Imagine this: You stand in front of a gigantic digital landscape—the new frontier of the internet, Web3. It promises freedom, privacy, and control like never before. You walk in eagerly to leave behind the old centralized social media giants. But the further you go, the more it feels—well, some stumbling blocks. Let us take a journey through this shifting world and see what we learned doesn't work in Web3 social so far.
Well, let's dive right into user experience. You get all excited, sign up to whatever new Web3 social platform, scroll down deep into the maze of where things were supposed to be located, the UI resembling something from a jigsaw rather than a social hub. Contrasted with this, legacy platforms have had years to polish their user-friendly design. If Web3 is ever going to finally take off, it needs to be as intuitive as ordering a package from your favorite delivery app.
You amble through this new landscape, coming toward the problem of identity. Many Web3 platforms promise to give you control over your digital identity, but in reality, you are juggling multiple personalities across a range of platforms. It's almost as if every night you're going to different masquerade balls and the demand is for a different mask each time. Still in quest of the Holy Grail is a unified secure identity system.
To be sure, inherent in this digital landscape are the lurking challenges of privacy. On one hand, Web3 does offer the promise of data privacy as a protective cloak; on the other, total anonymity can turn into a villain's mask and enables trolls to do their scum things. How to tiptoe between the pulls of privacy and accountability is something that Web3 hasn't cracked yet.
Then there's the Wild West of content moderation, with no central sheriff to enforce these rules, so misinformation, hate speech, and illegal content can go wild. Community-driven moderation systems are really the deputies we desperately need to keep our digital towns safe and folksy.
Farther down the line, there's the slippery territory of monetization. We do know that Web3 platforms tout a fairer way for creators to come out with a profit, but many of them rely on arcane and volatile tokenomics. Picture this: being paid in some currency that may just drop or rise through the floor overnight. Creators need stable and obvious ways of earning a living—not some gamble dependent on crypto markets.
It's called Web3, and it's the next stop in our path across this fragmented interoperability world; it's supposed to enable assets and information to flow seamlessly between platforms. The reality is more like fitting various box-puzzle pieces together. Real interoperability remains elusive—a dragon—because it's so hard to find.
Security is just like the storm clouds hanging precariously over our expedition; indeed, blockchain technology per se is secure, but the platforms being built on top of it have many vulnerabilities. Tales of hacks and exploits sound like thunder that strike at the very core of user confidence. Such platforms have to fortify their security like a fortress in order to better their trust.
Then would come the next big mountain in our way: scalability. Web3 works fine for small communities but will scale rather differently with millions of active users. Network congestion, high transaction fees, slow processing time—such peaks are equivalent to steep cliffs, letting not a single drop of progress trickle in. Scaling peaks is what Web3 has to do in order to formally compete with traditional giants someday.
Sometimes, that guiding light from community governance flickers. There can be no one agreeing in decentralized decision-making, so no progress is made. It's as if the crew argues over the course while the ship is adrift. How, then, is the riddle of streamlining this governance without losing this democratic spirit solved?.
One could literally say that accessibility is the steadfast companion on our journey. Most of the time, we see Web3 platforms ONLY serving tech natives, the ones emerging from technology, leaving dust behind. Construction of a city with no roads going into it; this happens when one democratizes social media authentically: accessibility shall be all-inclusive to these platforms—from digital natives to tech newbies.
What are some of the treasures that one can find to assist oneself in climbing through mountains of hardship? First and foremost, we have easing the experience of the user. It should be simple, just like a well-trodden path in which people will be quite naturally swept across the digital landscape. Otherwise, if it's complicated, it is not for the masses as yet.
Next, we have to forge a common identity system that can balance privacy and accountability. Think about a single, secure passport for all of your digital travels that makes for easy, seamless experiences inside all of our platforms—making Web3 less fragmented, more cohesive.
It means we need robust, community-driven moderation systems. Where decentralization is the way to go, that doesn't mean we abandon all our rules. Effective moderation would enable us to preserve a healthy environment without heavy-handed censorship.
Monetization mechanisms should be as crystal clear and as rock-solid as a mountain spring. It is wonderful to have tokens and cryptocurrencies, but they shouldn't be the only way. Integrating classical means of payment with the ability for multiple streams to generate revenue can go a long way in making those sorts of platforms more attractive, as follows:
Interoperability must become something more than just a legend. In an effort to ensure that users seamlessly transfer data, assets, and identities across services, platforms need collaboration. This improvises the overall user experience and creates a hugely connected Web3 ecosystem.
Security should work like our trusted armor. While the blockchain provides a robust foundation, the platforms themselves should be equally secure. This can be achieved by frequent audits, bug bounties, and other such open practices that will help build trust with users, ensuring their data isn't misused or hacked.
If we want to scale the heights of scalability, we're all going to need robust infrastructure able to bear enhanced traffic and transactions without a single sweat drop. Only then will Web3 platforms stand shoulder-to-shoulder with traditional social media giants.
Effective community governance is our North Star. On this matter, streamlined decision-making mechanisms enable both speed and an appropriate service of decentralized principles.
Accessibility must be one of the welcome gates to this new world. By Symmetry, it should be designed for everybody—not just the tech elite—by making things intuitive through design while providing comprehensive guides and multilanguage and accessibility support.
This is something to ponder as we near the last milestone of our journey. Difficult and long is the path ahead for Web3 social platforms. Tackling these challenges, we can create a future wherein decentralized social media eventually lives up to its potential. Doing that will not come easy, but with innovation, teamwork, and, most importantly, user-centric design, such dreams may form a reality.
And as we navigate through this brave new world, all of us, let us remember: the destination at the end isn't any fixed point. It's rather a dynamic horizon, continuously shifting with every new innovation and lesson learned in the process. To that end, it's much less about "What doesn't work?" but "How can we make it work?" So let's rise to the challenge and co-write the next chapter of Web3 social. The future is in our hands—that's where we shape it: with vision, courage, and a touch of wonder.
This post is taking part in the t2 x Kiwi Writing Contest.