IPFS for Decentralized Social Networks
Decentralized social networks are a promising solution for many issues traditional, centralized social media platforms pose. When it comes to centralization, data control, privacy issues, and portability, the Twitters and Facebooks of the world have total control. As an encouraging, but limited counter-example, Instagram’s Threads are promising to embrace the world of open and portable social media by connecting their app to the fediverse made popular by Mastodon. This level of portability is what many have been craving for years.
Thankfully, in a world where online interactions are central to our lives and portability is more important than ever, the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) offers a new paradigm. IPFS is an open data protocol that anyone can participate in. Think of it like file storage without the walled gardens cloud providers build.
But, how can you ensure data integrity, scalability, and efficient content distribution in a decentralized and open landscape? This is exactly where IPFS shines.
The Benefits of Decentralization
There are numerous benefits to decentralized social networks. One of the largest being, users have the ability to regain control over their data, protecting their privacy from profit-driven platforms. Think about it - when you post content on twitter, it’s hosted on their servers. When you post content on a decentralized platform, such as Lens, it’s hosted on IPFS. By hosting on IPFS, you’re able to keep those IPFS hashes corresponding to your content and do two things - remain in control of the content and take that content to any other social network.
The built in portability that decentralized networks built on IPFS allow for is something other social networks lack. Developers and creators spend a great deal of time producing content and if you leave a traditional network, it means lost time and lost content. Imagine leaving twitter, going to a new social app, and having to start all over again. Now, imagine leaving twitter, taking your entire social existence with you to a new social app, and pick right up where you left off.
Essentially, portable data for decentralized social networks solve the cold start problem all networks face. When you’re first starting out, you have no network. You finally pull people in and chances are, they leave because it’s quiet. Rinse and repeat. IPFS solves for this by allowing you to bootstrap your new social app by populating it with data from an open protocol. Your new app will feel vibrant and alive from the word go.
Social Platform, Social Proof
Many decentralized social networks have already embraced IPFS and experienced success such as Lens and Snapshot. For example, Lens Protocol utilizes IPFS to store the content of its social media posts, such as images, videos, and by uploading and pinning those files to the network. When a user does the following, Lens is uploading to IPFS:
- A user creates a post and Lens uploads the content of the post to IPFS.
- The IPFS network then assigns a content identifier (CID) to the content.
- The CID of the content is stored on the Lens Protocol blockchain.
- When a user views a post, they can use the CID to retrieve the content from IPFS.
Lens and and other social networks also use IPFS to store the metadata of their posts. This metadata includes information such as the title, description, and tags of the post. All of which is stored on the Lens Protocol blockchain, and ultimately IPFS, making it immutable and tamper-proof.
Another example, Snapshot, an off-chain voting platform that allows DAOs, DeFi protocols, or NFT communities to vote easily and without gas fees, utilizes IPFS to store content such as proposals and votes in the form of JSON files, as well as Snapshotters in the form of CIDs. When proposals are created, they are uploaded to IPFS and assigned a unique CID that is stored on the snapshot blockchain. When a user votes on a proposal, their vote it uploaded to IPFS, assigned a CID, and also stored on the Snapshot blockchain. This process ensures a more secure and transparent voting platform.
Challenges and Future Developments
While IPFS eases many downfalls of traditional platforms, challenges still persist. User adoption, network performance, and seamless integration are areas that need continuous improvement. The IPFS community is an active community full of advancements that will continue to address these challenges through ongoing developments and collaborations.
IPFS serves as an integral part of the evolution of decentralized social networks. Its collaborative nature, interoperability, and focus on data integrity position it as an ideal solution for the challenges presented by centralized networks. Fortunately, there are solutions to bring IPFS web-scale adoption. Pinata has been building developer tools for IPFS since 2018 and exists to remove those friction points and performance bottlenecks. If you’re interested, you can sign up for a free account and experience IPFS for yourself.
Happy pinning!
H1 - THE RICH TEXT
EXAMPLE STARTS HERE
H2 - Enabling Widespread Adoption for Music NFTs
paragraph — The first thing the music industry needs is more exposure. For artists, listeners and yeah, the labels. Even with the use cases mentioned above, the majority of the music industry still sees NFTs as a novelty rather than a legitimate way to run a business. We see a future where the experience is built and monetized on the blockchain, with labels taking part of the experience, as well.
Second, there needs to be a big jump in user experience. Listeners know what to expect with Spotify and Apple Music: a smooth, intuitive experience that lets them listen to Lil Nas X with just a few clicks. Web3 platforms aren’t quite there. Music NFTs and related premium content require extra steps that most people don’t yet have an appetite for.
H3 - How Could Music NFTs Save Artists?
paragraph — Musician Daniel Allan spent months building a relationship with the NFT community and raised 50 ETH to fund his new album, Overstimulated. Companies like Audius and artists like Vérité's, who raised $90,000 in an NFT launch, are at the forefront of exploring new ways to get paid. Avenged Sevenfold launched an NFT collection called "Deathbats Club" with 10,000 items that grants holders access to benefits such as meet and greets at shows, lifetime free tickets, limited edition merchandise, and more.
H4 - Static and dynamic content editing
A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!
H5 — How to customize formatting for each rich text
Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
LINK — This is how a link looks like. Please provide normal & hover state (if different than this)
- This will be bullet points
- Numbered list is the same but with numbers
- It has a margin-left applied
- Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
- Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
- Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
QUOTE — Everyone is obsessed with making money and seeking alpha, which does a disservice to what [NFTs] can actually do. We have been instructing many bands that NFTs are a ticket for access to an exclusive club.” - M. Shadows, Avenged Sevenfold’s lead singer.
