It mainly provides users with a content sharing platform. The content posted by users on such platforms is relatively simple. The vast majority of users share other users' content. Users interact when they share content or comment on a piece of content on the platform. The information interaction of this type of platform is somewhat similar to that of creative platforms, but it is mainly aimed at high traffic of a small amount of information. Such sharing platforms include: Weibo (for sharing text messages and video animations) and certain picture or video sharing websites. This type of platform can facilitate social interaction between acquaintances and strangers.
4. Creative platform
It mainly provides a platform for publishing works created by users. The content and works published by users on such platforms are generally organized into systems or articles, which have certain meaning and value. After a user publishes it on the platform, it can be read by other users. Based on the published content, other users or users and publishers can communicate and interact to achieve social purposes. Such creative platforms include: blog websites, various forum websites (Tianya Forum, Baidu Forum, etc.), Zhihu platform, Douyin short videos (focusing on the release of creative short videos), etc. Such platforms mainly focus on social interaction between strangers.
The above classification is based on the attributes of the social platform itself and the user needs that need to be solved. Although there is some overlap between different types of platforms, and this is technically possible, the main functions and attributes of each type of platform are indeed different. different.
1.2 Issues in the social field
No matter what type of platform, the most important thing is to have a certain user base. This is why, while it is relatively easy to create homogeneous social products, there is little possibility of replacing existing products. That is, the user base has formed a solid barrier. Without products that solve users’ pain points, users will have no incentive to migrate to the platform.
From the perspective of online social networking, the platform provides users with a bridge to connect users. Then the problems existing in the social field can also be viewed from the perspective of the platform and users.
1. Platform information leakage
Users share videos on the platform or chat with close friends. Information transmission requires the platform to operate as a third party, so the platform is fully capable of capturing various data generated by users on the platform.
User information may be leaked. On the one hand, the servers of social platforms store relevant information. Once the server is hacked, user information will be stolen. On the other hand, social platforms themselves proactively leak user information. This is mainly because the platform sells user information to other commercial organizations for profit. MSN, which was once popular, is favored by many people because of its imported products. However, it was later revealed that Microsoft had stolen user information, causing user information to be leaked and users abandoned. MSN was eventually forced to withdraw from the Chinese market.
2. High user connection costs
The connection between users mainly relies on trust. Existing social platforms are either social for acquaintances like WeChat or social for strangers like Weibo. For social interactions with strangers, trust is an essential condition for establishing a connection between two people. There is no good way for two strangers to connect. Usually acquaintances introduce each other, which is very time-consuming. The other is to chat with each other, which is very risky for trust. The platform has a certain role in promoting this process, but the effect is not obvious.
3. Spread user false information
Social platforms essentially provide users with information interaction. In recent years, it is not uncommon for malicious users to spread false information on social platforms. The reasons are, first of all, the initiating user is malicious in nature and obtains certain benefits or attention by spreading false information. Second, the communicator may be exploited or malicious. Since he is unable to identify the authenticity of the information but endorses (or is attracted to) the viewpoints in the information, he assumes the role of disseminator of false information. In addition, as a third party that provides information interaction service support to users, platforms should also bear certain responsibilities when spreading false information.
The consequences of false information are unimaginable, especially for social platforms that are particularly shareable. Once false information enters, it is shared frequently, the information spreads widely, and the number of people who are deceived is huge. Grows geometrically. The "rumor gate" that appeared many times in WeChat Moments is suspected of spreading false information before and after the 2016 US presidential election...
2. Blockchain + social field
2.1 Brief analysis of the feasibility of blockchain + social field
Blockchain can bring certain advantages to the social field, but only products that truly solve the pain points in the social field can be widely accepted by users. It is difficult for a product that only solves pain points to capture a large number of users in the face of existing huge competitors - WeChat, QQ, Weibo and other environments. In fact, users are likely not to recognize it. . Social products are essentially users. Without user support, a product will simply die.
The blockchain + social field is both feasible and restrictive, which can be explained from the essential properties of blockchain and the characteristics of social interaction.
1.P2P is both blockchain and social
The essential attributes of blockchain P2P are very similar to social networks. The most important thing about social networks is the information interaction between users. Blockchain can build a P2P communication platform to allow users to interact with each other, which is technically easy to implement. At the same time, other auxiliary functions can also be developed, such as group chat, etc.
2. There is market demand for user information protection
With the development of society, people pay more and more attention to personal respect and privacy. Many social platforms need to upload user-related information and record many user behavior traces - such as consumption behavior, search history, likes and comment records, etc. Once you have relevant information about users, you can target them with targeted ads or even harass them with telemarketing calls. In fact, many users have experienced information being inexplicably leaked. The encryption and centralization features of blockchain cater to users’ demands for privacy information protection.
