Social Layer: Return to the original intention of social networking

Introduction

In the Crypto world, the topic of incentives is hard to avoid. Incentives originated from the largest “meme coin” in the Crypto world - Bitcoin. Bitcoin adopts the PoW consensus and provides an engineering solution to the Byzantine Generals’ Problem based on the vision of implementing a peer-to-peer payment system. In order to attract miners to join and improve the system’s security, the Bitcoin system is designed to reward competing miners with Bitcoin rewards through the coinbase transaction. In the “Satoshi Nakamoto” era, incentives were straightforward and direct. Ethereum’s Turing-complete programmability has brought about a rich set of on-chain applications and has transformed straightforward incentives into a complex theory of token economics (Tokenomics).

DApp developers see Tokenomics as a lifeline. Excellent Tokenomics can allow DApp users to pursue personal interests while maximizing collective interests or the interests within the DApp ecosystem. Indeed, compatible Tokenomics can help protocols improve economic efficiency and expand the adoption of protocols. However, it seems that too many developers prioritize Tokenomics over building protocols. We focus our attention on the public chain and social tracks and analyze the importance of the incentive layer for public chains and Social DApps through first principles. For public chains, incentives and consensus mechanisms are complementary and together ensure the consistency of the public chain ledger. For Social DApps, the goal is to utilize the decentralized platform to achieve basic social functions while reclaiming data ownership from centralized giants. Then, based on the platform’s characteristics, we can choose whether to design an incentive scheme that promotes better protocol development.

For a long time, the Social track has been lukewarm until the emergence of Friend.tech, which injected some enthusiasm into the bear market through a simple and aggressive incentive. I do not deny the success of Friend.tech, but if the incentive is not sustainable, user growth is driven by the FOMO sentiment caused by incentives. As incentives decrease, profit-driven users leave, and there is a big question mark as to whether the protocol can operate in the long term.

Social first, then Fi

“When like-minded people gather together, friendship begins.” - Emerson. The pursuit of the essence of socialization is to find like-minded people or to find and form circles. Web2 social software uses the convenience of the Internet to help users quickly form social circles, where information exchange is convenient and value records are unified. However, these social circles have become islands of information and value. How to quickly break these circles and expand personal social margins with a unified standard of value or behavioral data is something that Web2 networks cannot provide. Furthermore, Web2 giants can extract user data nutrients from these value islands to feed themselves, and users themselves do not own the data but sell it to obtain services from Web2 giants.

The characteristics of Web3 itself can transform the current social paradigm. As the underlying infrastructure, its advantages need to be unleashed by a well-developed application layer. Taking Friend.tech as an example, it has built the most popular Social application in the Web3 field by adopting the model of “Fi first, then Social”. However, its strong emphasis on Fi does not prioritize the social experience. Returning to rationality, the applications that can truly capture users in the long term, in my opinion, should be those that prioritize Social before Fi. The Social Layer is a protocol built based on this concept.

The idea of Social Layer originated from a community discussion in late October 2021 during the Shanghai Blockchain Week. The question raised at that time was: How to build a contribution recording mechanism and incentive system suitable for communities? And from there, Social Layer gradually diverged to form a complete social network protocol concept. Blockchain provides data recording anchors, and its openness helps users break through barriers, quickly connecting dots and forming an interconnected social network from community to community, with each user acting as a social intermediary station between communities.

In terms of incentives, Social Layer is not so focused on quantifiable rewards, or rather, its current incentive mechanism only serves social purposes. Unlike initially providing direct quantifiable incentives to reward users and communities, Social Layer chooses to mark the value of users in the social network with non-quantifiable badges. The value of badges is determined by the consensus formed by different communities, and different communities have different evaluations of badge value. For example, if a rock (music) community formed by rock enthusiasts awards the rarest Rock Enthusiast badge to a rock veteran, it represents that this person has a certain value in terms of information output in the rock community. Novice rock enthusiasts often acquire knowledge from rock veterans, so the badge is most valuable in this community. However, the same badge would not hold much value in a gaming community. Badges serve not only as a community value evaluation but also as personal identity tags. Similar community tags attract similar users, gathering them to form new communities and creating a “borderless” social world.

From One to Infinity: Dismantle the Social Layer

Badges are just a tool used by Social Layer to measure value, but they are not enough to support its ambition to build a “social layer.” I will dismantle the relevant components of Social Layer here and show some of its interesting innovation highlights.

– Identity

Identity is the face of all organizations and users in social networks. Personal labels in real life are mapped to virtual networks through various methods. Successful face-to-face ultimately forms an identity (Identity) that carries network data. In Social Layer, Identity is divided into two small components, namely Profile Token and Group Profile Token.

Separate subjects are required for badge sending and receiving. Profile Token and Group Profile Token play the role of the above subjects, carrying descriptive information related to users or organizations. Profile Token is designed not to be transferred, which is consistent with the fact that in the social world, identity will not be obtained or stolen by others to do evil.

