Tho I think web3 and blockchain is a great approach to solve the centralization problem and provides incentives, the current interface of what we have in the space is not the right approach. I am a firm believer of owning your own data and deplatformitization on the internet, either is local first, open source, microblogging and the small web, all of them are great ways to approach this. But NFTs, a new token to rug people about, speculation and the lack of regulation seemingly provides great freedom to solve the kind of problem in this space, is way too libertarian and does not help the day-to-day users who just passing by to use this.
The biggest problem that I see from decentralization right now is content. Specifically social media platforms . I don’t need to name the 30 separate platforms that you have to create separate accounts with, or trying to figure out which email or password you created with either one of them. And don’t get me started with the privacy agreements associated with data servers. Big Social media platforms, unlike b2b enterprise companies who usually have strict regulations about what to do with customers data, are free to do whatever they want with it.
The Fediverse, ATProto and Mastodon, decentralized protocols to house 1 account with your data at your own storage (provide a domain) is a great first step to a complex problem. The web3 DID or NFT approach is way to bloated and does not follow first principles, and does not reduce to a simple solution (involves way too many dependencies like wallet, swaps, different networks or blockchains). It is meant to be a all-in-one solution to a lot of non-problems without proper business proposition to it besides memecoins ups and downs and market manipulation on the formally known as twitter site whose owner is censoring/banning/removing any posts that he does not like. Sounds familiar? You are right, that some autocracy/dictator shit, and an open internet should not have that and need to be thinking about that when it was first designed. Web3 grants the biggest whale the most power on the network and most influence, and we don’t want to replicate that into the internet, so I think it is the best to solve the problems before thinking about monetizations unlike what the VC world is trying to do.
It is about actually building solutions to a problem not yet another get rich quick scheme. You just cannot deny that majority of the crypto /web3 space is capital-driven and full of scams beside maybe the top 3 coins that are up in the total market share rank.
The problem: lack of privacy of data, autocratic moderation rules and policing, sparse account / asset
The solution: own your data, literally on your device, portability and extensibility of the ecosystem, unification of account/ID
At an age that everyone lives on the internet, you cannot just say when you unplug, you don’t lose a part of you. The internet and especially social media has become such a part of ourselves that it is literally an asset and identity of yours apart from what you are IRL. I look forward to what bluesky and ATProto can offer.
You can look at Open Network for more reference from Emily Liu here.