The Exploration of Web3 Social: Innovation and Challenges Coexist

Web3 social is redefining our perception of social networks and providing a range of innovative solutions. Whether it's social finance ( SocialFi ) or decentralized social ( Desoc ), Web3 social is actively exploring the possibilities of future social networks.

Looking back at the development of social products, Web2 social products like Facebook, X, Instagram, and WeChat have provided users with unprecedented convenience. However, this convenience also hides some issues, such as centralized control of user data, lack of transparency and privacy protection, and insufficient incentives for creators.

Web3 social redefines social networks in a whole new way. It emphasizes decentralization, user data privacy and control, as well as the incentive mechanisms of cryptocurrency economics, giving rise to protocols and products like Lens, CyberConnect, Farcaster, Phaver, Debox, and friend.tech. Concepts like SocialFi integrate finance and social interactions, reshaping the landscape of social networks. Desoc, on the other hand, focuses on building a decentralized social ecosystem to eliminate many of the issues present in Web2 social networks.

Although the social track has always been given high hopes for the next Mass Adoption, it has not yet produced large-scale applications since its inception. What will the future of Web3 social look like? Are the endless social products merely a flash in the pan or the next mass adoption? This research report will delve into the core concepts and solutions of Web3 social, analyzing its current development status, advantages, and challenges.

Why do we need Web3 social?

The essence of social interaction does not change with the development of history.

As mentioned in Tom Standage's "A Brief History of Social Media," humans have always engaged in social interaction and information dissemination in various forms. From ancient letters and coffeehouses to modern social networks, the essence of social media has not changed; it is merely the forms and technological tools that have evolved. Social media is an extension of human characteristics and a way for us to continually pursue connection and communication.

Observing from different historical stages, technology has had a significant impact on the development and evolution of social media, serving as an important driver of change.

1. Ancient and traditional media period: Letters, postal services, and other means were the primary social media. With the invention of printing, books and newspapers became the main tools for information dissemination, but the scope of social interaction was limited by geography and communication speed.

2. The Era of Telegraph and Telephone: From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, the emergence of the telegraph shortened the time for information dissemination, and the popularization of the telephone changed the way of long-distance communication, allowing people to exchange information more swiftly.

3. The Era of Broadcasting and Television: The broadcasting and television media of the 20th century changed the way mass communication occurred, allowing information to be disseminated more widely and shaping cultural, political, and social concepts.

4. The Internet and the Web 1.0 Era: From the 1990s to the early 2000s, the emergence of the Internet made information dissemination more widespread and instantaneous. The Web 1.0 era was mainly composed of static web pages, with content primarily being a one-way transmission from official sources to users, where users could not actively participate in content creation, resulting in low interactivity.

5. The Rise of Web 2.0 and Social Media: Since the mid-2000s, with the emergence of Web 2.0, more interactive and user-participatory social media platforms have appeared, such as Facebook, X, and YouTube. These platforms provide more user-generated content and social features, becoming the main tools for daily communication, sharing, and interaction.

6. Web3.0 and Decentralized Social: Recently, with the development of blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies, there has been a rise in Web3.0 social platforms that emphasize decentralization, privacy protection, and user control. These platforms aim to address the issues present in Web2.0 social networks, such as data privacy, algorithmic filtering, and information authenticity, while providing a more secure and transparent social experience.

Humans have had a social need since ancient times. However, at its core, whether it is face-to-face socializing, sending messages by carrier pigeon, or carving on stone tablets to communicate with others, the essence of humanity's social needs has not changed significantly with the development of the times. The core needs can be summarized in the following four points:

1. Maintain connection and sense of belonging: Social interactions give people a sense of belonging, meet emotional and psychological needs, establish intimate relationships, and gain support.

2. Information learning and exchange: Through social interaction, people can share experiences, knowledge, and information, promoting learning, development, and personal growth.

3. Cooperation and Mutual Assistance: Social interactions help people collaborate and work together to solve problems and achieve common goals.

4. Social Identity and Self-Expression: Socializing is a way for people to showcase themselves, establish identity recognition, and gain acknowledgment.

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) Web2 social solutions meet the demand for "speed, quality, and cost-effectiveness"

After the mid-2000s, Web2 social media began to flourish. Facebook became a pioneer among them, offering users the ability to share information, photos, videos, status updates, and allowing users to build social networks. Subsequently, various social platforms such as X, YouTube, and LinkedIn emerged.