3. Technical support for large-scale applications
This is a constraint on the feasibility of blockchain + social. As far as the current infrastructure that blockchain relies on is concerned, when blockchain social has a huge user base, the blockchain platform will face congestion, which will greatly affect users. experience. If the user experience cannot be significantly better than existing social platforms such as instant messaging, then the injection of blockchain into the social field will have a negative impact. The solution can be to consider making social products only for a few users, or taking a semi-centralized form. Of course, with the development of blockchain technology, such problems may be solved in the future.
The essence of blockchain social networking is to solve the various shortcomings of centralized platforms and bring users a freer and smoother social environment. Social networking is always accompanied by various behaviors, and on the blockchain, through cross-chain technology, various blockchain projects can be connected, so that users who use social products may be able to interact with other products very smoothly. . In short, the application of blockchain technology has certain feasibility in solving domain problems and technologies in the social field.
2.2 Advantages of blockchain + social field
Combining the most prominent features of blockchain - decentralization, P2P network, distributed ledger, timestamp, information transparency and non-tampering, applying blockchain technology to the social field will have the following advantages:
(1) Eliminate trust issues and reduce communication costs
The essence of blockchain is to eliminate trust and solve the trust problem between the two through technology. Once the trust issue is resolved, it will become easier to interact with strangers and the efficiency of the entire social system will increase. There is no need for introductions from nearby acquaintances or "matchmaking" from third-party intermediary platforms.
(2) Smart contracts - internalization of positive social externalities
Positive social externalities refer to the positive benefits that users’ social behaviors on social platforms bring to the platform. Specifically, when users post information on social platforms, in addition to gaining attention for themselves or communicating with other users, which has a positive impact on themselves, the platform actually also gains benefits from this behavior of users. Positive externalities – such as celebrity information releases and user interactions bring daily activity to the platform. In fact, the platform provides social features to its users. Without the related services provided by social platforms, users would not be able to communicate with each other. However, this is a complementary, mutually beneficial relationship, and this relationship is not very obvious. In comparison, the advertising revenue and other commercial revenue generated by the platform after it has a certain number of users is extremely considerable. It goes without saying that the benefits that users bring to the platform are far greater than the value of the services that the platform provides to users.
On a social platform based on blockchain, blockchain smart contracts can be used to solve this problem. By establishing a certain social contribution evaluation mechanism, we can record and evaluate users' various social behaviors with positive externalities on social platforms, and feed them back to users as conversion benefits to achieve internalization. This avoids existing externalities being plundered by the platform.
(3) Distributed ledger - independent control of user information
The blockchain social platform adopts distributed accounting. It is no longer like a traditional social platform where the platform holds all users’ information. Instead, every user has a ledger in their hands. This ledger can record all user information and may have some encryption depending on the importance of the information. Each user's information is in their own hands and does not belong to any platform. Users can share or sell information at different prices based on the value of their information, returning the power of user information to users. Founder Zuckerberg said in 2017: Using encryption technology and cryptocurrency to put the power of centralized systems back into people's hands, I will delve into these technologies and explore how to apply them to our services.
(4) P2P - increased income from user works
The publication of user works on certain social platforms has certain value. After users create works and publish them on the platform, they can be used or read by users, thereby earning certain profits. As a service provider, the platform will charge a certain percentage of commission fees. Utilize the blockchain social platform and build a blockchain network in the social field that does not require third-party organizations as intermediaries for social interaction based on the P2P characteristics of the blockchain. After removing the profit commission from the centralized platform, the income can be fully returned to the users, which can increase user income. And when the author's work is published on the chain, the rights can also be permanently confirmed.
(5) Encryption technology - security guarantee of data transmission
The most distinctive feature of blockchain is encryption technology. At present, blockchain-related encryption technology has made great progress, and many blockchain projects even focus on the field of data encryption technology. For example, multi-party computing technology (sMPC) encrypts the data that needs to be calculated, breaks it into multiple shards, and assigns it to multiple nodes for calculation, ensuring that each node cannot decrypt the original data based on a single shard. Blockchain social can encrypt user privacy information that needs to be kept confidential, ensuring that the information is only disseminated or shared among specific users, and other parties cannot decrypt the original information even if they intercept it.
(6) Timestamp - solution to the spread of false information
The blockchain can time-mark every user operation, and every operation is recorded on each user's distributed ledger, and the information cannot be tampered with. When it comes to the dissemination of false information, we can trace the source of the information and identify the disseminators of the false information based on the dissemination records of the information.
