I am very fortunate that since 2014 I have observed the way Blockchain technology changes how we do things. With its emergence and the advent of cryptocurrencies:
- we changed our vision of what money could be;
- then, whole ecosystems that change economic relations started to spring up;
- after, platforms that allow us to create content, own and sell it in some parallel metaverse also came into being.
And then what to expect? It will be fascinating because now we can see how Web3 is changing our lives in the digital world.
Everyone may have discussed what it is and why Web3 is the next big thing. There is a lot of talk about Web3, but unfortunately, only some understand it.
Since it became clear to everyone that social networks were abusing their rights (which we granted them ourselves), I was waiting for an alternative to emerge — only a natural choice.
Somehow, it doesn’t seem to be very fair (although come on, we live in a world that is not about fairness at all):
- Each of us on the Internet is a content maker.
- We create content with our minds, words, and time, empowering this way centralized platforms, namely their owners.
- Then these owners make money from it.
And it’s not just Facebook and Co. that have shown us all the negative aspects of centralized social networks, but also the fact that content makers have turned from creators into victims:
- You can be banned at any time when a “court” of justice comes in based on some rules;
- At the moment of banning, you cannot even go in and do anything with all your property – photos, texts, messages, and contacts. It’s not yours anymore;
- You have to prove your right to own your personal content;
- You create content, but it’s not you who earn money from it, but the owners of the platform;
- You disappear because you are now an anonymous nobody in the digital world.
How do you find this story? Could it be different? Yes, because the recent evolution of the Internet has led to the emergence of platforms that work as creators should – your property, and you own it.
Let’s imagine a world where:
- You create content, and no one else can own it but you;
- Nobody can ban you or deny access to your own content because your content is you;
- All your networks are united by a single profile, not by 10 apps with different logins;
- No one can sell something based on your preferences because your preferences are not tracked and collected in big data to make you a target audience for an advertising campaign;
- Your sensitive information remains yours because you did not give access to it.
- Your content is your earnings. No one but you can sell it, take possession of it, or appropriate it without your knowledge.
And this is just one case I have investigated – social networks. And there is another example from gaming, where the world of math will most likely replace the traditional gaming sector. But on the condition, of course, of decentralized networks, not those that Facebook is building now (these are conditional metaverses that are just as centralized as the traditional Facebook itself).
Web3 can now solve critical “black holes” in digital content creation. Among them:
- ensuring decentralization
- data privacy
- control over digital assets.
These are the 3 things we are entitled to and without which we cannot continue the history of the digital Internet and our role in it.
The only thing that prevents us from building a Web3 world now is the awareness and willingness of not only project owners to develop something but also users themselves to enter new digital spaces. As long as we are participants and passively watch new projects of Facebook and Co. being built at our expense, nothing will change. If we are originators, we must also be the ones who make our own choices.