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Is Social Media The Next Industry To Be Disrupted By Blockchain?

Is Social Media The Next Industry To Be Disrupted By Blockchain?

 

Blockchain is constantly in the news or its possibilities being discussed, mainly for disrupting one industry after another. So it only begs the question, will blockchain next disrupt social media?

“Experts have predicted that blockchain is going to disrupt more than 20 mega industries,” Social Media Impact reported.

Although it is still catching on in everyday circles, the reason people and industries are attracted to blockchain technology is because it is a  way to cut out the middleman in financial transactions. “Instead of being processed by one third party, the transactions pass through and are recorded by numerous computers on a dispersed network. Hence the flock of platforms built by tech giants such as IBM and Microsoft offering ‘blockchain-as-a-service’ to businesses with an interest in secure payments and increasing transparency in supply chains,” Techworld reported.

And as social media becomes more and more dependant on ad sales for their growth, blockchain might just be the technology turned to in order to process these transactions. There has already been some invasion by blockchain into social media. Take DTube. “DTube is a blockchain-platform that imitates YouTube. This video platform permits its users to monetize their content through direct contributions instead of revenue-generating from ads. Also, users can use their money to vote for the content which they want to surf most. This money is none other than cryptocurrency. Since it is a blockchain, digital currency is the mode of payment,” Social Media Impact reported.

Additional, social media users are using the various social networks to promote their blockchain networks, including SteemIt, Synereo AMP, The obsidian platform, SocialX, and Sola.ai.

SO why might social media be ready to be disrupted. “One of the issues, which most people don’t realize, is that social networks essentially own all of your photos, content, and data when you post to them. You, the user, get nothing and these social networks continue to get bigger and bigger by riding off the backs of users giving away rights to their content. They are centralized in every way, literally decide what you will see and not see through their algorithms on your feed, and completely lack transparency. To me, this sounds like something ripe for disruption,” Inc. reported.

Of course, social networks don’t want decentralization. After all, they are making money off your post, and are even recording every single keystroke you make while using their platform, which generates them money as well. Blockchain would shake this all up, butting the power in the hands of the user.

Take Indorse, a new platform based on Ethereum. User owns all their data and get paid directly for contributions. “Indorse (who is currently running its ICO) physically pays you in tokens for helping them build the platform, rather than giving you nothing,” Inc. reported.

With options like this, it seems blockchain will sooner than later disrupt social media.

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