Exploring the Future of Web3 Social: From Definition to Business Models, and the Impact of the AI Wave

Introduction: What is Web3 Social?

Recently, the popularity of friend.tech has reignited people's attention to Web3 social, attracting numerous users by assigning value to KOL influence. The subsequent emergence of Bodhi has also garnered considerable attention, realizing the return of data value by assigning prices to content. In the realm of social networks, Web3 social seems to be undergoing some new changes and explorations. With the development of blockchain technology, it is redefining our perceptions of social interactions and providing a range of innovative solutions. Whether it is social finance ( SocialFi ) or decentralized social ( Desoc ), Web3 social is actively exploring the possibilities of future social networks.

Looking back at the development of social products, Web2 social products like Facebook, X( original twitter), Instagram, WeChat, etc., have provided users with unprecedented convenience for sharing, interacting, and communicating. However, this convenience also hides some dilemmas. Web2 social platforms typically concentrate control over user data, lacking transparency and privacy protection, and platform governance and decision-making are often controlled by a few centralized entities. Moreover, creator incentives are also a highly controversial aspect of Web2 social products.

Meanwhile, Web3 social is redefining social networks in a whole new way. Web3 social emphasizes decentralization, user data privacy and control, as well as the incentive mechanisms of cryptocurrency economics, giving rise to protocols and products such as Lens, CyberConnect, Farcaster, Phaver, Debox, friend.tech, and concepts like SocialFi that integrate finance and social interactions, reshaping the landscape of social networks. Desoc, on the other hand, focuses on building a decentralized social ecosystem to eliminate many of the issues present in Web2 social networks.

Although the Social track has long been hoped to be the next Mass Adoption, there has been no large-scale application since its inception. What will the future of Web3 social look like? Are the endless social products just a flash in the pan or the next Mass Adoption? This research report will delve into the core concepts and solutions of Web3 social, analyzing its current development status, advantages, and challenges. We will return to the essence of social interaction, examine the field of Web3 social, reveal their advantages and challenges, and explore their roles in redefining social networks.

2. Why do we need Web3 social?

1. The essence of social interaction does not change with the development of history.

As mentioned in Tom Standage's "A Brief History of Social Media," we often think of social media as an emerging concept that was born with the development of the internet and digital technology. However, in fact, humans have always engaged in socializing and information dissemination in various forms. From ancient letters and coffeehouses to modern social networks, the essence of social media has not changed; only its forms and technological tools have continually evolved. Social media is an extension of human traits and a way for us to pursue connection and communication.

Observing from different historical stages, technology has had a significant impact on the development and evolution of social media, serving as an important driver of change.

Ancient and Traditional Media Period: In ancient times, letters, postal services, and other means were the main forms of social media. With the invention of printing, books and newspapers became the primary tools for information dissemination, but the scope of social interaction was limited by geography and the speed of communication.

The Era of Telegraphs and Telephones: From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, the advent of the telegraph shortened the time for information dissemination, and the popularity of the telephone changed the way of long-distance communication, allowing people to exchange information more quickly.

The Era of Broadcasting and Television: The broadcasting and television media of the 20th century changed the way mass communication occurs, allowing information to spread more widely and shaping cultural, political, and social concepts.

The Internet and the Web 1.0 Era: From the 1990s to the early 2000s, the emergence of the Internet made information dissemination more widespread and instantaneous. The Web 1.0 era was primarily composed of static web pages, with content mainly being a one-way transmission from official sources to users. Users could not actively participate in content creation, and social interaction was relatively low.

The Rise of Web 2.0 and Social Media: Since the mid-2000s, with the rise of Web 2.0, more interactive and user-participatory social media platforms have emerged, such as Facebook, X, and YouTube. These platforms provide more user-generated content and social features, becoming the main tools for people's daily communication, sharing, and interaction.

Web3.0 and Decentralized Social: Recently, with the development of blockchain and cryptocurrency technology, social platforms that emphasize decentralization, privacy protection, and user control have emerged. These platforms aim to address the issues present in Web2.0 social, such as data privacy, algorithmic filtering, and information authenticity, and provide a more secure and transparent social experience.

It is easy to find that humans have had the need for social interaction since ancient times. However, at its core, whether it is face-to-face interaction, sending messages by carrier pigeon, or carving on stone tablets to communicate with others, the essence of human needs for social interaction has not changed significantly with the development of the times. The core needs can be summarized in the following four points:

• Maintaining connection and a sense of belonging: Social interaction makes people feel a sense of belonging, fulfills emotional and psychological needs, establishes intimate relationships, and provides support.
• Information learning and exchange: Through social interactions, people can share experiences, knowledge, and information to promote learning, development, and personal growth.
• Cooperation and Mutual Assistance: Social interactions help people to collaborate, cooperate, jointly solve problems, and achieve common goals.
• Social recognition and self-expression: Social interaction is a way for people to showcase themselves, establish identity recognition, and gain acceptance.

