Analyzing the Internal Mechanism and Breakthrough Path of "Web3 Paradox"

Mencius said: fish, what I want; bear's paw, what I want. It is impossible to have both.

 

In the world of Web3: Decentralized technology, what the public wants; application value, what the public wants. It is impossible to have both.

This article will try to analyze the gap between the vision of Web3 we are looking forward to and the actual ecological construction, and on this basis, explore the path to break the situation. The full text will be divided into Part 1 Paradox and Part 2 Breaking the Game and released separately.

Developers go to conquer cities and conquer land until they complete the anti-killing of rentiers; facing the wasteland of the scene, we have never felt barren. The social graph, creator economy, and SaaS are already ready to eliminate all false gods that hinder progress. The new gods are placed in Buddhist altars for people to worship; in the face of the technological gap, the completeness of the development kit will allow more technical tools to directly face users, and decentralization will deconstruct the role of the platform at the technical level...

Newton once said: If I see farther than others, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants. Starting from the bottom this time, let's build a nine-story platform together.

Uniswap has used AMM to rebuild the matching, Bitcoin has also used PoW to achieve the objective performance of consensus, and Web 3 has SBT, PoS mechanism and the expectations of all users. In the DeSoC society, starting to act is far better than sitting and talking.

All information can be captured by Web 3 and generate corresponding value—yes, all information! These values ​​can be circulated, naturally have value, and everything has value.

This is the basis of belief that the opportunities that Web 3 brings to us to revolutionize the application space rest. The belief that was hyped and bubbled by the currency circle in the past has gained trust again in development and practice.

For example, Brave, the most widely used privacy browser, has launched Goggles, a search mode in the Web 3 era, trying to provide more relevant search results without touching more privacy of users. Combining the advertising service of its own token BAT, it is already a very mature attempt in business. If it goes further, the back end is completely constructed on the blockchain and the information is stored on IPFS, then it can have the ability to reconstruct the Internet interactive interface magic.

2. Technology first: Innovation spreads gradually

Source: Wikipedia

In the innovation diffusion curve, we can see the transformation process of Web 3 from Innovator to Early Adopter. Although the value is still small in terms of absolute market share, desktop, enterprise-level, and basic facilities are gradually being built. , which belongs to the process of gradual technology diffusion.

For example, the Crypnote note-taking tool is already a highly completed product. Previous note-taking products such as Evernote and Onenote needed to face the problem of data migration, while the backend of Web 3 is directly built on the blockchain storage network. This is a redesign based on the technical characteristics of Web 3, and it is constantly being upgraded.

What kind of Web 3 applications technological innovation will bring us, even if it is a possibility, is the significance of our analysis of the situation under the paradox. Let's talk about what Web 3 products will look like.

SocialFi to Graph Evolution

As an important cornerstone product of Web 3.0, social products have strategic significance needless to say. The social synonym given to Web 3.0 by history will not be the often-called SocialFi, but an upgraded new format-"social graph".

Why can't the currently popular SocialFi take on this important task? SocialFi, commonly known as "social money exchange", refers to the behavior of using Token tokens in Web 3 to stimulate users to use products. Taking BBS Network as an example, 50% of its tokens will be distributed to active users—how can activity be improved through token “cheating”? Of course, it is to create "high-quality" information to allow more followers and subscribers to import active user traffic. No matter how strict the review mechanism is, as long as there is a mechanism for exchanging activity for Token, "doing data" will survive space.

When the turning point of "function > hype" is reached, what can really retain users is to meet the real needs, and the product cycle will be lengthened, and finally replaced by an updated mechanism. This is a "whale fall" of natural death, and then everything grows. However, the current socialFi does not have a model design to suppress spam, and the existing governance mechanism will fail under the stimulation of Token-using Twitter is to obtain new knowledge, but using such SocialFi applications is motivated by profit.

Interest-driven is an unavoidable problem. The socialFi of "social exchange for money" will not be the main social category of Web 3. In the long run, there will definitely be new native social applications, and the "social graph" is the pioneer that dances with the times. The social graph is the "graphization of social relationships", which refers to the direct coupling and transmission of social relationships between individuals relying on the blockchain network without a central node.

When the social networking site in Web 2 is upgraded to the "social graph" in Web 3, what changes will happen?

Let’s take a look at the information flow of traditional social networking sites:

The first point is that in the existing social network, there is a phenomenon of reverse flow of information flow and data flow. The information flow between users flows in both directions. I follow you, you follow me, and we can see each other information content, but the data behind these contents is not synchronized with the information flow, but is stored on centralized platforms, such as twitter and Weibo;

The second point is that the information flow between individuals does not flow in a direction with the same weight, but will be tilted towards KOL and institutional accounts, and various "centralized" nodes, large and small, will be formed in the communication;

The third point is that after the data is collected by the platform, it will be made into API interfaces with different permissions, and then sold. So it's the flow of data, not the flow of information, that can really be monetized. For example, opening a membership is essentially a platform selling user-created content. If the profit from selling data can cover operating expenses, it is equivalent to the invisible and legal "exploitation" of individuals by the platform. This is also the real business model of platform traffic.

