- Inequitable Monetisation If you leave the top 1% creators on any web2 Social Media platform, no doubt content creators struggle to monetize their work directly and thus start relying on indirect means such as sponsored content and advertising revenue. Thus, they can be often seen promoting Gambling apps or other immoral or harmful things even without realizing that underage users also consume their content and can get affected by such practices.
The Solution is Web3
To deal with all these problems that we are facing right now as web2 social media users, a new revolution took place in the name of Web3, a next-generation network that prioritizes user benefit over personal gains. Bow let us look into the advantages of web3 based social media while taking Hive as an example below.
Hive - an ideal SocialFi example
One of the best examples of SocialFi would be Hive which is one of the most famous social media platforms in the current time in whole web3 world. First of all, unlike any web2 social media which is owned and controlled by companies and operates on a centralized system, Hive is operating as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), where the users collectively control the decisions and future of the platform. The Hive runs and focuses on the principles of community governance and user ownership where content creators, influencers and users are given the true power to shape the platform's direction.
- Censorship Resistance & Community Governance
SocialFi platforms like The Hive address these modern day challenges and first of all, to tackle censorship it has introduced new approaches like decentralized content curation and community governance. Instead of fully depending upon a centralized authority to control your data, here users can collectively determine the acceptability of content in a more democratic and inclusive environment. At the core of The Hive lies the concept of social tokens which represents a user’s influence within the community. Whether it is a global icon like Mark Zuckerburg or Elon Musk or an everyday user like you and me, individuals can gain control and manage their earned tokens by contributing to the platform and can also mint their own tokens while benefiting from true ownership and empowerment.
- Empowering Content Creators
One of the best features of SocialFi is the empowerment of content creators. If we take Hive as an example, through their social activities, users in this platform can earn Hive, HBD and many other Layer 2 tokens which hold monetary value and can be exchanged with real-world money. There are thousands of active users in this platform who actively contribute to this platform on a daily basis and earn for their valuable contributions.
- Digital Ownership and Identity
In the world of SocialFi, digital ownership is another groundbreaking feature that has become the center of attraction for many of us and by creating and facilitating non-fungible tokens (NFTs), These platforms have enabled users to have true ownership over digital assets and also established unique online identities while creating a sense of authenticity and control in this space.
- Security and Transparency
SocialFi projects like Hive generally being built in blockchain technologies where every activity in the system created by users and is stored in the form of transactions. All these transactions are stored in online data blocks and are chained to each other. So, it is impossible to erase, edit or do any fraudulent activity with these transactions, which gives state-of-the-art security to the users at a core level. Moreover, every transaction is transparent and visible publicly, so nothing can be hidden from the public eye which promotes the transparency of these platforms even more.
Conclusion
For all these reasons above, I personally think that choosing web3-based social media like Hive is way better in today’s World than using any web2 social media and compromising your data and freedom. I personally have been using the Hive blockchain for over 5 years now and from my experience it is really an amazing platform that not only provides you security, decentralization and freedom of speech but also empowers you for your valuable contributions. So think again before using those web2 social apps and I would also suggest you to give Hive a try and feel the difference. Not only you will feel Safer and taste the actual freedom while sharing your content or thoughts, but also you will stand a chance to get paid for what you love to do.