Understanding Decentralised Social Graphs

tldr:
- social graphs are the system that power traditional social media platforms and enable the connection of individuals within a certain degree of relativity but they come with problems like censorship, lack of ownership, highly susceptible to exploits
- decentralised socials graphs introduce an additional layer of security, ownership and accessibility otherwise unavailable on traditional social media platforms
- introduction to DeSo and Lens Protocol

Introducing the “Social Graph” Concept

A social graph is a diagram that depicts the relationships between people, groups, and organizations in a social network. The term can also refer to a person’s social network. They are typically represented as a network of nodes connected by lines. Each node, which is also known as an actor, is essentially a data record. Edges, ties, and interdependencies are the connecting lines used to map connections between different records. This is how most Web2 social media sites, like Facebook, use search algorithms to create news feeds and target advertising.

In 2007, Mark Zuckerberg used the term “social graph” to describe the network of connections and interactions tracked by Facebook users. Although Facebook allows third parties limited access to members’ social graphs via application programming interfaces (APIs), the site is frequently criticized for being a closed environment that limits social graph portability and the potential power of social graphs in general by requiring members to manually recreate their social graphs in other applications. Complex data regarding how objects relate to one another may be stored in graph databases. This data format is commonly used in social networks.

The Problem with Current Web2 Social Graph

The present web2 environment, which is dominated by centralized social networks, has diverged from the World Wide Web’s fundamental principle. The growth of global social network conglomerates has given centralized tech firms the ability to exploit user data, violate user privacy, and impose censorship. According to the Cambridge Analytica investigation, Facebook acquired social graphs and personal profiles from millions of users without their agreement, with the final objective of powering more targeted political advertising and unlawfully benefiting from its users’ personal data.

The issue with centralized services, like Facebook and Linkedin, is they store all data in one location, managed by that firm. This has the advantage of being simple to use, but it has a few drawbacks.

1. The firm in charge of the central service has complete control over the content and deletion of accounts.
2. These centralized services are walled, which means that the data is inaccessible to other apps and addons that may wish to interface with the centralized application.
3. These services have single points of failure. If the server fails, the service is rendered inoperable.

The way that current web2 social media algorithms present information often creates a ripple effect that leads to misinformation — First comes the silencing of dissident voices. Second, encouraging the curation of material with the lowest common denominator in mind. Thirdly, it creates “echo chambers,” where people only see information that supports their own beliefs.

What are Decentralised Social Graphs and How do they change the game?

Most, if not all, platforms in web2 social media networks read information from a single, centralised database. With such a system, data cannot be easily transferred across platforms. Decentralised Social Graphs were made to solve this problem, enabling decentralised, censorship-free, and self-sovereign Web3 social networks.

• Decentralisation: This results in a more open and fluid ecosystem, allowing for superior platform compatibility. The development of decentralized social graphs will be guided by the principles of shared security, permission-less systems, and decentralized governance..
• Censorship-Free: Elimination of the Central Authority simply means no single group can dictate other groups’ rules. Users may publish whatever they want without worrying about it being removed. Although people can block content that they do not wish to view, however, they cannot prevent them from using the network.
• Self-Sovereign: One of the best features of a decentralized social media network is the freedom to control your own data (content, followers, etc.). This enables easier transitioning between platforms, for example, if a creator is dissatisfied with one platform in particular. Although the social network data is accessible to everyone, only individuals have complete control over their own social networks (i.e., adding, deleting, and updating the connections)

Building a one-size-fits-all social network is not the objective. The idea is to create social networks and Metaverses that are interoperable, scalable and available to all. Therefore, it is preferable to encourage all web3 natives and dApps to collaboratively contribute to the respective protocols.

A great example of this new-age technology is DeSo. DeSo (previously BitClout) was one of the first projects to identify and provide a solution to this problem. DeSo works on the DeSo blockchain and uses the DESO token, allowing developers to construct social media platforms that all run on the same blockchain. Users of DeSo are free to utilize various platforms with different algorithms, but their posts, likes, and comments still propagate to all of them. It would be similar to Twitter’s automatic import of your Facebook connections, with the exception that because everything was built on the same blockchain, you wouldn’t need to register.

Another great example is Lens Protocol, one of the newest and most recently launched fully composable and decentralised social graph that enables easy building of a Web3 Social Platform. Lens Protocol is a social graph powered by smart contracts on the Polygon Proof-of-Stake blockchain that enables creators to completely compose and user-own the connections between themselves and their community. The protocol was designed from the bottom up with flexibility in mind, enabling the addition of new features while preserving user-owned content and social connections.

Users may contribute their data to any application developed on Lens Protocol since they own it. Creators no longer have to be concerned about losing their audience, their livelihood, or their work due to the whims of a particular platform’s algorithms and regulations because they are the real proprietors of their content. Additionally, each Lens Protocol-using application helps the whole ecosystem, changing the zero-sum game into one that involves collaboration.

In the next post, I will explore deeper into some of these protocols that set out to change the landscape of social media and how this will impact the future of SocialFi.