Each platform has its own unique features and functions. For example, X has become an important platform for information dissemination and discussion due to its unique instant messaging and social interaction methods. Its 140-character limit allows for rapid information spread, making it a hotspot for news and topic discussions. YouTube, as a video-sharing platform, has changed the way people watch and share videos, becoming a widely popular content creation and sharing platform. LinkedIn focuses on professional networking, providing a professional network that allows users to establish career relationships, share work experiences, and expand their connections. Instagram, with its powerful image-sharing features and social interactivity, has attracted a large number of users, becoming one of the main platforms for photo and video sharing.

In the Web2 phase, there was an emphasis on user participation, interaction, and content generation. Websites transformed from static information displays to more dynamic and interactive social platforms, enabling users to create and share content, from simple texts and images to richer videos, blogs, and profiles. With the development of mobile internet and the popularity of smartphones, people can access social media platforms anytime and anywhere, facilitating and increasing the frequency of social activities.

As the number of users increases, social media has gradually become the main platform for business activities and advertising promotion. Companies and brands use social media to attract users and promote products, and the market value of social projects has also climbed steadily. Among them, the leading company Meta###, formerly Facebook(, has seen its market value soar since its IPO in 2012, surpassing 1 trillion dollars in market value in 2021.

Looking back at the development history of Web2 social media, the essence of social needs has not changed; the core change is providing faster, more convenient, and cheaper services. Facebook allows people to meet friends and share information more quickly, while X enables faster access to trending news and interactive discussions compared to newspapers and television ). LinkedIn has transformed workplace networking from being limited to offline introductions to quickly making professional connections online... Essentially, Web2 social products address the demands of "speed, quality, and cost" in social interactions.

( The Dilemma of the Traditional Social Industry

However, Web2 social media has also brought some problems, which can be summarized in two aspects: data ownership and centralization.

Data ownership 1): In Web2 social products, user data does not belong to the users but to the platform, which can lead to many issues.

• Privacy Leakage: User data is collected and used in large quantities, leading to the risk of personal privacy leakage. The platform may abuse user data or sell it to third parties, triggering issues of privacy leakage and data misuse.

• Value does not benefit users: User data enables social platforms to conduct precise marketing and advertising activities, yet users cannot reap benefits from the revenue, leading to platforms taking user data for free.

• Unable to cross-platform: Because user data belongs to the platform rather than to the users themselves, registering on different social media often requires starting from scratch. Personal social cards and other information cannot circulate across multiple social platforms, turning each social platform into an island.

In the Web2 social environment, many creators report that after generating most of the value, they receive little to no compensation, or only a very small portion. They can create their own IP on social media platforms, but they do not have ownership and control over the data and value of the content they create. Once X or YouTube deletes their profiles, they will lose all the accumulated content data.

Decentralization: In Web2 social products, the platform has unlimited rights to use the content.

• Weak censorship resistance: Since information in Web2 is stored on centralized servers, the freedom of speech cannot be realized in many countries' apps due to influences from political, cultural, and other factors, effectively depriving individuals of their rights to express themselves freely. Whether it is the frequent changes in X's rules, account suspensions, or platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and WeChat, centralized platforms impose too many restrictions and constraints, forcing users to dance under shackles.

Although applications like Mammoth are making efforts in decentralization, there are still many unavoidable issues. Overall, it is decentralized, but in specific servers, users still face the risk of being subjected to the authoritarianism of the server provider, being abandoned, and being prohibited from others.

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Analysis of Web3 Social Industry Products

In the face of various problems existing in Web2 social networks, Web3 products have begun to explore from multiple aspects, blooming in a hundred flowers from the protocol layer to the application layer, aiming to solve different pain points in Web2 social interactions.

From the perspective of the entire Web3 social industry, the Web3 social industry can be roughly divided into four parts: application layer, protocol layer, blockchain layer, and storage layer. Among them, the social-specific chain provides customized L1 for social apps to better meet the needs of social apps, because social applications require more information exchange than financial Dapps, thus having higher requirements for faster TPS as well as storage and indexing functions; the storage layer is used to store social-related data; the protocol layer provides public development components to help teams build products; the application layer cuts into a specific sub-scenario according to specific needs.

As the entire Web3 social track is still in the value validation stage, this study chooses to analyze Web3 social projects from different demand points of social interaction, in order to comprehensively dissect the current development status of various projects.

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