Aave, one of the most prominent DeFi lending protocols, announced today the introduction of the mainet for Lens, an NFT-powered social networking protocol built on Polygon.
Lens is seen as a completely user-controlled technology stack in which users have full control over their data, content, and social graph.
While Lens Protocol is easily comparable to big social media giants such as Twitter, NFT’s role distinguishes it from these social networks.
Lens stores all content as NFTs, and user data ownership is key to the development process.
A New NFT Lens for Polygon?
Lens Protocol runs on Polygon, a decentralized Ethereum scaling blockchain that supports and tackles the Ethereum blockchain’s primary challenges such as scalability, gas prices, and transactional speed.
Polygon, with its low transaction costs, high access throughput, and security, is an effective option for any decentralized social network.
Bloom into a new era of social 🌿 Lens Protocol is ready for you to build the next gen of social media apps. The garden is open… https://t.co/bhzgxs9JFt pic.twitter.com/m2IqtIfb7P
— LensProtocol.Aave-Launches-Decentralized-Social-Media-Protocol-Built-on-Polygon 🌿 (@LensProtocol) May 18, 2022
Aave founder and CEO Stani Kulechov first hinted at the debut of the decentralized social network in June, saying that, “Aave should build Twitter on Ethereum,” since Jack Dorsey, co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, plans to, “develop Aave on Bitcoin.”
Following that statement, the team behind Aave officially rolled out the testnet of Lens in February.
Speaking with Decrypt, Kulechov highlighted the importance of user controlling their own data,
“We believe that content creators should own their audiences in a permissionless fashion, where anyone can build new user experiences by using the same on-chain social graph and data.”
The growing interest in decentralized social networks has put established centralized platforms like Twitter and Facebook under pressure.
Interestingly, Twitter under Dorsey figured out how to handle decentralization.
Last January, Jack Dorsey revealed his plan to decentralize social media by founding Bluesky, a social media network for decentralized communities.
Twitter is supporting the project. Back then, Jack’s effort was not readily accepted because there were many uncertainties around it.
However, it has the potential to become a completely new trend. Bitcoin, for example, is an endeavor that is beyond the bank’s authority.
People now demand personal statements that are neither controlled or exploited by any power. With this concept, it fosters free expression, free association, and free press to the greatest extent possible.
The Next Generation of Social Networks
People are concerned about their privacy and security when it comes to traditional social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
This is because centralized entities are always in charge of managing and monitoring these platforms.
By becoming a member, you are entrusting them with the management of your personal information. The content that is provided on such media platforms is, on the other hand, regularly exploited for political goals and to contain disagreements.
Without a shadow of a doubt, social networks have completely transformed the way in which we communicate with one another. In addition to this, social networks maintain full control over the data that is generated by its users.
As a result, these platforms will exert their power over the mind, behavior, and various other facets of life based on the data source.
The majority of these sites track the activity of its users and they also sell the collected data to third parties for the purposes of advertising and marketing.
Social Networks Run the World
These social networking services that are powered by blockchain technology might make a difference in the way we interact on the internet.
Blockchain social networks have provided us with additional options to choose from among established social media sites.
The fact that users are in complete control of their own personal information and that information security has been taken to a whole new level is the most compelling advantage offered by blockchain-based social networks.
We are seeing the limits of blockchain social networks progressively eradicated alongside technological advancements and the ongoing development of blockchain technology.
This may result in the widespread adoption of blockchain social networks – to what ends we can’t imagine.