Let’s look at the information flow of the Web 3 social graph—in a word: information flow and data flow should flow in the same direction, and the relationship can be tokenized, there is no center, and there is no difference.

Regarding the centralization trend of content, the cross-chain and interactivity of the social graph will naturally resolve this problem. Decentralized social applications should be componentized. In different groups, I can exist as an edge node and a central node at the same time.

At present, there are already products in the transition stage from Web2 to Web3 that have been practiced from this perspective. For example, Tiktok, through cooperation with ImmutableX, launched Tiktok Moments, making popular videos into NFTs, and sales revenue will mainly flow to content producers and NFTs maker. Furthermore, if anyone can make their own social content and social relationship into NFT, or even issue tokens, this is the real direction for Web 3 socialization.

To sum it up: why is SocailFi not the future and the social graph concept more likely to succeed?

First: The spam information brought by the Token attribute cannot be eliminated;

Second: There is still a trend of content centralization of top KOLs, institutions, and commercial companies. Ordinary people naturally prefer stars and celebrities with their own halos.

The social graph is expected to solve both problems.

The social graph also needs an upgraded version of the privacy system to escort, that is, the "chain credit system".

Online socialization does not necessarily require a real identity. If it is an ordinary information exchange and you just want to have fun, then you don’t have to care about the role of the other party in reality. As Pu Lin said, "You can call yourself whatever you want." However, if financial transactions are based on addresses, identity verification must be required, which will inevitably require the information inspection function to become an infrastructure, as important as ChainLink.

The current labeling function path is to continuously record the activities of a certain address. When enough historical data has been accumulated, we can use public information to make user portraits for it, which is effective for giant whales, exchanges, and institutional wallets. But what if the Web 3 wallet is popularized to be used by all ages, women and children in the future?

"Know who is doing business with you" is a very real need. If the Web 3 algorithm is optimized in place, it is completely possible to make a high-accuracy judgment based on the credit system without knowing who the other party is. For example, users of the contact verification tool Go Security can verify more than 360,000 Tokens on the Ethereum chain, including more than 180,000 risky addresses and more than 20,000 phishing websites.

Creation: From NFTs to Content Monetization

The basic evolution of creator economy is as follows:

In the era of Web 1.0, creation is a natural behavior based on the desire to share, and there is basically no profit model, which is a beautiful utopia;

In the era of Web 2.0, the centralized monopoly platform controls the valve and flow of information flow, and creators basically only get a small part of the profit;

In the era of Web 3.0, because there is no centralized traffic distribution platform, creators can take most of the profits.

For creators, "the Internet without a center is a good Internet!" From the perspective of the most basic text creation, the problem with Web 2.0 is that the monopoly of the platform is so prominent that we ignore the fundamental problem of creative ability, while in In the Web 3 world, "creation itself" has begun to emerge. What really limits dissemination is continuous content production capabilities, not so-called channel restrictions. Really high-quality content cannot be limited to a certain channel. In a fully competitive market environment, if it is suppressed, it can go to the opponent team.

The value of Web 3 lies in the fact that for the first time, the right to create has truly returned to the individual, with the purpose of creation itself and the value orientation of permanent retention. Such a Web 3 creator economy is indeed worth looking forward to. Imagine a fair creator-friendly economy with more pay for more work. Web 3 will be their main stage, and we can expect a fairer environment for high-quality creators to realize their value.

It should be noted that Web 3 is not omnipotent—although everyone is truly equal in terms of communication access thresholds, there are still differences between individuals in terms of content production capabilities and communication capabilities, and the communication of a few people to the majority will still be the same. a historical norm. Take Planet produced by V2EX as an example. This is a blog-like tool for content creation and sharing. It is completely based on IPFS as the storage backend, but in its default interface, Dolin is also the default subscription object.

Taking NFT as an example, the main problem in its development is that the existence and content of OpenSea King are highly concentrated in the PFP field.

From OpenSea dao to LOOKSRARE, to the "rise" of the Magic Eden market on Solona, ​​what have we seen? Trying again and again, the heat death after fanaticism, rich categories and user habits cultivated by the first-mover advantage, this long assassination may continue for a while, and the savior will not appear.

From the perspective of creator economy, what we see is the high degree of centralization of NFT platforms and creators. Because what users really want is high-quality content, and they don't "care" about the degree of decentralization. Looking further at the NFT transaction category, we will find that it is less decentralized, because the top transaction category is PFP. Although other types temporarily occupy the top sales list every day, Yuga labs is the Deep State, accounting for the vast majority of NFT Market share, including BAYC, MAYC, Meebtis, Otherside, and even ApeCoin based on ERC-20 issued by NFT.

