Why do decentralized social networks represent an inevitable historical trend at the time of Musk's acquisition of Twitter?

Source: Mask Network Blog

Compiled by: Chain Catcher, Mask Network

Once we relinquish our self-awareness and control of our nervous system to those "who seek to profit by renting our eyes, ears, and nerves" for private manipulation, we become impoverished, a pauper without any rights. Renting our eyes, ears, and nerves for others to profit is as absurd as "having private enterprises teach everyone how to speak in daily life" or "handing over the Earth's atmosphere to a single company for monopoly management."

------ “Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man”, Herbert Marshall McLuhan, 1964

The Era of Decentralized Social Networks Has Arrived

We are currently at a historical turning point: the decentralization of social networks is inevitable based on the reconstruction of the monetary system, financial markets, and labor force under the Web3 revolution plan. Network citizens need a new era public forum and information market that aligns with the values of decentralized cyberspace.

For decades, social networks have effectively served as the infrastructure for public discourse, and their role as public utilities (social networks as utilities) will become even more important in the Web3 era, conflicting with the public attributes of the current centralized profit-driven platform model.

There is evidence that centralized social media platforms in Web2 are stifling third-party innovation and have already hit a ceiling in user and profit growth. Decentralization is the ideal solution for new builders and the giants themselves. Witnessing how Web3 technologies (blockchain, cryptography, P2P networks) shake the global economic order gives us enough confidence that Web3 will change the landscape of social platforms and establish a new order.

Understanding and participating in the historic movement of decentralized social networks will make us—builders, investors, and network citizens—more perceptive about change and the future, allowing us to engage and immerse ourselves in it.

The Core of Social Networks: Providing Digital Public Infrastructure for Information Exchange and Interpersonal Interaction

Each generation of the web has inspired innovative and native ways for network citizens to share information, but it also has its own flaws.

Web1 was about decentralized and community-managed open protocols. Most of the value accumulated at the network's edge—users and builders. Network citizens could freely share information publicly as long as they knew how to host servers and build websites. In the “Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace”, the internet was a place where idealism and radical individualism prevailed without borders. However, Web1 did not provide an online space that reflected and enhanced "online social relationships." Thus, the web of Web1 was shaped into a many-to-many public broadcast. The distribution channels for content were also more decentralized, making large-scale public debate more difficult.

The social networks we know today, the so-called Web2 giants like Twitter and Facebook, addressed the previous era's lack of public space for intellectual exchange. Through a centralized platform, social relationships and dialogues from the physical world began to spread into the online world.

While social media platforms serve as public forums for citizen discourse and government censorship—similar to the Athenian Ekklesia of the internet age—it is paradoxical that these platforms are owned by private companies—led by figures like Mark Zuckerberg who build castles in the name of protecting privacy. Users are trapped in feudal city-states, adopting a "user" mindset that undermines the agency that the internet grants people. When "netizens" become "users," we gradually transform from "netizens" into Zuckerberg's data. We are lured from the public square into closed social media castles, and the form of social networks in Web2 becomes increasingly alienated and distorted.

Web2 social networks resemble any other intermediary form brought about by past technological revolutions, where private companies act as providers of public utilities. To profit from this model, these privatized social networks have two ways to make money: 1. Charging rent from advertisers; 2. Utilizing regulatory arbitrage to support certain political winds, distorting information flow through algorithmic censorship.

This is the ultimate dilemma: as social networks begin to succumb to commercial interests and political pressures, their efficiency as public service providers decreases. But if they betray their communal interests, the capital market punishes them with plummeting stock prices.

When Web2 social networks fail as public forums, what is the way forward?

