What a Facebook Blockchain Token Might Look Like
From Coindesk
Mark Zuckerberg, worth $71 billion at just 33, has done rather well by Facebook's centrally managed system.Read more:Over the past decade and a half, the social media behemoth's closed-source algorithm has quietly manipulated its millions of users' news feeds to capture maximum ad dollars and steer them all to Zuck and his shareholders.
So, why is he exploring a more decentralized model? And what role might crypto technology play in that?
In a New Year's post to the platform, the Facebook CEO noted (with zero irony, it seems) that
"With the rise of a small number of big tech companies … many people now believe technology only centralizes power rather than decentralizes it."
And he vowed, on that basis, "to go deeper and study the positive and negative aspects" of decentralizing, people-empowering technologies such as cryptocurrencies and encryption.
It was followed by another post telling users that upcoming changes to their news feeds meant they "can expect to see more from your friends, family and groups" and "less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media."
It remains to be seen whether this bet in favor of "meaningful social interactions" over higher traffic content is, as Zuckerberg said, "good for our community and our business over the long term." The immediate reaction on Wall Street was harsh: Facebook’s shares fell 4.5 percent last Friday following the second post.
It was a predictable response: if Facebook will no longer curate new feeds to emphasize strong, ad-attracting content, then revenues, and returns to shareholders, will decline
I see two different ways to view how this would effect Steem's hopes to be the social blockchain of the future that unseats Facebook. This could be a nasty behemoth crushing Steem under it's feet. With their tech talent they might just beat the shit out of Steem at their own game and with better tech.
The other and I think more likely way to view this is that it is market validation. Facebook's entry into the social crypto sphere solidifies the concept as a winner and will make it easier for Steem to grow and reach mainstream adoption.
Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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@contentjunkie Do you imagine Fbd? Facebook Dollars? that would be crazy! Facebook is super-centralized though... no chance to compete with steemit in this sense
Most people don't care about things being decentralized in my experience. In fact I bet they would feel safer storing wealth with a centralized name they trust will pay them back their money.
are you serious? you think decentralization is not a big deal then? decentralization and the blockchain will change the entire wolrd in my view!
Completely serious. Decentralization as a feature is a niche. Average mainstream user will take ease of use over decentralization any day.
I agree with @contentjunkie that most mainstream users may not think about the concept of decentralization much. Mainstream users do think about two things, though: 1) the fact that 100% of the valuation of platforms like Facebook, Instagram et al. is derived from the content that creators provide while the creators get nothing back from the platforms themselves (only from third parties, in the form of brand sponsorships or affiliations). 2) the fact that Facebook / Insta sell user's personal data which should be owned by the user and yet users see nothing of the immense returns that are generated with that data. Those are the two key angles in my opinion that Facebook / Insta will need to address if they want to stay relevant vs. Steemit & co in the maybe (hopefully) not so distant future.
CIAberg is a joke.
the decline of facebook is ahead. every time i know more people who uses it less and less..
facebook at its begining was great because it opened to a new way communicating .... But over time as its user's started to grow and the advertisement and marketing taking over , the higher catergory of public started to get tired of it .
I mean look at your facebook feeds ..... All you have is ads most of the time and unless you spend your time clicking on the I don't want to htis button , you feel like commercial bate .
FB is realizing that it has to change and there will always be users , but the heavy contents ones leave and will leave for more powerfull ways of thinking and posting .
promotion is one thing and intellectual interaction is another . in this nonsens world , people are looking to elevate themselves and break free for the overconsumming society .
Steemit has glorious days to come :)
I believe that they can both grow toghether.
But, the truth is that if Facebook was something similar to Steemit, it would take some of the newcomers certainly.
I think it's hard to say what would happen, but personally I think you can't compare Facebook and SteemIt. They're are nothing alike.
Maybe the major part of the people who signed up for SteemIt during the last two months will switch to Facebook again, but I don't think that the people who came here with the right intentions would leave Steem and hurry back to FB. I know I wouldn't. (Although I think I'd use FB to earn some easy money on the side - creating a post on FB doesn't take me hours to do, creating a post on SteemIt does - lol)
I think a Facebook Blockchain token would be very beneficial for the crypto world in general. It would surely speed up mass-adoption.
Steemit is the pacesetter and also decentralized. The love and interaction on Steemit is unbeatable. So many have found freedom after they found Steemit (myself included) and are committed to improving it. Steemit is more than just a platform now, it's the people. The mentality - a global community of love.
Thanks for sharing this post..facebook is a great social network.i like it.
I appreciate this technology.
Thanks for share this news.
Best of luck.
Knowing Facebook's business stance their blockchain tokens would be no more than tokenized shares issued to social media influencers whom the larger populace perceive as role models and therefore a representation of public perception which in Facebook's terms fulfills its goal for community inclusion in platform governance.
I hope you are right with the second option, if you can’t beat the enemy, join the enemy. However I’m concerned about Facewhat billions of dolars power, I’m pretty sure they will not just watch how steemit is taking away their share. We should prepare for a tough battle.