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There are so many ways to build decentralized social networks. It’s a 1000% solved problem at this point. They never get traction because they always require mo

There are so many ways to build decentralized social networks. It’s a 1000% solved problem at this point. They never get traction because they always require more learning and work than 99% of people are willing or able to fit into their lives. You jump through more hoops to reach fewer people.

rektide 4y ago
This isn't a conventional social network. This is a knowledge-graph system, building conventions to link to other knowledge-graph systems. This effort is to enhance an already existing cherished information system, to make it more expressive, and to seed some very basic interconnectivity which was not possible. Logseq is a wonderful digital garden[1], a personal place people tend, and I don't think anyone in this space would tell you this is a solved problem, that we are done exploring & understanding how to do this knowledgebase work, how to digital garden. These personal-knowledgebases are rich & personal platforms. But so far, they have largely been alone & isolated. Different patches. FedWiki[2] is perhaps the lone counter-example, of an interconnected knowledgebase, but it has it's limitations with what it is & how it interconnects. Taking another best-of-breed product, like Logseq, and layering in some minimal, small conventions for how to define interconnect, how to make a blogroll: it seems pure & un-objectionable to me. [1] https://maggieappleton.com/garden-history https://maggieappleton.com/garden-history [2] http://fed.wiki.org/view/welcome-visitors http://fed.wiki.org/view/welcome-visitors
- bribri 4y ago
  Nice! I couldn't have said it better myself. I did use a linkbaity title like "Decentralized social network" to get people interested. It's more of a simple link ring. But since profiles are public queryable structured static data, you can do a lot more with it in the future.
- TuringTest 4y ago
  That's right. What the current batch of social networks are missing is good tools for knowledge consolidation; there are no tools more complex than the single thread intermixed with comments. A knowledge graph would work more as a Wikipedia of personal projects and topics of interest, with the possibility to build special data visualizations on top of it. For example, this could be the perfect medium for building distributed discourse aggregators of opinions and rational debates, like Kialo[1] and Parlia[2] but without a single company controlling the content. Social networks transform these debates into confrontations, while a structured knowledge tool could create a structured knowledge base from this kind of exalted conflicting positions. [1] https://www.kialo.com/ https://www.kialo.com/ [2] https://www.parlia.com/ https://www.parlia.com/
  - bribri 4y ago
    I love the ability to link to individual blocks for discussions in logseq https://briansunter.com/graph/#/page/62a6cc7b-e921-4890-813a-6556373b2781 https://briansunter.com/graph/#/page/62a6cc7b-e921-4890-813a...
pvorb 4y ago
Building a new decentralized social network reminds me of building yet another Linux desktop distribution. While you might find a niche, you'll never get enough traction to compete with the big players, being Android and Windows for desktops and Facebook, Twitter and others for social networks.

rektide 4y ago

This isn't a conventional social network. This is a knowledge-graph system, building conventions to link to other knowledge-graph systems. This effort is to enhance an already existing cherished information system, to make it more expressive, and to seed some very basic interconnectivity which was not possible. Logseq is a wonderful digital garden[1], a personal place people tend, and I don't think anyone in this space would tell you this is a solved problem, that we are done exploring & understanding how to do this knowledgebase work, how to digital garden. These personal-knowledgebases are rich & personal platforms. But so far, they have largely been alone & isolated. Different patches. FedWiki[2] is perhaps the lone counter-example, of an interconnected knowledgebase, but it has it's limitations with what it is & how it interconnects. Taking another best-of-breed product, like Logseq, and layering in some minimal, small conventions for how to define interconnect, how to make a blogroll: it seems pure & un-objectionable to me. [1] https://maggieappleton.com/garden-history https://maggieappleton.com/garden-history [2] http://fed.wiki.org/view/welcome-visitors http://fed.wiki.org/view/welcome-visitors

bribri 4y ago
Nice! I couldn't have said it better myself. I did use a linkbaity title like "Decentralized social network" to get people interested. It's more of a simple link ring. But since profiles are public queryable structured static data, you can do a lot more with it in the future.
TuringTest 4y ago
That's right. What the current batch of social networks are missing is good tools for knowledge consolidation; there are no tools more complex than the single thread intermixed with comments. A knowledge graph would work more as a Wikipedia of personal projects and topics of interest, with the possibility to build special data visualizations on top of it. For example, this could be the perfect medium for building distributed discourse aggregators of opinions and rational debates, like Kialo[1] and Parlia[2] but without a single company controlling the content. Social networks transform these debates into confrontations, while a structured knowledge tool could create a structured knowledge base from this kind of exalted conflicting positions. [1] https://www.kialo.com/ https://www.kialo.com/ [2] https://www.parlia.com/ https://www.parlia.com/
- bribri 4y ago
  I love the ability to link to individual blocks for discussions in logseq https://briansunter.com/graph/#/page/62a6cc7b-e921-4890-813a-6556373b2781 https://briansunter.com/graph/#/page/62a6cc7b-e921-4890-813a...

pvorb 4y ago

Building a new decentralized social network reminds me of building yet another Linux desktop distribution. While you might find a niche, you'll never get enough traction to compete with the big players, being Android and Windows for desktops and Facebook, Twitter and others for social networks.