2.3 Obstacles and limitations in the blockchain + social field
The advantages of blockchain technology itself can bring new vitality to the social field, but social products are user-oriented. Even if it is combined with blockchain technology, if it cannot find user pain points and cannot attract user groups, it is destined to be difficult to succeed.
(1) Product Highlights
Blockchain technology is very popular now, but many current products are just borrowed concepts and have not yet used the technology to generate real benefits. Social products also need to consider the same issues. This is not about using blockchain for the sake of using blockchain. Only by truly combining the technical advantages of blockchain, identifying user pain points, and creating social products with product highlights can people stick to them. Users survive in the market.
(2) Government supervision
Just as Bitcoin provides soil for black market transactions, under the encryption technology of the blockchain, users' end-to-end information exchange can be well protected by encryption, but this also brings a certain degree of difficulty to government supervision. For the use of such blockchain social software to carry out illegal activities - anti-national, anti-social terrorist activities, how to effectively supervise them and promptly prevent and sanction them is an issue that needs to be considered. User privacy is important, but national security and social stability cannot be ignored. How to find a win-win solution between the two needs to be considered in the early stages of social product design.
(3)Processing speed
The TPS (transactions per second) of Ethereum-based blockchain projects is about 30-40. This processing speed is far from meeting the needs of various applications in the blockchain 3.0 era. In fact, the current blockchain infrastructure cannot support large-scale commercial applications.
In 2012, Data estimated that there were a total of 3 servers. These large servers worked together as a backing to maintain the normal operation of Data. In 2017, the WeChat team released the "2017 WeChat Data Report", which includes the following relevant data:
1. The number of daily logged-in users of WeChat reaches 900 million
2. 38 billion messages sent every day
3. 68 million videos are posted daily in Moments
4. Number of monthly active public accounts: 3.5 million
It can be seen from the relevant data of the above two heavyweight social products that the larger the user base, the more information is sent and the more supporting hardware facilities need to be provided. The current development of blockchain technology will have a great impact in the short term, but the processing of massive information is still a shortcoming.
Therefore, when building a blockchain social platform, technical feasibility and stability must be considered.
3. Application cases
Since blockchain technology has certain advantages in social products, it is obvious to explore the application of blockchain technology in social products. This case is divided into three cases:
Case number one:
It is a cloud-based mobile and desktop application that focuses on security and speed. Positioned as a social chat software, it uses blockchain technology to encrypt the chat process to ensure user privacy and security, and ensures that users can use it permanently for free without inserting mobile phone advertisements. It has wide influence in Europe and the United States and is known as the WeChat of China’s blockchain industry. In February 2018, it launched its own blockchain research and development platform and cryptocurrency TON, which supports payment and other functions.
Provides end-to-end encryption for one-on-one chats, the encryption mode is based on 256-bit symmetric AES encryption, RSA 2048 encryption and secure key exchange protocol. Paul Durov, one of the founders, is so confident that his encryption technology is so secure that he has expressed his willingness to offer $200,000 worth of Bitcoin as a reward to anyone who successfully cracks the intercepted call information.
Figure 1: Operation flow diagram
As a chat software, it has the following characteristics:
1. Messages are encrypted and can be destroyed at a scheduled time to ensure personal and business confidentiality.
2. Allow users to access messages from multiple terminals.
3. Message delivery speed is very fast.
4. Servers are distributed around the world to ensure security and speed.
5. Open free APIs and protocols to every user.
6. Promise to be permanently free, no ads, no subscription fees.
7. Ensure user information is protected from hacker attacks.
8. There is no limit on media data size, users can send any type of file.
It is a relatively mature social chat software. It only took two years from its birth to accumulating over 100 million users. Focusing on the privacy encryption of user chat information, it has a certain appeal to users.
Case 2: Ye
The Yee project attempts to become a blockchain-based cloud communication network and centralized social ecosystem.
The Yee project will include four parts in the future. The first is the blockchain - which can support fast transactions and efficient storage; the second is the cloud communication network - built on it; the third is based on applications - for example, Dapp and content management platforms; and the last is Yee ecological construction. The Yee project builds a communication network and social ecological application system based on its own blockchain.
Efficient storage can be achieved by using a method where each node saves only part of the data, but only with a secure verification method. Each node saves some blocks it cares about and only uses other blocks when it needs them. Can only be downloaded from other nodes. In order to ensure that the blocks on the node are not tampered with, the hash() result and the context hash result are used for double verification.
