This will be a shortish post. I was reading about DeSo, the token formerly known as CLOUT, launched by Nader Al-Naji, previously known only as diamondhands.
Source: Alexas_Fotos on Pixabay
BitClout Legal Woes
Legal troubles have plagued BitClout earlier this year. See https://finance.yahoo.com/news/controversial-crypto-project-bitclout-faces-233043748.htmlfor example. The TL;DR on these problems is that it was alleged that user profiles were pulled from Twitter without the person's having necessarily having signed up to BitClout.
Now, Al-Naji is stating that BitClout was always simply intended to be the proof of concept for DeSo, Decentralized Social Media.
(See https://cryptonews.net/en/news/regulation/1900267/for details.)
DESO almost all sold
The supply of $DeSo is forever fixed at 10.8 million units, of which 10.5 million have already been sold. Its current market cap as of today is 2 billion and it sits at #73 on Coingecko. (To compare, HIVE has a market cap of 235.9 million and sits at the #257 spot on Coingecko today. I know we don't need to compare, but I was curious, as is frequently the case.)
BitClout Requires KYC
Out of morbid curiosity, I thought I would try signing up for BitClout to see what it is like compared to the HIVE. Imagine my surprise when a "decentralized social network" run by someone who kept himself anonymous until last week requires KYC in order to sign up. They offer you money to do it, but there is no way around it. I felt uncomfortable with it.
Conclusion
There is room in the world for more than one type of social network blockchain, and, indeed, more than one already exists. It seems a bit, well, punkish, for someone to come along and claim he has invented this when the HIVE has been around for a while.
The KYC required to sign up seems like a CYA move in advance of anticipated government regulation. I would prefer if a blockchain waits until there actually are rules in place before imposing them on its members.
Does the HIVE Have a Marketing Project? If not, Should it?
The main takeaway that I get from this, and from my many internet searches, is something more experienced Hivers are probably all too aware of: The HIVE needs marketing. As someone still quite new, I wonder what, if any, publicity efforts are in place. It seems like more of a grassroots, word of mouth marketing campaign. Also, slightly off topic, but related, when I do search for Hive, it seems like everything is called "Hive," so it is sometimes hard to find OUR Hive compared to the company called Hive, etc. Does HIVE have a marketing project? I tried to find one, but was unable. I am still learning the ropes, though.
My opinion: It seems disappointing that the DeSo project is doing so well when it doesn't begin to fulfill the promise that I am seeing here on Hive. Although I do think there is room in the world for multiple social network blockchains, we at Hive are flying much further under the radar than we ought to be. While we don't have a central figurehead, can we not still create a project to do marketing and public relations, emit press releases, etc.? Or am I missing something? I am very new here, so it is entirely possible that I have missed something and I welcome (polite) feedback.
Why did I write this post?
Partly to inform people who don't already know about this rather audacious statement by the founder, Nader Al-Naji: In a tweet on September 21, he stated: "DeSo, short for "decentralized social," is the first and only blockchain custom-built from the ground up to power and scale a new category of decentralized social applications to one billion users." First and only?
To inform about the KYC aspect of BitClout because, from what I understand, it is new to that platform, but it is mandatory now.
To get feedback and information from Hivers who have been around longer than I have and know better than me about such things.
(Disclaimer: Never financial advice. Need I say that?)