In the Web2 technology ecosystems of both China and the United States, attempts at internal reform have rarely succeeded. We have seen the decline of RSS subscriptions, and how Facebook has suppressed friendly social browsers in the name of privacy(Friendly Social Browser), while improperly using Cambridge Analytica to handle its data. In China, third-party extension developers on Tencent QQ even face imprisonment. These are just the tip of the iceberg of the innovation stifled for third-party developers on centralized platforms. Fundamentally, Web2 social networks cannot reconcile their profit demands and reduced regulatory risks with the value and social impact created by new applications built outside their commercial jurisdiction. They choose to survive as competitive business entities rather than becoming something beneficial to the broader ecosystem.

As developers and ordinary netizens awaken and reclaim their network citizenship, supported by a mature decentralized crypto economy and an increasingly broad ideological consensus, it is time to challenge centralized social networks—now is the time to disrupt.

Given that Web2 platforms have failed to become providers of public forums, we see two paths forward:

1. Web3 native protocols and applications change the existing social network order. Using cryptography and blockchain, we are witnessing a revival of RSS subscriptions, which builds enhanced usability on top of RSS3, as well as how users communicate and transact privately on Twitter using top Web3 layers like Mask Network. Insights into social graphs and social interactions are no longer monopolized by walled gardens, as we see more and more DApps built on open-source Lens protocols, RSS3, and Cyber Connect. Our vision for Web3 social networks will combine the decentralized governance spirit prioritized in Web1 protocols with the enhanced usability and social elements we love from Web2.
2. Current social network giants reflect on themselves, examine past mistakes, rethink and rectify their business models and relationships with users. We believe that networks like Twitter and Telegram are active participants in this regard. Elon Musk's $44 billion deal with Twitter and his promise to change Twitter allows us to embark on a radical thought experiment: imagine if Twitter's future commercial value were not measured by its profit and loss as a private company, but as the most powerful social network ecosystem supported by Web3 protocols that allow more protocols to access its open API. Telegram is leading the way and has already welcomed the growth of dozens of third-party applications. In this scenario, Twitter and Telegram would be close to becoming providers of open and fair public forum infrastructure—exactly what social networks are meant to be. In fact, much of the current discussion related to Web3 and new decentralized applications is happening on Twitter. Regardless of who owns Twitter in the next decade, we hope its owners will recognize this trend and consider its potential as a decentralized social network and ecosystem provider.

The Emergence of Decentralized Social Networks is Inevitable

In the Web3 era, social networks will still play the role of marketplaces for ideas and public forums. The Web3 revolution is cultural, financial, and social, and its impact will permeate every corner of cyberspace.

From this perspective, the prerequisites for the revolution are already in place:

• Independent treasury (BTC, ETH)
• Independent financial systems (DeFi)
• Independent artistic and cultural alliances (NFT)
• New ways for human collaboration and organizing labor (DAO)

The missing piece is new infrastructure and ecosystems for network citizens to gather and participate in public discourse. Today, most people largely use the Web2 communication technology stack (Discord, Twitter, Telegram, Google) to do so, but the various limitations of Web2 social networks will inevitably make early Web3 adopters feel constrained and call for change.

At the same time, we do not want to abandon the value and importance of Web2 social media. The platform effects of Web2 social networks can amplify voices and mobilize massive actions. Due to this effect, the Web3 revolution is spreading like wildfire. Digital citizens have also become accustomed to using social networks daily to share and receive information, establishing social media as the infrastructure for the operation of network society. The goal of Web3 social networks is not to build blockchain replicas of Web2 giants, but to use innovative designs and technologies to counteract the centralization and monopolistic behaviors of Web2, reclaiming information and digital identity rights on the platform for netizens.

From new financial systems to new cultural symbols, to labor organization, the Web3 revolution is here. These prerequisites establish an open, transparent, and fair public forum and information market for Web3 citizens yearning for freedom and autonomy, free from political interference. Now, the latest phase of this revolution is decentralized social networks.

"Participants in decentralized systems find it harder to collude to benefit themselves at the expense of others."

------Vitalik Buterin, 2017

"I choose freedom over comfort every time."

------George R.R. Martin