After a decade of social media companies dominating the market, trading what is essentially publishing tools for endless floods of ads, the winds are now blowing in different directions.
Social media companies have enjoyed a lot of power for years, but content creators are gradually losing some of that power. Decentralization is taking over finance and art and points to a future ruled by digital currencies and digital collectibles. These trends will soon converge, and some corners of social media are already starting to see it.
Last week at TechCrunch Disrupt 2021, Houseparty founder Ben Rubin explored some of these intersections. Rubin was the creator of Meerkat, the social app that won SXSW 2015. This app later became Houseparty, a spontaneous video chat platform. Epic Games purchased Houseparty in 2019, but Rubin's vision for emerging social trends did not stop there.
Everyone seems to be buzzing about decentralization these days. There is a lot of terminology used when discussing a new tech trend. Web3 is the buzzword in the DeFi and NFT communities. It captures the incredible potential of decentralized networks for the future internet.
