More Than a Trend: Crypto & Decentralized Social Networks

Jonny Zerah -

The ecosystem of Crypto Social is growing. Here is a shortlist of some of the most popular networks, products, and platforms today. Did we miss something? Join the conversation here and let us know!

Blockchain is all about peer to peer connections, making it an inherently social tool. It began with simple, trustless transactions — one of the most basic forms of social activity — and is evolving into large social networks with cryptoeconomic incentives and proofs as the foundation of their existence, instead of org charts and CEOs. Over the past few months, the drive to create, enable and perfect social collaboration has been surging forward. The trend of crypto social has begun, and is rapidly evolving into more than that. Communities can organize, monetize, and incentivize participation in ways never before seen.

Early forms of decentralized organization are quickly evolving into entire networks that behave more like digital nations than the constrained legacy social media platforms of big tech/Web2.

Decentralized funding with digitally native money, encrypted and peer-to-peer communication, and quantifiable social capital have been developed and established as the building blocks for Web3 communities. These core ingredients are converging to usher in the age of Crypto Social, DeSo, or whatever it is you want to call it — we’ll surely reach consensus on that at some point...

Here is a shortlist of some of the Crypto Social networks, products, and services available today.

DAOs

DAOs are an effective and safe way to work with like-minded folks around the globe. (Taken from Ethereum.org)

Think of them like an internet-native business that’s collectively owned and managed by its members. They have built-in treasuries that can only be accessed with the approval of the group. In other words, there is no single person in control over the money — it's democratized: decisions are governed by proposals and voting to ensure everyone in the organization has a voice.

There’s no CEO who can authorize spending based on their own whims and no chance of a dodgy CFO manipulating the books. Everything is out in the open and the rules around spending are baked into the DAO via its code.

  • MakerDAO - MKR token holders govern the Maker Protocol
  • LexDAO - Legal engineering
  • Machi X - Art community
  • MetaCartel - DAO incubator
  • The LAO - Member-directed venture capital fund
  • MetaCartel Ventures - Venture for pre-seed crypto projects
  • MetaFactory - Digiphysical Apparel Brands
  • MolochDAO - Community focused on funding Ethereum development
  • ΜΓΔ (Meta Gamma Delta) - Funding and supporting women-led projects
  • Raid Guild - Collective of Web3 builders
  • DAOSquare - Promote the DAO concept in non-tech field and help people create value through DAO
  • dOrg - Freelancer Web3 development collective working as a DAO
  • DAOHaus - A no code platform for launching DAOs
  • SyndicateDAO - Decentralized investing protocol and social network
  • BanklessDAO - Community working toward adoption & awareness of bankless money systems

Content Creation

mirror.xyz - a decentralized, user-owned, crypto-based network, Mirror’s publishing platform revolutionizes the way we express, share and monetize our thoughts. With the $WRITE token, joining Mirror does not only make you a community member, it makes you a co-owner of the platform. As a result, Mirror platform is a sum of our contributors.

Cent - buy and sell tweets autographed by their creators. Cent allows content creators to monetize off of the tweets they produce.

Creaton - Creaton allows content creators to connect directly with fans and monetize on their work without middlemen. It offers a subscription model so creators can earn in real time.

NFTs

Social Tokens

Social tokens allow anyone to buy a share of their favorite artists, creators, or even communities.

Friends with Benefits - Friends With Benefits is a private discord server. A group chat full of thinkers and creators. The thing that makes Friends With Benefits different is that in order to be a part of Friends With Benefits you must own at least 60 $FWB cryptocurrency tokens.

Rally - Rally is an open network that enables creators to launch vibrant and independent economies with their communities powered by the ethereum blockchain. Creators, Artists And Community Leaders can launch their own token that enables a sustainable form of revenue and increased engagement with their community. Fans can purchase and hold social tokens to gain access to benefits including unreleased content, private communities, early-access to tickets and exclusive merch-all.

Roll - Roll is blockchain infrastructure for social money. The Roll network mints branded digital tokens unique communities online presence. These tokens enable community organizers to control and coordinate the value created across platforms.

Collaboration & Connection

Status - With an integrated crypto wallet and peer-to-peer messenger (along with some exciting new features in development), Status is evolving into a novel social tool – enabling coordination, collaboration, funding, governance, and real time messaging all from one application.

Join the Conversation

What did we miss? What crypto social products are you excited about? What Web2 social networks would you like to see decentralized?

Join the conversation in the Status Open Discussion Forum here!