Provide a distributed and stable communication network. Explore the use of a centralized consensus mechanism to ensure user security and privacy, including encrypted communications. Eventually a distributed and stable P2P, live broadcast, and IoT communication network will be formed.
The foundation of Project Yee, which currently has about 30 million users, can send messages and enable video and voice calls. Based on user needs such as remittances and second-hand commodity transactions, encrypted digital wallets can be used, and users can use them to conduct cross-border transfers and consumption through D currency YEE.
Suitable for ecology. The Yee project designed its own universal D-coin YEE to encourage users and developers to contribute to the ecosystem. The Yee ecological incentive plan issues a total of 3 billion D coins YEE, accounting for 30% of the total D coins, and will be distributed in 8 years. In the future, YEE users can obtain D-coin rewards through use. These YEED coins can be used to pay for various internal consumption scenarios, and can also be converted into legal currency through the secondary market.
Situation three:
Project Introduction: A media platform driven by blockchain technology releases a certain number of D coins every day, and its SP holders can determine the income of content producers (D coins) through a support/opposition model.
Project features: A new content incentive model that reasonably returns profits to users who create value on the platform, encourages native creation, and maximizes the release of user value.
Project Vision: Aims to provide rewards in the form of cryptocurrency, support social media and online communities by returning significant value to individuals who provide valuable contribution content, and through this process create a currency that can reach a wide market, including those that have not yet group entering the market. Not yet involved in any cryptocurrency economy.
Core footing:
1. Reward creators directly without going through a credit intermediary
2. The platform obtains income through dividends without advertising.
3. Powerful anti-fraud measures at the account level
D coin concept:
:
Ø A value obtained. The more Steem Power you have, the greater your influence in the network;
Ø Cannot be traded or exchanged for cash. If you want to sell it, you need to convert it to regular Steem tokens first. It takes 13 weeks to convert SP to Steem;
Ø The main benefit of having SP is: increased influence. When you comment, like or vote on other users' content, this increases in proportion to the SP you have, meaning the value of the vote is different.
Stim:
Ø Designed to maintain the stability of this digital currency, with the goal of keeping its value as close as possible to the value of the U.S. dollar;
Ø Allocate SBD and pay interest in a manner that affects the trading ratio (between US$0.95 and US$1.05);
Ø When you earn Steem by blogging, commenting or liking, or voting, you will receive Steem Power and SBD in proportion. The ratio is about half, but its algorithm is constantly adjusted to ensure that SBD is as close to $1 as possible.
4. Summary
The advantages brought by blockchain in the social field are obvious and certain, but how to use such advantages to fit the pain points of users is the highest priority and most important consideration for blockchain social products.
1. Autonomous control of user information: Each user’s information is in their own hands and does not belong to any platform. Users can share or sell information at different prices based on the value of their information, returning the power of user information to users.
2. Communication costs are greatly reduced: The centralized and trustless characteristics of the blockchain provide a convenient channel for any two people who want to understand each other. There is no need for an intermediary to introduce each other, and you can understand and evaluate them through corresponding means before getting to know each other.
3. Security guarantee of data dissemination: Blockchain social network can encrypt user information that needs to be kept confidential to ensure that the information is only disseminated or shared among specific users, and other parties cannot decrypt the original information even if they intercept it.
4. Promote the development of pan-social industries such as content creation: Use the blockchain social platform, based on the P2P characteristics of the blockchain, to build blockchain network social connections in the social field that do not require third-party organizations as intermediaries. , after removing the profit commission of the centralized platform, all profits can be returned to users, which can increase user income. And when the author's work is published on the chain, the rights can also be permanently confirmed.
5. Users are a scarce resource: Social networks require economies of scale. The more people use them, the more valuable they become. At present, mainstream social products are highly monopolistic. How to find innovative points to deepen and acquire users is a question that all current products need to think about. key.
6. Processing speed is the bottleneck: The TPS (transactions per second) of blockchain projects based on Ethereum is worrying. This processing speed is far from meeting the needs of various applications in the blockchain 3.0 era. In fact, the current blockchain infrastructure cannot support large-scale commercial applications.
7. The problem of government supervision is serious: On the one hand, protecting privacy meets the needs of users, but on the other hand, it also makes government supervision more difficult. How to design a reasonable regulatory system is an important research point for the future development of blockchain + social.
With the continuous development of blockchain technology, on the premise that its technology can support the processing of massive information in social products, as long as one of the pain points of users can be found and a highlight product can be designed, blockchain can have great potential. Application prospects. Impact in the social sphere. shine.
标签： #Social Network #Blockchain #Social Products #Social Platforms #Mobile Internet
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