Imagine that you have the power to control your own data/content. That’s what you can do on social graphs and on their apps.

In this blog, you will learn:

  • What a social graph is.
  • Its advantages.
  • The top 4 decentralized social graphs.

What is a Decentralized Social Graph?

In today's online world, social media is key to any business's success. However, with the arrival of Web3, we're seeing big changes in how social media works, including something new called the social graph.

The way we talk and connect with others on the internet has changed quickly. Social media sites are a big part of our everyday lives, helping us meet people from all over, share news, and create groups. But, the current system behind these platforms, known as Web 2.0, has many issues that stop it from being as good as it could be.

That's where Web3 steps in. It's a new version of the social graph that uses blockchain, which is a secure and decentralized way to store data. This offers some big improvements over the old Web 2.0 social graph.

In the Web3 world, people can own and control their friend lists and personal info. Instead of one big company holding all this data, Web3 lets everyone keep their own information safe and spread out, using technology like blockchains that don't have one single owner.

Advantages of Decentralized Social Graphs

Decentralized social graphs offer several compelling advantages over their centralized counterparts:

  • Ownership and Control: Users maintain ownership of their data, deciding who can access and share their information. This shift from platform ownership to user ownership marks a significant step towards digital autonomy. Own your posts and profile so that platforms cannot censor your content or ban your account.
  • Privacy and Security: With data distributed across a decentralized network, risks of central points of failure and data breaches are minimized. Enhanced privacy protocols ensure that personal information is safeguarded against unauthorized access.
  • Interoperability: Decentralized networks facilitate a seamless flow of information between different platforms and services. This openness encourages innovation and creates a more interconnected digital ecosystem. This way you don't have to build an audience from scratch for each different social media app.
  • Censorship Resistance: The distributed nature of decentralized social graphs makes them inherently resistant to censorship. Information can flow freely without the constraints imposed by central authorities. You own all your content and data, so any platform cannot suddenly ban you or delete your content.

What are the most popular social graphs?

1. CyberConnect

CyberConnect is a protocol that helps decentralized apps (dApps) grow and create personalized social features. It allows developers to easily work with decentralized social networks on Ethereum and Solana. CyberConnect has had a large and growing user base since 2021. Recently, the total number of users surpassed 1.3 million. And founders of CyberConnect are Wilson Wei, Ryan Li, Shiyu Zhang, and Zhimao Liu.

CyberConnect offers three innovative tools for better decentralization and interoperability, similar to Apple's unique features:

  1. CyberAccount: Users can create decentralized digital identities using NFTs, backed by Ethereum's ERC-4337 standard. This allows for secure identification and fair revenue distribution for content creators.
  2. CyberGraph: This is a blockchain-based system for storing social data and connections. It's immune to censorship and introduces new ways for users to earn from content through tokenization.
  3. CyberNetwork: Focused on cutting down gas fees and storage costs, it offers a more efficient blockchain network design.

70+ projects have been integrated into CyberConnect, including Project Galaxy, Light.so, NFTscan, Phaver and more. You can take a look CyberConnect dev center for more.

2. Lens Protocol

Lens Protocol aims to fix social media's key problems by allowing data ownership and sharing across platforms. Unlike traditional networks where your data is locked to one Profile NFT, with this NFT, Lens Protocol lets users own and move their data freely between apps.

This change means content creators keep their audience and content safe, no matter the platform's rules. Plus, it encourages cooperation instead of competition among networks, benefiting everyone in the ecosystem.

Lens was founded in 2022 by Stani Kulechov. It’s currently in closed beta. You can use Lens only with your Lens handle attached to your wallet. Of course, there are also hybrid apps such as Phaver (Web2 and Web3).

Lens Stats:

  • 134k profile
  • MAU: 30k
  • DAU: 4k

Momoka Stats:

  • Transactions: 1.42M
  • Total Spent: $ 558.97| $0.0004 /txn

Some Lens Apps:

Phaver, Kaira, Orb, Yup, Hey, Buttrfly

In Lens apps, there are 4 different types of publications:

Posts: Publications are posted directly to a user's ProfileNFTs; this ensures that all content created by a user remains user-owned and in their wallet. Publications are NOT NFTs.

Mirror: It's reposting content but with some small features.

Quote: Imagine it like a QRT.

Comment: Comments live in the user's Profile NFT and they are owned by the user.

Open Actions 🔥

Lens announced many features after the V2 upgrade. One of the big features is Open Actions enables direct interaction with smart contracts via an on-chain action button in social media posts, all without leaving the app. This feature already allows for a variety of experiences such as collect, swap, mint, farm, stake, invest, vote, play, and tipping within the post itself.

3. Farcaster

Its design enables users to post messages, follow other users, and organize into communities known as channels and it's built on Ethereum but since August 30th its live on OP mainnet. The open-source nature of Farcaster means that anyone can join or build on top of it. It is now a public social network similar in design to Twitter and Reddit. Also, Farcaster raises $30M led by Coinbase and A16z just a couple of months ago.

If you are new on Farcaster, Warpcast would be a great choice as a first experience. It's a mobile wallet + app designed to experience Farcaster but signing up is only on mobile.

Also, there is a small yearly payment for using Farcaster, it's like 12$. Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan are the founders of Farcaster.

According to Dune Analytics Dashboard Farcaster has:

  • 93k total user
  • DAU:11k
  • MAU: 40k

Dan Romero’s last tweet says:

  • 5 million unique follows
  • 6 milion reactions
  • 2.8 million casts

Frames on Farcaster 🔥

The Frames feature is similar to open actions on Lens. Frames enable the embedding of interactive experiences directly within Farcaster posts, known as casts. This functionality allows users to engage in a variety of interactive activities without leaving the platform.

4. DeSo Protocol

DeSo is a new layer-1 blockchain built from the ground up to decentralize social media, and scale storage-heavy applications to billions of users. In comparison to other blockchains like Ethereum, where storing a simple 200-character post could cost upwards of $78.75, DeSo drastically reduces this cost to a mere $0.000017.

The DeSo ecosystem boasts over 85 million transactions and 2 million wallets, demonstrating significant adoption and activity. This vibrant ecosystem includes various apps like Diamond and Focus, a decentralized version of Twitter, and Openfund, a social fundraising platform, among others.

Each person joining the DeSo network gets a ‘DeSo identity,’ similar to Metamask on Ethereum. This identity helps users log in to any apps developed on the DeSo ecosystem, facilitating content and data portability.

New App of DeSo: Focus 🔥

Focus is a fresh take on DeSo, combining elements of crypto trading, social media, and the latest in generative AI. It's supported by industry giants like Sequoia, Social Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Coinbase. Focus offers unique monetization opportunities for content creators. It utilizes a novel concept known as the social airdrop to enhance user engagement, ensuring a strong start and sustained growth.

Explaining Social Graphs to Grandma 👵💡

Imagine everyone in our family has a little notebook where they write down who they're friends with and what gatherings or events they're planning to attend. Instead of having one big family book that one person updates and controls, everyone has their own book and can share their updates directly with others. This way, if someone loses their book or makes a mistake, it doesn't mess up everyone else's information. It's like a giant, shared family tree that everyone helps to build and maintain, but instead of just family, it includes all the friends and connections everyone has. This is what we call a decentralized social graph; it's a way for people to connect and share information on their own terms, without depending on a single company or person to keep track of everything.

Conclusion ✍️

Today, the shift to web3 social graphs is vital. Big social platforms have misused user data, but web3 offers control back to users, improving data security and portability. This move promises a safer, user-focused online world.

Web3 paves the way for a digital space where users have more control and security. It's a step towards a fairer internet for everyone.

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