Ecosystem Review January 2021
Overview
This overview of the decentralized social ecosystem is structured by protocols, applications, and topics. The protocols and applications sections contain summaries of existing projects.
Protocols
• ActivityPub
• GUN
• Hypercore Protocol (Dat)
• IPFS
• Matrix
• Peergos
• Solid
• XMPP
Applications
• Aether
• Blockchain social networks
• Diaspora
• Mastodon
• SSB social networks
The topics section compares how decentralized protocols handle key topics and includes relevant projects not covered elsewhere.
Topics
• Data
o Data models
o Mutability
• Discovery
o Curation
o Search
• Governance
o Overview of existing models
• Identity
o Decentralized identity
o In federated applications
o In P2P applications
o Blockchain identity systems
o DIDs
o Key management
o Reputation and trust
o Failure modes
o Sybils and spam
o Impersonation
• Moderation
o Community-based
o User-driven
o Experimental
• Monetization & Business Models
o Application level
o Provider level
o Protocol level
• Network structure
o Federated networks
o Passing messages between systems
o Replicating data between systems
o P2P networks
o Hybrid
• Privacy
o User metadata
o Private accounts
o Direct messages
Written by Jay Graber (@arcalinea)
Contributions from:
• Andre Staltz (@andrestaltz)
• Burak Nehbit (@nehbit)
• Christopher Lemmer Webber (@dustyweb)
• Danny Zuckerman (@dazuck)
• Eugen Rochko (@Gargron@mastodon.social)
• Golda Velez (@gvelez17)
• Ian Preston (@Ianopolous)
• Jeromy Johnson (@whyrusleeping)
• Molly Mackinlay (@momack28)
• Matthew Hodgson (@ara4n)
• Mark Nadal (@marknadal)
• Paul Frazee (@pfrazee)
• Rahul Kothari (@BlockchainRahul)
• Sarven Capadisli (@csarven)
PDF (61 Pages): 202101 Ecosystem Review
