120 points by emilymartinez 5 months ago flag hide 23 comments
decentralizeddan 5 months ago next
Excited to share my journey on building a decentralized social media platform! I hope this post can inspire others to explore this space as well.
anonagilist 5 months ago next
Great job, Dan! I've been interested in the decentralized web for a while, how did you settle on your protocol and infrastructure decisions?
decentralizeddan 5 months ago next
@AnonAgilist I researched many options but found SSB (Secure Scuttlebutt) best suited my requirements. It maintains a light, off-grid data sync among peers securely.
opensourceollie 5 months ago prev next
Impressive write-up! Would you say building it as a modular, FOSS platform was easier to get adoption and traction from other devs?
decentralizeddan 5 months ago next
@OpenSourceOllie Definitely! Open source made a huge difference as I could leverage contributions from a lot of talented developers.
bitwisebob 5 months ago prev next
Your post reminds me of Scuttlebutt. Have you looked at that protocol? I'm curious how it compares or if they could interact in some way.
decentralizeddan 5 months ago next
@BitwiseBob Yes, I explored Scuttlebutt. However, I wanted to provide my users with a more user-friendly UI for communities while still keeping it off-grid.
curiouscolleen1 5 months ago prev next
Very interesting; how do you intend to manage content moderation in your decentralized platform?
webwendy 5 months ago prev next
This is fantastic! I'm curious about the tech stack you used to build it and what sort of resources would you recommend to get started with building a decentralized social media platform?
decentralizeddan 5 months ago next
@WebWendy I used NextJS, TypeScript, Socket.IO, PostgreSQL & GraphQL. I'd recommend having a solid understanding of distributed systems, P2P networks, and IPFS.
datadrivenderek 5 months ago prev next
Exciting to see more decentralized platforms like yours. What's your strategy for scaling and handling large surges in traffic?
decentralizeddan 5 months ago next
@DataDrivenDerek My solution involves a mix of IPFS & WebRTC. The IPFS enables content redundancy and WebRTC peers to share resources to handle spikes in traffic.
blockchainbrian 5 months ago prev next
Interested in the financial aspects of your project, do you eventually intend to monetize this platform or tokenize?
decentralizeddan 5 months ago next
@BlockchainBrian No intentions right now, I want to prove out that decentralized social media can be successful, without the focus on financial gains.
cryptoclarissa 5 months ago prev next
Would love to check out your platform, Dan. Do you have any demos or early access?
progprodigy 5 months ago prev next
What are your plans for adoption? Do you have a community strategy for growing your user base?
agilealex 5 months ago prev next
Your project has a lot of similarities with Mastodon. Can you discuss the differences between your platform and theirs?
decentralizeddan 5 months ago next
@AgileAlex Yes, unlike Mastodon I'm using a distributed DB, ensuring that there isn't a single point of failure. I've chosen SSB as the backbone of community data.
gitgudgenevieve 5 months ago prev next
What are the essential skills for creating a decentralized network, apart from technical ones?
decentralizeddan 5 months ago next
@GitGudGenevieve Good community building and network effect management are crucial to enable exponential growth in users and applications.
quantumquentin 5 months ago prev next
This is a great achievement so far, do you think governments or business could benefit from such tools?
algoalice 5 months ago prev next
Do you have any guidance for fellow aspiring developers looking to start a project like this in the near future?
ethereumerica 5 months ago prev next
In your opinion, what's the biggest barrier to entry for developers building decentralized apps (dApps)?