Exploring the Opportunities and Mission of Web3 Social

Recently, the Web3 discourse is filled with negativity, as if it were a large harvesting ground. However, Ponzi is neutral; it is a financing technology that reduces project operating costs and safeguards the ultimate success of the project. Whether in DeFi, social, or other sectors, there are builders who continue to strive. The Web3 revolution has not yet failed, and we are still looking forward to a decentralized future.

This article will outline the development process of the Web3 social field over the past 8 years, summarize experiences and lessons learned, and explore potential opportunities. Although Web3 social is not yet fully mature, its achievements are noteworthy. As technology continues to advance and barriers lower, the emergence of real products may very well be happening right now.

The Underlying Demand Theory of Web3 Social

Successful products are built on solid demand. Humans are social animals with social needs. Social needs include establishing connections, perceiving others, and obtaining feedback. Holding tokens is a new way of creating connections, and an open verifiable database expands the dimensionality of the information obtained from these connections.

The motivations for online social behavior include self-presentation, emotional release, and seeking validation. From forums to social media, new scenarios continue to emerge. Economies of scale are a significant characteristic of internet social interactions, and projects that cannot establish economies of scale struggle to survive.

The unique advantage of Web3 lies in its cross-database, composable social interface, as well as scenarios that quantify rights interactions with tokens. In recent years, the Web3 industry has gone to great lengths to achieve scale advantages.

The Development Context of Web3 Social

The development of Web3 social shows two trends:

1. Develop decentralized social technology standards
2. Establish token consensus through social networking

Competition of Decentralized Social Technology Standards

Decentralized social interaction is a future necessity. New generation projects like Bluesky, Nostr, Lens, and Farcaster have all provided their own protocols. Technology is not the issue; the key is how to overcome scale disadvantages. Token incentives have become a direct means for most projects.

Token incentive revolution encounters obstacles

Token incentives face two major dilemmas: the subjective value of social content is difficult to assess, and witch attacks. As a pioneering project, STEEM made innovative attempts in multiple dimensions, but ultimately declined due to the collapse of consensus.

Other projects such as Torum and BBS also use token incentives, but they go against the "non-monetary rewards" element of social interactions. External material rewards can diminish intrinsic psychological rewards, leading to lower social efficiency.

Degen on Farcaster incentivizes the financial functions of social projects through Meme tokens, creating wealth effects and triggering ecological prosperity. This may become a superior token incentive technique.

Stage setbacks of the content self-revolution

Early projects like Mirror attempted to put content on-chain and assetize it, but lacked traffic and operational capacity. There are currently no good cases for content assetization. Another reason the market is insensitive to content assetization is that the timing is not right; users do not care much about their own content sovereignty.

The New Journey of Attention Sovereignty

Content recommendation systems continue to evolve. Projects like Yup and Wormhole3 are trying to incentivize content list-based recommendations with tokens, but struggle to compete with intelligent algorithms. Projects like Phavor utilize data to influence content distribution, but ultimately also pivot.

Experience shows that it is necessary to incentivize advanced production methods. The participation of on-chain data in system decision-making is the essential difference between Web3 and Web2 recommendation systems. BlueSky's "subscription stream generator" is a new attempt. Debank's social module also has great potential.

Social Asset Tokenization

Another evolutionary path is to issue tokens through social engagement. The key is how to establish a consensus on the token's value and liquidity.

Attention Tokenization

The secret formula for Meme coins includes content, KOLs, communities, and the wealth effect. New technologies such as Farcaster's frames and ERC404 are enhancing the Meme content of coin issuance. However, the consensus around Meme tokens is difficult to sustain.

Tokenization of Social Relationships

Injecting the value of social relationships into tokens is a more practical direction. DAO projects, Friend.tech, and others are exploring this aspect.

Content Tokenization

Content tokenization emphasizes the relationship between tokens and content ownership. However, there is currently uncertainty regarding on-chain ownership, the protection rights pathways are not mature, and content tokenization has yet to demonstrate economic value.

Bonding curve solves liquidity

The bonding curve addresses the liquidity cost issues of small-scale projects. The steep bonding curve of Friend.tech significantly reduces the operational costs for individuals providing liquidity for tokens. The segmented bonding curve of Pump.fun is also an innovation.

Opportunities and Missions of Web3 Social

Although Web3 social is constantly failing in exploration, progress is evident.

• From PC to mobile, to progressive web applications.
• Wallet login from mnemonic phrases to MPC and abstract accounts
• Advances in blockchain infrastructure lower accounting costs and accelerate transaction speeds.
• Social protocol layer builders actively create suitable layer 3.
• Network expansion enhances user experience, supporting more concurrent information.
• Innovative embedded social scenarios to enhance combinability
• Middleware has achieved success in data integration, analysis, and tagging.

Compared to the previous period, the infrastructure and tools are more complete, the number of natives is continuously increasing, and Meme tokens and NFTs are continuously educating potential users.

Dopamine, the opium of the masses, the antidote of Web3

There is a significant gap between the content of mainstream short video platforms and Web3 social platforms. For Web3 social to achieve mass adoption, it needs to integrate high-quality content. A possible future model could be: content creators at the core of a small economic cycle, freely choosing suitable protocols and tools, while other participants engage in the economic cycle through tokens.

Blueprint of Web3 Social

Taking a fictional Web3 series as an example, it demonstrates possible scenarios for future Web3 social interactions:

• Decentralized media solution
• Content Token Airdrop
• Users participate in plot decision-making
• Fan Token System
• Selling peripheral products through frames
• Multi-platform interaction

This experience will surpass traditional Web2 platforms.

The Mission of Web3

The foundation of the Web3 revolution is liberalism. Our mission is to restore the rights taken away by centralization to every individual, providing more choices rather than imposing ideals.

Conclusion

The dilemma of Web3 social media stems from immature technology and organizational structure issues. In the future, social media may be centered around content publishers, focusing on users and associated service providers. How to effectively utilize interactivity and enhance user experience will be key. Finding better ways for content and communities to interact in the new environment will determine whether Web3 can truly be realized.