Social Media: the next industry having its “blockchain moment?”

It comes as no great surprise for me to learn that Facebook and Twitter both dropped 20-30% over the last week of July—having, personally, migrated from the former and scaled back on the latter. As Twitter and Facebook grew to historic sizes, they became simply more expensive to moderate (to speak nothing of how unfair/unethical they could be).

In their place, an innovative species of social media platforms is offering a new solution by giving users the power to self-moderate. Enter decentralized social networks :) Yes, that means us, trusty Steemit!

And, of course, we are not the only startup providing decentralized social platforms, using blockchain technology.

Sapien is a social news network built on the Ethereum blockchain. Unlike Steemit’s million users, this network only boasts thousands of active users. The platform also features global reputation and reward system for users, as well as a marketplace for creators.

An alternative to Twitter is open-sourced Mastodon which features over 170,000 inquisitive souls. These users join community-owned and operated servers that run the same open-sourced software. Without paid advertisements or algorithmic feed, this site promises users to "put social media back in your hands."

Offering more than security or privacy, blockchain-based social media provides, as we know, cryptocurrency and better content control. Other examples of social media platforms that are taking advantage of blockchain technology to mix communication and cryptocuurency are:

Synereo where users are paid for their creations; Indorse an equivalent of LinkedIn on top of Ethereum, with its own currency; as well as Nexus and Obsidian Messenger.

Understandably, it might be a bit difficult during a slump such as we are experiencing to be optimistic. On the other hand, perhaps, this is precisely when we need to hear such encouraging news and fully consider its possiblilities.

Such platforms, as Steemians are fully aware, address the many problems of centrally-moderated social networks. The question remains, however, when will the tipping point arrive? When will these new, growing decentralized social media platforms be adopted by the masses and what can we do to help?