One of the major issues with social media platforms is their centralization, which gives them control over user data.
Lens Protocol is set to change how we use social media by giving us control over our content and connections. The project began in 2022 and is gaining traction because it was pioneered by the same teams that created the AAVE protocol.
But what is the Lens Protocol and how is it different from current social media platforms?
What is lens protocol?
Lens Protocol is an open-source and composable social graph based on Web3 and built on the Polygon blockchain. The project aims to allow developers to launch social media platforms and profiles based on Web3. This gives creators control over their links with their communities and helps them retain ownership of the content they create.
Since the Lens Protocol seeks to offer solutions to some of the challenges associated with Web2, we need to consider some of these challenges in order to better understand how the Lens Protocol works.
Issues with Web2
The Lens Protocol is set out to solve problems with Web2 social media interactions. One of the issues with Web2 is the strict autonomy controlled by centralized companies. These companies may choose to suspend accounts at any time, reducing the number of followers and content you already have.
Web2 social media platforms moderate comments and posts, and have forms of censorship on accounts and content; Many are even taken as unacceptable. Unfortunately, benign positions are often removed as part of the process.
Web2 social media platform has centralized servers. As a result, your data, account and followers are controlled by the company that created the platform. Your interaction is within the Platform, and the Company uses your information and monetizes your content without your permission.
Having understood some of the issues associated with the Web2 social media platform, we need to look at how the Lens Protocol works to see how it tries to solve the problem.
How does the lens protocol work?
Lens Protocol is a Web3 social graph that works on the blockchain. It provides an easy way for interested users to create their own social media platform for whatever use they desire.
A social graph is a structure that shows the interrelationships between people and groups in a social network. Structure is created as you build profiles, follow users, create content and relate other content.
Centralized social media applications such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok use social graphs, among other things, to modify content and create an appropriate user experience for users. The Lens Protocol, on the other hand, integrates the social graph into a smart contract and allows users to build their own social media platforms and communities independently of any centralized control.
Unlike centralized social media companies, the source code of the Lens Protocol is open and permissionless, allowing anyone to build on them. This reach allows you to create follower-specific solutions for those in your network.
The Lens Protocol enables you to perform activities similar to those found in the Web2 social media platform with a few additional features. We will describe some of them below.
follow profile
When you follow a profile you are given a “Follow NFT”. You can also attach a follow module, like a condition, to determine whether someone who wants to follow you should follow the NFT. The situation may be a monetary requirement.
publications
These are just posts and engagements. Posts are content produced by you. You can also comment and mirror on posts. Mirroring a post is like sharing a post posted by someone else.
Your publications have content URIs pointing to the actual data, which can be stored on a decentralized protocol.
gather
The Collections feature allows you to monetize your content. You can set your own parameters for collecting, such as the period within which the collection is open, the maximum number of users that can be collected, etc. You can also sell NFTs with this module.
Government
This feature allows you to set up social media accounts in which followers can vote in making important decisions.
How Lens Protocol Will Solve Web2 Issues
The Lens protocol’s social graph uses graph structures to store data and to connect people, places, things, and other properties. These graphs represent the members of the network and their connections.