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$1M to build decentralized social networks

requestforsocialnetworks.com

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Re: $1M to build decentralized social networks

#51

Post by franzpeterstein »

lccarrasco wrote: post #22
franzpeterstein wrote: post #19

Nobody needs a social network anymore, whether it is decentralized (Mastodon, Diaspora) or centralized (Facebook, Twitter). I think the social media bubble burst a long time ago and we just didn't realize it. I also have a Mastodon account, but used it only for a short time. I speak now only for myself personally, social networks bore me quite and I have no more interest to sign up somewhere.

Do you mind elaborating on why do you think social media was a bubble?

Gladly. But I am not a scientist or start-up founder who may have a better insight into the subject.

When I registered with social networks at the beginning of the Web 2.0 hype, it was all exciting and new. There were many offers and most companies (MySpace and Co had no idea how much potential was available for advertising and marketing). After that came Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. That's when it all got more professional. You went from a user to a customer, from a customer to a record with which you could earn money. It's getting around and everybody's jumping on the $$$-train. Youtube is like a TV channel, only that runs more advertising there and Instagram can also be seen as a advertising portal. Facebook dug its own grave because it became too greedy. Since only old people hang out on Snapchat, nobody wants to go there anymore. Not even my little nephew wants to join a social network and that's the point where I see it as a bubble that burst.

Social networks are like alpha versions of open World Crafting Games on Steam. there are hundreds of offers, but nobody wants them anymore.

Re: $1M to build decentralized social networks

#52

Post by vasilipupkin »

how would this work? if users own their own data, do you have to query them for data every time? would this be horribly inefficient ? I mean this as a technical question about how blockstack works. if you start caching or storing users data, then there is nothing stopping you from mischief with it, right?

Re: $1M to build decentralized social networks

#53

Post by swsieber »

onion2k wrote: post #47
franzpeterstein wrote: post #19

Nobody needs a social network anymore, whether it is decentralized (Mastodon, Diaspora) or centralized (Facebook, Twitter). I think the social media bubble burst a long time ago and we just didn't realize it. I also have a Mastodon account, but used it only for a short time. I speak now only for myself personally, social networks bore me quite and I have no more interest to sign up somewhere.

Nobody needs a social network anymore This sort of comment is why people in tech are very often seen as being incredibly bad at solving non-trivial social problems by people outside of our industry. Somewhere between a third and a half of all the people on Earth see enough value in social networks to use one regularly. There are plenty of problems with the way networks work, and what they do to our mental health, but…

Somewhere between a third and a half of all the people on Earth see enough value in social networks to have signed up for one at some point.

Somewhere between a third and a half of all the people on Earth use a product designed to addict them.

I agree in general though - they can be useful, and they can fill a real purpose.

Re: $1M to build decentralized social networks

#54

Post by taytus »

swalsh wrote: post #37
franzpeterstein wrote: post #19

Nobody needs a social network anymore, whether it is decentralized (Mastodon, Diaspora) or centralized (Facebook, Twitter). I think the social media bubble burst a long time ago and we just didn't realize it. I also have a Mastodon account, but used it only for a short time. I speak now only for myself personally, social networks bore me quite and I have no more interest to sign up somewhere.

I live 2000 miles away from my parents. I have 2 kids, my parents LOVE the small insights they get into their grandkids lives that happen on social media. I could lose the no win political debates, the self-aggrandizing from my friends, the memes, but seeing my friends kids grow, my parents seeing my kids grow. That's cool.

Do you use FB to share those moments? Wouldn't be other tools better for that? Even when is owned by FB seems to me that WhatsApp would do a better job at this.

Re: $1M to build decentralized social networks

#56

Post by ranfdev »

staticvar wrote: post #30

How does blockstack compare to alternatives like Dat ( https://datproject.org/ ) and IPFS ( https://ipfs.io/ )?

Dat and IPFS are decentralized file systems. Instead, blockstack is a network for decentralized application. It offers identity, storage and a way to transfer tokens. With blockstack you can easily create apps where users can sign-in in seconds and store all their data where they want.

Re: $1M to build decentralized social networks

#57

Post by cryptoz »

onion2k wrote: post #47
franzpeterstein wrote: post #19

Nobody needs a social network anymore, whether it is decentralized (Mastodon, Diaspora) or centralized (Facebook, Twitter). I think the social media bubble burst a long time ago and we just didn't realize it. I also have a Mastodon account, but used it only for a short time. I speak now only for myself personally, social networks bore me quite and I have no more interest to sign up somewhere.

Nobody needs a social network anymore This sort of comment is why people in tech are very often seen as being incredibly bad at solving non-trivial social problems by people outside of our industry. Somewhere between a third and a half of all the people on Earth see enough value in social networks to use one regularly. There are plenty of problems with the way networks work, and what they do to our mental health, but…

> Somewhere between a third and a half of all the people on Earth see enough value in social networks to use one regularly.

That's a logical fallacy. You cannot possibly interpret the reasons why people use the social networks. They very well may feel forced to use them in order to get a job or otherwise be socially accepted. You call that "value" perhaps - they use it to get a job, therefore providing value. But that is an intentionally misleading line of thought and leaves the reader less informed than when they started reading.

The situation is a lot more complex than "providing value". People use social networks because they have been artificially forced into society as a near-necessity. Our society does not actually need them. But because we have them, people must use them. That they use them does not mean they derive value from them. They may not see it that way (I don't), and in aggregate, it does not seem to provide value to society at all. I would even argue that social networks have provided detrimental effects to society overall, and produced negative value.

Re: $1M to build decentralized social networks

#59

Post by folex »

muneeb wrote: post #29
rplst8 wrote: post #17

They want it built on their tech here: https://blockstack.org/ . "New Internet" aye? Is this an based on an episode of Silicon Valley ?

Muneeb Ali, Blockstack co-founder here. I'm a technical consultant to the Silicon Valley show (season 5) along with my co-founder Ryan. So yes there is a link to the show but the project is not based on the show :-) Blockstack was in the R&D phase until early 2017 (building the core tech & infrastructure), we launched our browser last summer and now have decentralized apps built on the platform that are live. These a…

Quick question, do you really think $100k is enough money to build a social network? If so, how much time and people is needed for such task?

P.S. I'm convinced it's not enough money. It will take over a year just to have something working and usable and it will take more than 5 people to do that.

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