As I said in "In-depth understanding of Web3 (1) --- what problem does it solve? " As explained, the current problem that the core of Web3 needs to solve is that the data should be separated from the platform. Even if the platform does not exist, the data is still available.
So, how to achieve this goal? Next, I will take Mirror as an example to get a glimpse of the solution of Web3.
What is Mirror?
If you search for keywords such as Mirror.xyz or Mirror web3 on the Internet, you can see many articles introducing Mirror, but unfortunately most of the articles talk about the decentralization of Mirror, blockchain, tokens, etc.— — Off track, these are properties of Mirror, but not a problem that Mirror solves. Therefore, I will try not to mention Mirror's decentralization, blockchain, tokens, etc. below.
Let's talk about the function of Mirror first. After logging in (currently, the login of Mirror refers to Connect Wallet), you can see an important button Create Entry on the interface. This button can be understood as our common "write article".
Click Create Entry to enter the article writing page.
There is no difference between this page and the article editing pages of Web2 platforms: upload the head image of the article, enter the title of the article, and enter the content of the article. After writing the article, click Publish to publish the article.
After publishing, you can see the list of published articles on your homepage.
It can be seen that Mirror is a content writing platform, functionally no different from Web2's article editing and publishing platform (even more difficult to use).
Differences between Mirror and Web2 Content Writing Platforms
The core difference, which is also Mirror's solution to the Web2 problem, is that Mirror stores article data on a blockchain called Arweave (text content only). That is to say, even if the Mirror platform does not exist, the data I published through Mirror can still be found. Therefore, Mirror can be regarded as realizing the separation of data and platform.
Note that Mirror can also make articles into NFTs, but I understand this as an exploration of a business model, not a solution to Web2 problems.
Some exciting changes with Mirror
Because Mirror realizes the separation of data and platform, each platform can obtain the data published by users on Mirror. We can see that many third-party websites have started their own exploration around these data.
for example:
Bress.xyz is another front-end developed based on Mirror . Bress.xyz implements article recommendation, classification, and search functions that Mirror does not provide.
If the functions of a certain platform are not developed or are not satisfied, we can easily obtain relevant data and develop the functions we want.
Just imagine, if the WeChat official account is a model like Mirror, how many amazing products we will develop based on these data, and how much value the WeChat official account has not realized!
Some logical relationships that need attention
Because of the entire Internet’s pursuit of interests and misunderstanding of Web3, when mentioning Web3, you must mention blockchain, when you mention blockchain, you must mention digital currency, and when you mention digital currency, you must mention speculation, NFT, etc. . Therefore, I must reiterate my core view on Web3: the value of Web3 is to solve the problems existing in Web2, and the core is that data and platforms need to be separated.
In other words, the blockchain we are currently mentioning is only a means to solve the Web2 problem under the current overall human cognition. If in the future, we have another method that is better than the blockchain to achieve the separation of data and platforms In this way, the blockchain will become an obsolete technology and be submerged in the long river of history. Naturally, the virtual currency built on the blockchain system will also cease to exist.
For example, if all companies in the world are very "ethical" to open data to each other, and at the same time there is a group that is very "selfless" to back up these data. Then we don't need to adopt the blockchain to realize the separation of data and platform.
at last
From Mirror and Bress developed based on Mirror data, we can feel the difference between Web3 and Web2. Then, with the development of time, we can expect that this new data production and interaction method will bring about earth-shaking changes to the existing Web2 ecosystem (at least, the WeChat official account can die)