Based on the current limitations of the Web3 architecture, all on-chain assets are bound to private keys. When the private key is lost, the Profile Token is also lost. The Social Layer extends a recovery mechanism in this case. However, Group Profile Tokens can be transferred through governance. As the entity responsible for sending badges, Identity needs to allocate the number and personal credit of badges reasonably. Although badges have non-quantitative value, their value assessment can be determined through community consensus. Assuming a badge is excessively issued, the community’s recognition of that badge will significantly decrease.

– Social Token

Social Tokens are various functional tokens circulating in the Social Layer. The first type of Social Token is the Badge mentioned above. Badge is designed as SBT, which makes it non-transferable and bound to Identity. This design is also to prevent others from obtaining or stealing the badge and using the badge to approach people with the same badge to do evil. After reducing the risk of social engineering attacks, Social Layer’s network trust will be greatly improved. The same badge can have multiple recipients, which meets the requirements of the real usage scenario of the badge.

The second type of Social Token is a common NFT, which can eventually flow into the NFT trading market (such as OpenSea) and change hands. Social Layer has temporarily conducted limited exploration of the functions of NFT. For example, the project team developed an NFT Pass function that can be used as a pass. This function has been put into practice in Dali’s offline DAO Space. Of course, NFT can become tickets, membership cards, etc.

The third type of Social Token is Gift Card, which is essentially attached to the badge and is the consumer rights attached to the badge. Take Starbucks as an example. After Starbucks joins the Social Layer, it can organize a Starbucks coffee community and send Starbucks supporter badges to loyal users. The badges come with Gift Cards, which users can use to get free coffee several times.

The fourth type of Social Token is Private Badge, which is actually an extension of ordinary badges. Private badges are designed so that only the sender and receiver can see the content. Private badges can define deeper social relationships, but as far as I know, private badges are still under development.

The last type of Social Token is Points. Points are based on the ERC-20 standard. As a homogeneous token, Points can be used for a variety of purposes. For example, based on an individual’s contribution to society, the community can give gifts to individuals according to relevant point rules. Points are given, and when a certain amount is reached, individuals can apply for badges from the community. Or, points can be used as a vote on community public affairs to determine the future development direction of the community, etc.

The current creation of Social Tokens can be customized with just one click, without the need to focus on the underlying standards of the Token. Users only need to create Token types that are suitable for themselves or their communities according to their own needs. In addition to the above types of Social Tokens, the Social Layer can continuously expand different types of Social Tokens in the future. This is mainly because the update of underlying standards is relatively slow, but the combination innovation at the application layer is fast, which makes its Social Tokens highly scalable.

– Merger & Wrapper

These are probably the two most interesting functional components in my opinion. Merger can synthesize multiple Social Tokens into one Social Token or multiple new Social Tokens. At the same time, Merger does not limit the types of Social Tokens that need to be synthesized, nor does it limit the types of Social Tokens after synthesis.

Imagine there is a gaming community where you actively participate and are awarded the “Game Veteran” badge. You write monster-hunting guides and earn 5000 contribution points. Additionally, you actively attend offline meetups organized by the gaming community and receive multiple commemorative NFTs. At this point, you can use the Merger feature of this gaming community to combine the badge, contribution points, and commemorative NFTs into a single “Swordbearer” badge. Those who possess this badge are trusted by the gaming community and can act as intermediaries in buying and selling game equipment. Community members can fully trust the Swordbearer to sell their surplus equipment or buy the equipment they desire.

The above is just a simple use case scenario, but the potential of Merger is limitless, isn’t it?

Wrapper provides value aggregation across protocols. Specifically, other protocols or tokens from other chains can invoke the Wrapper functionality to wrap them into Social Tokens that can circulate on the Social Layer. Taking the example of a gaming community, in the early days, the community organized offline gatherings where members were given a POAP (Proof of Attendance Protocol) token. Later on, the community decided to migrate to the Social Layer, which offers more comprehensive on-chain infrastructure. The community can allow users to use the Wrapper functionality to wrap the previously issued POAP tokens into SoPOAP (Social Proof of Attendance Protocol) tokens. SoPOAP tokens can then be merged with other Social Tokens using the Merger, creating new Social Tokens. Cool! And let’s use our imagination further. Suppose ETH is wrapped using the Wrapper into SoETH, users can use SoETH to purchase transferrable assets on the Social Layer, creating a mini DEX. This is also quite interesting, isn’t it?

The Future of Trusted Social Collaboration Networks

I see that Social Layer is actively exploring its use for internal collaboration between DAOs. Based on the architecture of programmable blockchain, Social Layer can continue to expand its functions and expand its use scenarios. If Social Layer can continue to build and surpass bulls and bears, the author believes that in the near future, Social Layer will appear as the infrastructure layer of a trusted social collaboration network, bringing a brand new Web3 Social experience.

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