How DESO Could F**K Up Elon’s Twitter Plans
Elon Musk isn’t exactly holding his breath for the boss of the year award after taking over Twitter back in October 2022. Apparently, laying off half of your new staff and engaging in a series of controversial antics isn’t the most solid path to a flattering first impression.
A recent poll published by Musk himself revealed that the majority of users already feel he should step down as Twitter’s head honcho. However, it remains to be seen whether the survey results (he’ll step down) will be enough to propel his ambitious plans for Twitter 2.0.
Because, as it turns out, another company may have already beaten Elon to the ultimate punch.
In the past, Musk, Jack Dorsey, and even the now-notorious Sam Bankman-Fried have all tossed around the idea of a blockchain-based social media platform.
Little did they know that, while they were talking, another company was already working on making it happen.
DeSo: The World’s First Blockchain-Based Decentralized Social Media Platform
Zuckerburg and Dorsey may soon be joined in the annals of social media history by a guy named Nader Al-Naji. A former Google engineer, Al-Naji has been working on developing a blockchain-based “Facebook Killer” since 2019.
Originally dubbed BitClout, the project has evolved into a much more comprehensive layer-1 social network called Decentralized Social or DeSo. Even in its earliest days, the project attracted major investors like Coinbase Ventures and Sequoia, who threw hundreds of millions of dollars at the concept.
Over the last few years, DeSo has been hard at work creating decentralized versions of pretty much every social media app that’s ever dared to even think about existing. Some of its current offerings include:
- Diamond (Decentralized Twitter)
- NFTz (Decentralized OpenSea)
- Zirkels (Decentralized Medium)
- Entre (Decentralized LinkedIn)
- Pearl (Decentralized Insta)
- Pineso (Decentralized Pinterest)
The cool thing is that DeSo allows you to interconnect all the platform’s apps, so you can access them all in one place. When you post to one, you can post to them all.
Why All the Decentralization Though?
As you can see, Al-Naji is really into the whole decentralization thing. But he’s got his reasons.
“Most people don’t realize that social media is more centralized than the financial system was when Bitcoin was invented. Only a handful of companies currently control what we see and do online. We can solve this problem by decentralizing social media and storing all content on a blockchain,” the DeSo founder told CoinTelegraph.
Valid.
DeSo hopes to solve all the major issues with Web 2.0 social media platforms. For instance, most of us regard privacy as a priority when it comes to social media engagement.
After all, we’re all aware that Facebook floods your feed with every product you’ve ever glanced at online. While social media platforms are free, they’re also notorious for collecting and selling user data.
DeSo, on the other hand, offers users the chance to truly own their own data. By storing your posts and social interaction data directly on a secure blockchain, DeSo prevents third parties from accessing it.
DESO Social Tokens
At the heart of DeSo’s social apps is the platform’s native token, DESO. When you first sign up, you’ll get a small amount of DESO so that you can start exploring what it can do. The great thing about DESO is that you can control who receives compensation for the content you consume. This includes, making money off your own data and content.
Here are a couple of ways to start making bank on DeSo:
Social Tokens
Every DeSo profile is associated with a social token or “creator coin.”
Users who dig your content can buy and trade your creator coin, which is attached to benefits like access to premium messages or content. Think of it as a collectible baseball card for creators instead of athletes. So naturally, the better your reputation, the higher the price of your creator coin will soar.
Get Your Tip On
Do you know what’s cooler than getting a bunch of “likes” on your posts? Getting “likes” with monetary value. When other users like your posts on DeSo platforms like Diamond, they can reward you with “diamonds,” which are tied to cold hard DESOs.
NFTs
You can also use DeSo to mint or purchase NFTs, which you can display on your profile. Other users can then comment on, like, or “diamond” them. This is a handy way to make money from NFTs without selling them.
While the idea of being able to monetize your content is a cool one, just beware that it’s also possible to spend a lot of money pretty quickly. On the flip side, there are plenty of opportunities to earn more DESO if your posting skills are on point.
Is DeSo the Future of Social Media?
Probably. DeSo is one of the first platforms to capitalize on the world’s slow but steady shift to the innovations of Web3.
Not only has DeSo already launched an impressive list of decentralized apps, but they’ve got a whole slew of other projects in development. Want to get in on the revolution?
Check out DeSo’s developer’s hub, where you can build Web3 apps with languages like Python or Javascript. DeSo even has your back when it comes to funding with DAODAO. This app lets you crowdfund money for your next brilliant project idea.
At the moment, DeSo is in its infancy and still has a lot of catching on to do. But with the recent Twitter developments, DeSo is picking up steam again.
If you want to get a sneak peek at what lies ahead, check out the DeSo road map.
It’s hard to argue that this is a project with a ton of potential. It’ll be interesting to watch as it evolves and (fingers crossed) snatches control of social media back from the clutches of ego-driven tech billionaires.
