Following the launch Hyper Messenger, a fully private, decentralized messaging application and the first dApp to launch in the Elastos ecosystem, many applications have been cropping up and following in its footsteps. Feeds is one such application, which has taken private communication and data ownership to the stage of social media. After a successful launch of the Feeds Capsule in elastOS, the Feeds team is working hard to integrate all of Elastos’ technologies and platform services in order to provide a truly decentralized and private user experience in the social domain.
Feeds for Dummies
Feeds is a social media platform that stands apart from established powers such as Facebook and Twitter by ensuring user rights to privacy, so each may truly own the data he or she generates on Feeds. By integrating a unique system of decentralized identification and operating a network without central servers, the Feeds application keeps data in the hands of its owners, who may only access or permit access to their data via their unique identifiers. Unlike Facebook usernames and Twitter handles, DIDs employ public key cryptography to protect the identities of their users and prevent third parties from gathering information on user identities. Thus, unlike Facebook and Twitter, the developers that created Feeds cannot peer into the private lives of those using their platforms any more than anyone else. Feeds is a level playing field for social media, where developers are forced to play fair, and users benefit from the content they generate.
The Feeds Mission
Currently based in elastOS as a feature Capsule, Feeds aims to provide users with a full-featured social media experience comparable to that of prominent social media platforms. As per its name, the Feeds Capsule enables users to craft and customize a virtually unlimited number of media feeds based on their friend groups, personal interests, and a variety of other content-based preferences, all while retaining full ownership of the data they generate.
Current Features
At present, Feeds enables users to engage the following features on its platform:
DID Integration: Feeds has fully integrated DID services for sign-in and identity verification services, so users can leverage the platform reliably and securely through their Elastos-issued Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs).
Publication: Users can initiate new public posts, comment on posts from others, and like existing comments and posts as well. Feeds also allows users to edit and delete comments and posts they previously authored
Multi-Media Support: Users can share and view images and short video clips posted by others users in Feeds.
Feed Customization: Users can customize their own feeds, or generate several different feeds that are tailored to various sub-group, interests, or subject matters.
What’s Ahead: New Vision & Features in Development
The Feeds team is hard at work getting the following concepts and features prepared to roll out in upcoming releases:
Android and iOS Native Optimization: Significant resources are being invested in the development of a Trinity Native implementation of Feeds, so that users may access the application from both Android and iOS.
ERC20 Token Integration: In addition to supporting content monetization, supporting the storage and exchange of ERC20 tokens on the Feeds platform will provide opportunities to develop early-stage incentive models that reward contribution and content publication, thereby attracting new users. Successful social media platforms have epitomized the power of network effects, and getting a leg up on established social networks may well require financial incentives to supplement the more subtle, systemic benefits conferred by operating on Elastos’ decentralized infrastructure.
Platform Support
Feeds is currently available in elastOS for Android users. In addition, efforts are currently underway to enable iOS users to access Feeds through elastOS Essentials, and longer term objectives target a Trinity Native implementation of Feeds that will allow for the development of a native Feeds application on both Android and iOS.
The Feeds Team continues to remain open and receptive, and encourages users to submit feedback and contribute new ideas in their dedicated Telegram group:
To keep up with Feeds’ decentralized social media application, platform upgrades, and new releases, stay tuned here on the Elastos Info Blog.
