Subsocial
Last updated: May 24th, 2021 11:45 PM CDT
The Technology
Subsocial is a beautiful union between the connections that come with a social media platform and the decentralized solutions offered by blockchain technology. Unlike conventional social media like Twitter and Facebook, Subsocial is a censor-resistant, fully user-monetized platform where people can create communities, engage with content, support creators, and even mint tokens for their following’s purpose. Since it is totally open-source, the platform does not need to create a single, central front-end for users to interface with; social media entrepreneurs can customize their own front-end using Subsocial’s source code to power their networking app ideas. Users can configure their own monetization models including pay-per-view, subscription based, view count based, tips, and even leasing and selling content.
Censorship is a hot issue in the social media landscape and centralized giants like YouTube have censor bots scouring their platform for the next DMCA victim. These mindless algorithms liberally take content down while the appeal process to fight one of these takedowns is impersonal and lengthy. Many times content creators have no recourse and end up losing their hard earned following. With Subsocial none of that is a problem. Users can create what are called “spaces,” much like a subreddit or a Facebook group. These spaces can be configured however the creator wants: they can assign roles with differing permissions, set monetization triggers and parameters, and moderate content as they see fit. However, these configuration are written and published on the blockchain for the public to scrutinize. This avoids creators catfishing their followers with false promises of free speech and fair monetization. Users can judge a space simply by seeing how it was configured on the Subsocial blockchain making the creator-consumer relationship transparent and trustless.
While governance of a space is not a necessary implementation, Subsocial expects that many of the space creators will allow users to govern their platform. Imagine if we could vote on changes made to Facebook, Twitter, or Youtube! With Subsocial, users would have the power to change the type of content the algorithms prioritize effectively stopping the rage-inducing content that is curated for us by click-hungry super corporations. This opens the door to social media platforms that could not have existed before blockchain technology.
The SUB Token
The SUB token is fairly new to subsocial since it is a redenomination of their previous token, the SNC. SUB can be used to participate in governance, pay for service like maintaining a space on Subsocial, tipping content creators, and more.
The Crowdloan Reward
Unfortunately there are no publications detailing Subsocial’s PLO. This is likely because the team does not plan to bid for a parachain slot until Q3 of 2021. As such, I will not speculate on the potential trade-offs until they start releasing more information on their offering.
Overall Evaluation
TBD
