Exploring the Opportunities and Mission of Web3 Social

Recently, the discourse around Web3 is filled with hostility, as if it were a large field of chives. However, in my view, Ponzi is neutral; it is a financing technique that reduces operational costs for projects. As long as the pace of progress does not stop, the Web3 revolution has not failed. This article will outline the development of the Web3 social field over the past 8 years, summarize lessons learned, and explore potential opportunities.

Although Web3 social is not yet mature, its achievements are noteworthy. With technological advancements, the barriers and costs are continuously decreasing, and the emergence of real products may be happening right now.

The Fundamental Demand Theory of Web3 Social

Any successful product is built on solid demand. As social animals, humans have social needs, requiring connections, the perception of others, and feedback. Holding tokens is a brand new way to connect, and an open, verifiable database expands the dimensions of available information. This will foster entirely new social relationships and interaction methods.

The psychological motivations of internet social interactions can be summarized as self-presentation, emotional catharsis, and seeking validation. In the Web3 environment, token-supported social relationships, cross-database information support, and composable social interfaces are its unique advantages.

The Development Context of Web3 Social

Web3 social presents two parallel trends: the development of decentralized social technology standards and the establishment of token consensus through social interactions.

Competition of Decentralized Social Technology Standards

Losing control over social information sovereignty means losing cognitive and choice freedom. Therefore, decentralized social technology solutions are a necessity. New generation projects like Bluesky, Nostr, Lens, and Farcaster have all provided their own protocols. However, overcoming the challenge of economies of scale is a challenge faced by all projects.

Token incentives have become a direct means for most projects in the short term, but they face two major dilemmas:

1. The subjective value of social content is difficult to assess, and the effectiveness of token incentives is questionable.
2. Token incentives face witch attacks

STEEM, as a pioneer, has made innovative attempts in multiple dimensions. However, after the collapse of consensus, the token-weighted content production and recommendation system has gradually failed.

Subsequent projects such as Mirror and Bodhi attempt to transform content into verifiable assets, but there are currently no good cases for content assetization. The market's insensitivity to content assetization is also due to the timing being off.

In the field of content recommendation systems, projects like STEEM, Yup, and Wormhole3 have been continuously experimenting, but list-based recommendations incentivized by tokens struggle to capture attention. Experience tells us that it is essential to incentivize advanced production methods.

The "Subscription Stream Generator" created by BlueSky is a combination of a recommendation algorithm and a communication protocol, which is worth noting. Debank's social module also has great potential, and its early accumulation will help in occupying the high ground of the recommendation system.

Social Asset Tokenization

Another evolutionary path is to issue tokens through social media. Historical experience provides three formulas:

1. Attention Tokenization: The secret recipe for creating Meme coins, but hard to sustain.
2. Tokenization of social relationships: DAO projects, Friend.tech, etc. exploration
3. Content Tokenization: Emphasizes the relationship between tokens and content ownership, but lacks wealth effect.

Bonding curves address the liquidity cost issues of small-scale projects, and projects like Friend.tech, Bodhi, and DeBox are experimenting with price curves in different scenarios.

Opportunities and Mission of Web3 Social

After two cycles, although Web3 social has continuously explored failures, progress is evident.

• Lower user thresholds, advancements in infrastructure
• Innovative Embedded Social Scenarios
• Middleware achieves richness
• Meme tokens and NFTs continuously educate potential users

Future opportunities may lie in:

1. Combine traffic passwords to create more attractive content.
2. Centered around content issuers, build an ecosystem around users and related service providers.
3. Exploring how Web3 technology enhances user social interactivity

The mission of Web3 social is to return the rights taken away by centralization to every individual, providing more choices. We need to continue exploring how content and communities can interact better in a decentralized technology environment, as this will determine whether Web3 can truly gather traffic and implement applications.