15 Apr 2025
Web3 Social Media

Social media that has blockchain profiles imbedded. People can then ...

...create posts and like posts

Confidence
Engagement
Net use signal
Net buy signal

Idea type: Swamp

The market has seen several mediocre solutions that nobody loves. Unless you can offer something fundamentally different, you’ll likely struggle to stand out or make money.

Should You Build It?

Don't build it.


Your are here

You're stepping into a crowded space with your idea for a blockchain-integrated social media platform. Our analysis shows 6 similar products already exist, which means you'll face significant competition right out of the gate. The average engagement (number of comments) on these existing platforms is low. There are no buy/use signals, which implies a very neutral sentiment -- this is not a good thing as the lack of signal simply means that people don't care, one way or the other. The idea category is defined as a 'Swamp' for a good reason: the market has seen similar solutions that haven't resonated. You'll need a fundamentally different approach to stand out, or you might find yourself struggling to gain traction. It's essential to understand why previous attempts haven't fully succeeded before diving in, as repeating mistakes won't yield different results.

Recommendations

  1. Start by deeply researching the failures of existing blockchain social media platforms. Look at aspects like user experience, scalability, transaction costs, and actual user adoption. This research will lay the groundwork for differentiating your approach.
  2. Given criticisms of similar projects focusing on anonymity and costs, prioritize addressing these concerns head-on. Outline exactly how your platform will ensure user privacy and minimize transaction fees, providing a clear value proposition compared to competitors. For instance, Metapost was criticized for its fee structure and slow, expensive blockchain tech so you need to figure out a better way.
  3. Focus on a specific niche audience. Instead of trying to compete with mainstream social media, identify a particular group with unique needs that a blockchain-based platform can address. The broader you go, the more expensive and difficult it will be.
  4. Consider building tools or integrations for existing social media platforms instead of creating a standalone competitor. A blockchain-based plugin that enhances privacy or security on established platforms could be a more viable initial offering. This approach would give you a chance to find product market fit without the cost of building a full platform.
  5. Explore adjacent problems that could be more promising. Blockchain technology might be better suited for other applications within the creator economy or digital content space. Re-evaluate if social media is where you really want to allocate your time and energy.
  6. Before investing heavily, build a very basic prototype and get user feedback. Focus on core functionality and user experience. See if there is a genuine demand for your specific blockchain approach. Use this to evaluate if you want to continue or not.
  7. Carefully analyze the tokenomics of your platform. Consider if users need to buy or 'earn' tokens to use the social media function. How will tokens be distributed or earned, and what incentives exist for holding versus spending them? Make the tokenomics transparent from the beginning.

Questions

  1. Given the criticisms of past blockchain social media platforms, what specific mechanisms will your platform employ to combat spam, bots, and malicious content while maintaining decentralization?
  2. How will your platform solve the scalability issues inherent in blockchain technology to ensure smooth performance and low transaction costs, especially as user activity increases?
  3. What's your long-term plan to incentivize user adoption and retention, especially considering that current platforms don't have explicit 'use' or 'buy' signals in the comments?

Your are here

You're stepping into a crowded space with your idea for a blockchain-integrated social media platform. Our analysis shows 6 similar products already exist, which means you'll face significant competition right out of the gate. The average engagement (number of comments) on these existing platforms is low. There are no buy/use signals, which implies a very neutral sentiment -- this is not a good thing as the lack of signal simply means that people don't care, one way or the other. The idea category is defined as a 'Swamp' for a good reason: the market has seen similar solutions that haven't resonated. You'll need a fundamentally different approach to stand out, or you might find yourself struggling to gain traction. It's essential to understand why previous attempts haven't fully succeeded before diving in, as repeating mistakes won't yield different results.

Recommendations

  1. Start by deeply researching the failures of existing blockchain social media platforms. Look at aspects like user experience, scalability, transaction costs, and actual user adoption. This research will lay the groundwork for differentiating your approach.
  2. Given criticisms of similar projects focusing on anonymity and costs, prioritize addressing these concerns head-on. Outline exactly how your platform will ensure user privacy and minimize transaction fees, providing a clear value proposition compared to competitors. For instance, Metapost was criticized for its fee structure and slow, expensive blockchain tech so you need to figure out a better way.
  3. Focus on a specific niche audience. Instead of trying to compete with mainstream social media, identify a particular group with unique needs that a blockchain-based platform can address. The broader you go, the more expensive and difficult it will be.
  4. Consider building tools or integrations for existing social media platforms instead of creating a standalone competitor. A blockchain-based plugin that enhances privacy or security on established platforms could be a more viable initial offering. This approach would give you a chance to find product market fit without the cost of building a full platform.
  5. Explore adjacent problems that could be more promising. Blockchain technology might be better suited for other applications within the creator economy or digital content space. Re-evaluate if social media is where you really want to allocate your time and energy.
  6. Before investing heavily, build a very basic prototype and get user feedback. Focus on core functionality and user experience. See if there is a genuine demand for your specific blockchain approach. Use this to evaluate if you want to continue or not.
  7. Carefully analyze the tokenomics of your platform. Consider if users need to buy or 'earn' tokens to use the social media function. How will tokens be distributed or earned, and what incentives exist for holding versus spending them? Make the tokenomics transparent from the beginning.

Questions

  1. Given the criticisms of past blockchain social media platforms, what specific mechanisms will your platform employ to combat spam, bots, and malicious content while maintaining decentralization?
  2. How will your platform solve the scalability issues inherent in blockchain technology to ensure smooth performance and low transaction costs, especially as user activity increases?
  3. What's your long-term plan to incentivize user adoption and retention, especially considering that current platforms don't have explicit 'use' or 'buy' signals in the comments?

  • Confidence: High
    • Number of similar products: 6
  • Engagement: Low
    • Average number of comments: 3
  • Net use signal: -15.8%
    • Positive use signal: 0.0%
    • Negative use signal: 15.8%
  • Net buy signal: -15.8%
    • Positive buy signal: 0.0%
    • Negative buy signal: 15.8%

This chart summarizes all the similar products we found for your idea in a single plot.

The x-axis represents the overall feedback each product received. This is calculated from the net use and buy signals that were expressed in the comments. The maximum is +1, which means all comments (across all similar products) were positive, expressed a willingness to use & buy said product. The minimum is -1 and it means the exact opposite.

The y-axis captures the strength of the signal, i.e. how many people commented and how does this rank against other products in this category. The maximum is +1, which means these products were the most liked, upvoted and talked about launches recently. The minimum is 0, meaning zero engagement or feedback was received.

The sizes of the product dots are determined by the relevance to your idea, where 10 is the maximum.

Your idea is the big blueish dot, which should lie somewhere in the polygon defined by these products. It can be off-center because we use custom weighting to summarize these metrics.

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