Social networks have infiltrated the daily life of a large part of the world population. With media giants like Facebook and Twitter taking up a significant percentage of people’s time and attention, problems are not scarce. The main problem arises from the exclusively centralized nature of all these mega-enterprises.

With the rise of blockchain technology and the advancement that Web3 offers in the digital age, social media platforms are bound to change as well. The times of centralized entities monopolizing all control over this sector of the online world are long gone.

As users seek more transparency and control over their data, and mainstream social media platforms take hit after hit for leaking customer information, the blockchain space has a lot to offer.

How can social networks be decentralized?

The current state of the social media industry allows large companies to completely control the information they collect from their users. What’s more, if these companies go bankrupt or decide to block you from their services, all your history and activity are blocked within the platform. Imagine Twitter going bankrupt, as mentioned by new owner Elon Musk; that would mean all their tweets, shares, likes, and followers will be gone forever along with the company.

The main goal of social media platforms seeking to decentralize is to relinquish some of that control. Most importantly, these platforms should allow users to have access to their own data and executive decision-making powers over who can see this data.

And the blockchain is the perfect medium for this shift in perspective to happen. With decentralization at the core of technology, new social media algorithms and decentralized social graphs now allow creators, users, and businesses to fully own and control their data.

Currently, the Lens Protocol is leading the charge with an open social graph architecture that aims to allow dapp developers the freedom to build blockchain-based social media platforms. While still in beta, Lens has set itself ambitious goals to revolutionize the social media space.

What is the Lens Protocol?

Developed by the creators of the popular Aave liquidity protocol, Lens Protocol seeks to revolutionize the social media industry. By bringing web3 and decentralization capabilities to developers, the protocol has an open source framework that allows creators to launch their own social media platforms.

Additionally, dapp developers who decide to use the Lens infrastructure can also benefit from its modular design. All updates, changes, and upgrades to an app can be done in stages and through different modules, allowing for maximum creative flexibility.

The Lens protocol also helps boost the authentication aspect of social media and keeps fake accounts to a minimum. The decentralized infrastructure supports NFT profile authentication, ensuring that all user data is attributed to the owner and securely stored on the Polygon blockchain as NFT.

And while new solutions like the Lens protocol offer a necessary break from the centralized model currently prevalent in the social media space, adoption of this technology is still low.

Accelerating Web3 adoption with easy onboarding

While the Lens protocol offers the solution to a growing problem, adoption of this technology is still slow. Centralized social networking platforms have reigned supreme for decades and users still need help getting on board with Web3 social networks.

Additionally, Lens only allows whitelisted candidates to gain access to an authenticated profile NFT. This greatly reduces the number of people who can take full advantage of the decentralized social media platform solution.

However, in an effort to create a gateway to Web3 social networking, companies like Phaver are trying to spread the word about Lens and bring access to more people. The dapp allows users to create off-chain profiles and follow the flow of information on Lens until they get a whitelist spot. Once this happens, all of your followers and likes are automatically transferred to the chain and stored in your NFT profile.

“Right now many are looking for alternatives to Twitter, and it’s a great opportunity to switch to more ethical Web3 options, but uptake is still very restricted. Phaver helps with that by providing a “Web2.5″ starting point where anyone can access and follow Lens content and be waitlisted for their own NFT profile.”

– Joonatan Lintala, CEO, Phaver.

As Web3’s social networks become more popular, Lens will attract even more attention, which is why the platform is still testing access only through whitelisted points. But if you’re eager to get involved in the decentralized future of social media, platforms like Phaver are a great start.

With the rapid growth that the Web3 space is experiencing, the social networking industry will take a hit, and possibly for the better. What’s more, the undoubted benefits that Web3 Social will bring to the industry could be just the thing to help lure the coveted “next billion users” into the space. Still, to get there, the industry needs not only scalable solutions like Lens, but also easy-to-use onboarding and the right tools to welcome non-natives to cryptocurrency.