Lens Protocol Designed for A Web3-prepared Society

Creating a social media platform is challenging, requiring a social graph to map user relationships. Centralized services like Facebook or LinkedIn offer simplicity, but drawbacks include potential censorship, data inaccessibility, and single points of failure. A decentralized social graph is essential for a censorship-resistant and Web3-ready platform.
Introducing Lens Protocol, a Web3 social graph constructed on the Polygon Proof-of-Stake blockchain, designed to enable creators and global communities to establish social media platforms and profiles under their control.Figure 01. Lens Protocol Root & Key Functions.
Lens Protocol was created by the team behind Aave, a prominent DeFi platform led by its founder Stani Kulechov and CEO, Alexander Svanevik. The team includes CTO Jan Isakovic, who has experience working with 0x's smart contracts, and Product Manager Filip Martinka.
Web3 pertains to the upcoming internet era where users have complete data control. A Web3 environment eliminates the need for intermediaries such as social media platforms, as users can communicate and engage with each other directly.
Lens Protocol is designed to be modular, making incorporating new features and updates easy. This ensures that the social graph stays current with the ever-changing Web3 landscape.Figure 02. How Does Lens Protocol Work?
Web2 social media networks rely on a centralized database that does not allow data to be easily transferred from one platform to another. Lens Protocol was developed to address this problem.
Figure 03. Lens Protocol Builds Better Social Platform.
Centralized social media platforms hold significant power to control the content users see and can censor information, which leads to various problems. For example:
Lens Protocol aims to address these issues by giving users the power to launch their social media platforms and take control of their online profiles. With modularity at the core of Lens Protocol, users are assured of ownership, and the community can determine the platform's future by developing innovative features that integrate with the social graph.
By doing so, Lens Protocol aims to create a decentralized, open, and fair ecosystem of social media platforms.Lens Protocol is an innovative social graph that is community-owned and open-source. Its long-term vision is to create a social media ecosystem comprising many small, independent platforms connected through the Lens Protocol. To support this vision, Lens Protocol offers a grant campaign of $250,000 for developers interested in building new apps on Lens.
Some potential app ideas include Phaver, a social mobile app with Lens support, and Iris, a token-gated content app. And Clinto, a content personalization app. With its modular design and commitment to decentralization, Lens Protocol is leading the way in creating a fair and open social media landscape.