Blockchain
AUSTIN, Texas — Social networking app MeWe is leveraging the Frequency blockchain, built on Polkadot, to bring self-sovereign blockchain-based identities to its 20 million users, the MeWe team announced Wednesday at Consensus 2023 here.
The integration allows MeWe’s users to take control of their identity data and act as a basis for managing the data they hold on social networks, the blockchain company said.
Social networks create the so-called social graph to map the interdependence of relationships between people, things and interests. This important information usually remains in the hands of large technology companies and is often used to target ads to specific users. Think about how Spotify shows you what your friends are listening to and suggests music to you.
Speaking at a panel at Consesus 2023, Braxton Woodham, president of Amplica Labs, a major contributor to the frequency blockchain, said that “we need to pull that power back” from these private entities, and the teams are currently focused on making the entire web social. conscious.
The frequency blockchain creates a “social identity” that allows a user to be on the social graph, and that people can use in various applications that log into this vision of Web3. This work is seen as a layer that permeates the web as important infrastructure. Users own their identities and manage their privacy settings across applications, Frequency said.
Frequency is a parachain of the Polkadot blockchain, meaning it sets its own rules and follows its own logic, but is compatible with Polkadot’s main chain as well as other parachains. Parachains pay an extended lease to Polkadot, often with money collected from their communities, rather than a fee for each block. According to Frequency, this increases the scalability and stability of the system. As such, the Frequency blockchain can handle a lot of throughput, which is necessary for social media applications.
MeWe users can apply for the acceptance of the frequency blockchain. The social media app was founded in 2012 as a social network with a focus on privacy.
The frequency blockchain evolved from the work of the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP), another technology that allows applications to deliver Web3 features to their users. DSNP was backed by Project Liberty, a nonprofit funded by real estate billionaire Frank McCourt to disrupt social media.
In September 2022, McCourt Global, the billionaire’s investment firm, also led a $27 million investment round in MeWe. Amplica Labs, the leading Frequency Contributor and DSNP maker, is part of McCourt Global.
Read more: Meet ‘Frequency’, Polkadot’s new decentralized social media platform