2. Web2 social solutions for the needs of "fast, good, and economical"

After the mid-2000s, Web2 social media began to flourish. Facebook became a pioneer among them, providing users with features to share information, photos, videos, status updates, and allowing users to build social networks. Subsequently, various social platforms such as X, YouTube, and LinkedIn emerged.

Each platform has its own unique features and functions. For example, X, with its unique instant messaging and social interaction methods, has become an important platform for information dissemination and discussion. Its 140-character limit rapidly spreads information, making it a hotspot for news and topic discussions; YouTube, as a video sharing platform, has changed the way people watch and share videos, becoming a widely popular content creation and sharing platform; LinkedIn focuses on professional networking, providing a professional network that allows users to establish career connections, share work experiences, and expand their networks; Instagram, with its powerful image sharing capabilities and social interactivity, has attracted a large number of users, becoming one of the main platforms for photo and video sharing.

In the Web2 phase, there is an emphasis on user participation, interaction, and content generation. Websites have transformed from static information displays to more dynamic and interactive social platforms, enabling users to create and share content, ranging from simple text and images to richer videos, blogs, and personal profiles. With the development of mobile internet and the popularity of smartphones, people can access social media platforms anytime and anywhere, facilitating the convenience and frequency of social activities.

As the user base grows, social media has gradually become the main platform for commercial activities and advertising promotion. Companies and brands use social media to attract users and promote products, and the market value of social projects has also risen sharply. Among them, the leading company Meta(, formerly Facebook), has seen its market value soar since its IPO in 2012, surpassing 1 trillion dollars in market value in 2021.

Reviewing the development history of Web2 social media, the essence of social needs has not changed; the core change is to provide faster, more convenient, and cheaper services. Facebook allows people to meet friends and share information more quickly, while X enables faster access to trending news and interactive discussions compared to newspapers and television (. LinkedIn transforms workplace socializing from offline introductions to fast online networking... Essentially, Web2 social products address the demands for socializing that are "fast, good, and economical."

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)# 3. Challenges in the Traditional Social Industry

However, Web2 social media also brings some issues, which can be summarized into two core aspects: data ownership and centralization.

1### Data Ownership: In Web2 social products, user data does not belong to the users but to the platform, which can lead to many issues.

Privacy Leakage: User data is collected and utilized in large quantities, leading to the risk of personal privacy leakage. The platform may misuse user data or sell it to third parties, triggering issues of privacy leakage and data abuse.

Value does not benefit users: Users' data allows social platforms to carry out precise marketing and advertising activities, yet users cannot gain benefits from the revenue, leading to the platform taking users' data for free.

Inability to cross-platform: Since the user's data belongs to the platform rather than themselves, registering on different social media often requires starting from scratch, and personal social cards and other information cannot circulate among various social platforms, making each social platform an island.

In the Web2 social environment, many creators report that after creating a significant amount of value, they hardly receive the compensation they deserve or only get a very small portion. They can establish their own IP on social media platforms, but they have no ownership or control over the data and value of the content they create. Once X or YouTube deletes a profile, all accumulated content data will be lost.

Decentralization: In Web2 social products, the platform has unlimited rights to use the content.

Weak resistance to censorship: Since Web2 information is stored on centralized servers, freedom of speech is often unattainable in many countries' apps due to the influence of political, cultural, and other factors, effectively depriving individuals of their right to express themselves freely. Whether it's the ever-changing rules of X, account bans, or platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and WeChat, centralized platforms impose too many centralized restrictions and constraints, forcing users to dance under shackles.

Although applications like Mammoth are making efforts towards decentralization, there are still many unavoidable issues. Overall, it is decentralized, but in specific servers, users still face the risk of being subjected to the authoritarianism of the server provider, being abandoned, and being banned from others.

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( 3. Analysis of Web3 Social Industry Products

In the face of various issues present in Web2 social interactions, Web3 products have begun to explore from multiple angles, ranging from the protocol layer to the application layer. Web3 social projects are flourishing to address the different pain points found in Web2 social interactions.

From the perspective of the entire Web3 social industry, the Web3 social sector can be roughly divided into four parts: application layer, protocol layer, blockchain layer, and storage layer. Among them, social-specific chains provide customized L1 for social apps to better serve the needs of social apps because social applications require more information exchange than financial Dapps, leading to higher demands for faster TPS as well as storage and indexing functions; the storage layer is used to store social-related data; the protocol layer provides common development components to help teams build products; the application layer targets specific needs to address a segmented scenario.

As the entire Web3 social track is still in the value verification stage, this study chooses to analyze Web3 social projects from different demand points of social interaction, aiming to comprehensively dissect the current development status of various projects.

)# 1. Data value feedback to users

In traditional social products, user data is regarded as platform assets rather than the property of the users themselves. In this case, social platforms can utilize the data provided by users to implement precise advertising targeting and