But there is still hope—for example, the new development of RRS3, Crossbell, as a content monetization platform, the main goal is to return the data sovereignty of individual content creation to creators. Crossbell is an ownership platform, and information generated by social activity will be the initial form of user data ownership on Crossbell. Its game changer is the ability to empower users to take back ownership of their data through built-in capital design. At the same time, Crossbell is designed with an emphasis on information interoperability, which means that third-party applications can be friendly to develop on this basis.

The wider use scenarios of NFT can exist in GameFi, Metaverse, and DeSoc. Only by making NFT more popular and entering more application scenarios can it be possible to make the dividends of the creator economy fall on more people. For example, Polygon released the new NFT Minter, which allows the use of custom programs to create NFT without Gas fees, and is making a bold attempt to encourage the public to monetize NFT content.

Content monetization is the functional direction of NFT to be further developed in the Web3 era. Content monetization can be understood as the tokenization of personal value. When human beings begin to enter the Web 3 world more frequently and widely, no matter what form of creation it is, it will be fully guaranteed as a basic "human right".

  • SaaS: From To B to To C

In the existing network world, SaaS seems to be an exclusive product for enterprises, and To B is a matter of course, such as Jetbrains' development tools, Dassault's industrial design software, and EDA in the field of chip design. In the Web 3 world, SaaS will provide a possibility of To Anyone. In addition to the social graph and creator economy, there are SaaS tools that support the grand blueprint of Web 3.

From To B to To C is not only a change of the object of use, but also a re-upgrade of the production relationship. In Web 3, SaaS will become a ubiquitous infrastructure that anyone can build independently and provide integrated applications or API interfaces for various types of users to use.

The reason is that whether it is social networking or the creator economy, product design basically revolves around the relationship between "people and people", and To C applications will become the main direction of SaaS. If we want the infrastructure to continue to enter more service areas, we must go to the lower level of L1 expansion, or even hardware equipment, just like ASIC mining machines do.

At present, there is a solution based on secondary services of existing products. The most typical one is IPFS, which has free trial and unlimited capacity. If commercial services can be built on the basis of it, it is basically equivalent to free prostitution.

For example, the office suite service of Skiff decentralized mailbox cloud documents can be used for personal daily writing and communication, and can also replace the office suite of Google workshop, and it is completely implemented based on IPFS. If the communicating party also uses the Skiff account, all records of email communication and cloud document collaboration between the two parties will be stored on IPFS without going through any centralized server.

The emergence of such applications, on the one hand, shows that the current IPFS has initially been able to provide commercial services after years of development; but on the other hand, we must also see that such products still have heavy traces of imitation, and still need long-term development Come to explore new product models.

Taking the analysis tools in the blockchain market as an example, due to the transparency of information on the chain and the frequency of transactions, there has always been a market for professional analysis tools, but there are also thresholds. Although individuals can directly analyze the information on the chain, it is obvious that this difficulty requires the technical level of developers and is not friendly to ordinary people. Is it possible to break the game?

Tools including Dune and Nansen have created the myth of financing 80 million US dollars and a valuation of 1 billion US dollars, and such tools are easier to be "infrastructured" because they do not need to include transaction functions, or even functional modules. It can be customized by users, and only needs to open the SQL interface. In essence, this is a pipeline device. The project opens API interfaces and documents, and users continuously query and accumulate data. When user habits are cultivated, the traffic formed will have commercial value.

The moat of this tool lies in user habits and data accumulation, not in the difficulty of development. It is a different design logic from Chainlink-Chainlink is an infrastructure that everyone recognizes, because the oracle data requires high-precision accuracy, and it cannot be used because The interface is better-looking or a few more functional modules are easily replaced.

This is the scenario iteration of SaaS from To B to To C, and the business opportunities it brings.

The current Web 3.0 is still in its infancy stage. We need Web 3 to truly transition to an era in which the profit model is supported by users and services, so that it will last for a long time. At the end of the article, let me review the breakthrough path of Web 3.0 again. Under the guidance of belief reconstruction and project first, whether it is moving towards graph-based social products, or creator economy of content monetization, or upgrading from To B to To C SaaS software... all announce the arrival of a future lifestyle to the public in a "lone brave" attitude.

Maybe there are still various problems in Web 3.0, maybe practitioners are still confused in the dark, but these cocoon analysis is not negating Web 3.0, our original intention is to do our best to avoid a kind of fanatical depletion of resources, to prevent once encountered The Internet bubble, many people are about to fall into the bear market of extreme denial and doubt.

Web 3.0 may still be a long way off, and may require multiple iterations. Perhaps the "lonely brave" who have entered the game will be smashed into sand, and the project will be wiped out, but it is like a glimmer of light leading to the future world, and it will eventually emerge In an instant, the starlight illuminates the future world.

"To the sobbing and roaring in the dark night, who said that those who stand in the light are heroes"...

 

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Origin blog.csdn.net/Linxiaoyu2022/article/details/126277560