Ex-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has announced the decentralised social protocol Bluesky Social is about to see its long-awaited beta launch. Dubbed the Authenticated Transfer Protocol or AT Protocol for short, it aims to create a federated network that gives users control over their data.
Along with the protocol will see the launch of a social media app called Bluesky.
Just how open and transparent Bluesky and its protocol will be, remain to be seen. Details are scarce on the finer details. But, the Bluesky site has some great sales points that will appease many who believe in Web 3 and decentralisation.
Based on Jack Dorsey's censorship record at Twitter, why should anyone trust him regarding his new decentralised effort? Sure, the guiding principles around moving your data and choosing algorithms, servers and what you share are great, but can we trust Dorsey?
Then there are questions around monetisation. How does a protocol make money? How are the nodes in the network incentivised to run? I'm guessing it'll be backed by some token and use a delegated proof of stake mechanism, but how is that any different from what could be achieved with Hive and other blockchains?
Like with pretty much everything blockchain-related, the cost is rarely spoken about. We hear about the exorbitant Gas fees on Ethereum, but nobody talks about the biggest hurdle to decentralised application development: money.
Sure, most blockchains work on the principle of paying for transactions, but isn't that a barrier to mass adoption? Why wouldn't you use a free competitor if you have to pay for everything you post? I mean, I know the age-old adage of, "If you're not paying, you are the product", but most people, beyond a few of us idealists, don't care about paying for sovereignty.
Where I see a blockchain like Hive filling in is the ability to delegate Resource Credits (RC). The Resource Credits system is pay-to-play, but someone who wanted to create a decentralised social media platform with enough delegation could remove the need to require anyone to pay upfront. Over time as users use the platform, their authority grows, and through some automated system, the RC delegated to them could be reduced.
And here is the thing, there are already other protocols in development. One of them is DeSo. Another is the Lens Protocol. Then you have DSNP. Are we just going to end up with a bunch of protocols that are inoperable with one another?
It seems to me the same mistakes of Web 2 social networking are being repeated. A bunch of data silos with no way to move data between them. Am I missing something here?