While worldwide Internet users continue to depend on classic social media such as YouTube and Facebook, industry participants continue developing privacy-centered substitutes based on blockchains such as IOTA.
Society2 is a unique decentralized social media (DeSM) venture that intends to permit users take back control of their private info and facilitate IOTA node owners to operate their own social media apps or websites.
Society2, which announced the efforts on May 5, has pointed out that mainstream adoption of decentralized social media is yet to happen.
Nevertheless, Soceity2’s core group has begun its work to develop an IOTA-powered DeSM framework to pave way for a new norm in control, privacy and interoperability of info exchanged between social media platforms.
Ben Royce, head of development at Society2, explained how the framework is distinct from prevailing social networks.
“SOCIETY2’s framework is very different from existing social networks. An owner of an IOTA node can run a social media site or app as easily as downloading an open source template from a menu, customizing it or not.”
Society2 is guaranteeing to pave way for social media privacy and control that social media users lack currently. As a portion of the initiative, Society2 intends to permit social media users to openly select the quantum of privacy required, utilizing zero-fee micropayments in IOTA cryptocurrency (MIOTA) as rewards.
Royce detailed that Society2 will be uniquely based on the IOTA infrastructure. For illustration, utilizing IOTA’s p2p micropayments, the platform will be awarding users for viewing marketing content on Society2.
Royce detailed that users will be rewarded for sharing information:
“If you wish to receive ads, and give up some of your info, you share in the revenue streams with the IOTA node owner who runs a particular site or app.”
He said:
“IOTA is the only currency that will be supported natively on the SOCIETY2 framework. IOTA is the core of technology of the SOCIETY2 framework because it best fits our use cases. Besides its ability to scale and its ability to securely transfer messages, IOTA allows for P2P micropayments without fees.”
Society2, in addition to using IOTA crypto as fundamental token to power its platform, is using tangle technology of IOTA for creation of the system.
The venture will be backed by IOTA Streams, a network for cryptographic applications being built by the IOTA Foundation.
In particular, IOTA Streams will facilitate encryption and distribution of social media content. Furthermore, Society2 will be implementing IOTA’s Decentralized Identity technology.
After beginning the venture and unveiling their website this week, Soceity2 anticipates coming up with an early model of its DeSM system for community response by Q3, 2020, as per Joseph Skewes, project’s head of operations.
The Society2’s group, which has been a part of the IOTA community for several years, anticipates that their infrastructure could be utilized by media conglomerates such as Twitter.
Skewes said:
“Twitter recently funded an independent team bluesky, who are researching the decentralized social media landscape for a standard that Twitter itself could eventually use. A framework like SOCIETY2 may develop into a suitable candidate for such a platform.”
Twitter CEO and founder Jack Dorsey disclosed that the company financed a devoted group to build a decentralized norm for social media in the final part of 2019.
There are few other firms which are trying to develop blockchain powered alternatives to the conventional social media platforms.
Last October, Rob Rosenthal, a 19-year veteran of Goldman Sachs, and David Gelernter, Yale’s professor of computer science, disclosed their intention to launch a new blockchain powered social platform that can compete with Facebook in 2020.