Your Next Social Media Platforms are Already Here

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the emergence of new social media alternatives and decentralized web networks, also known as Web3, as potential solutions to the problems plaguing current centralized social media platforms. It explores the perspectives of various experts and industry leaders on the future of social media and the challenges of building platforms that uphold ethical values while also being commercially successful.

🙋 Q&A

[01] The Future of Social Media and Emerging Ecosystems

1. What do social media users want according to T2 co-founder Sarah Oh?

• According to Sarah Oh, social media users want to feel more safe, less exhausted, have a higher quality product experience, a great user interface, and something that works fast.

2. What are the key features of the new social media alternatives mentioned in the article?

• Mastodon is described as free and open-source software developed by a non-profit organization, with a federated structure of independently run nodes, each with its own code of conduct, terms of service, privacy policy, options, and content moderation.
• Bluesky is a similar decentralized platform that is currently being tested.
• T2 (later renamed Pebble) is a centralized platform that promises to provide better user privacy, security, and social dynamics compared to current social media platforms.

3. What are the challenges faced by these new social media alternatives in terms of scaling up?

• Maintaining ideals and principles while scaling up to reach the scale of current global social media communities is a significant challenge.
• Mozilla's CEO, Mitchell Baker, acknowledged that "operating at scale has its own set of problems" and that they are trying to be intentional about scaling up while upholding their principles.

[02] Decentralization and the Shift Away from Centralized Platforms

1. What are the key benefits of decentralized web networks (Web3) according to the article?

• Decentralization can push the power and decision-making out to the ends of the network, rather than keeping it centralized among a few powerful companies.
• It can lead to more innovative features and better end-user control over their own data, as well as the potential for new business models that don't focus exclusively on monetizing user data.

2. How does the article describe the shift away from centralized social media platforms?

• The article suggests that the "domination period" of the four large social media platforms (likely referring to Facebook, Twitter, Google, and others) has ended, and there is a growing demand for new models that better protect user privacy and free speech.
• The article cites Mike Masnick's 2019 essay, which argued that building open protocols, rather than centralized platforms, would ensure integrity and push power and decision-making to the ends of the network.

3. What are the challenges of maintaining ethical values and commercial success for new social media platforms?

• The article acknowledges that there is no "silver bullet" or easy solution to balancing ethical values and commercial success, especially when it comes to content moderation and trust and safety.
• Panelists like Sarah Oh and Mitchell Baker highlighted the difficulties of building a product that responds to both market demands and philosophical implications, and the need to be willing to "take the arrows from all sides" as a pioneer in this space.