ZuSocial Hacker House in Istanbul: A Hub of Decentralized Social Innovation and Community Engagement
From November 5th to 19th, the ZuSocial Hacker House held in Istanbul embarked on a journey to tackle some of the most pressing challenges in decentralized social. Organized by communities of Matters Lab, Mask Network, Social Layer, Zuzalu and DWeb it was a confluence of ideas, envisioning a resilient, engaging, and plural social landscape.
Starting from the decentralized social day in ZuConnect where 9 panels brought together experts, researchers, and builders from realms of DWeb and Web3, we challenge the status quo of social networks as the information fabric to weave our personal life and social consensus. By blending over 20+ workshops, collaborative projects, and 4 focused hackathon tracks in collaboration with HackZuzalu and ETH Global, it provided a holistic experience that enriched the knowledge, skills, and networks of all hackers and builders in Istanbul.
ZuConnect Decentralized Social Day
As part of ZuConnect, the event brought together expertise from DWeb, innovative experiments from Web3, and lessons learned from physical public spaces, we try to find how to address the real-world need for decentralized social networks and lock the web open, paving the way for a new kind of public infrastructure in the digital world.
ZuConnect Decentralized Social Day featured 9 panels, 30+ panelists delving into the future of social networks. We welcomed more than 200 participants to join the honest discussions.
The day culminated with a fireside chat between Vitalik Buterin and Juan Benet. Their discussion, attracting a large audience, focused on how technologists could address our fragmented web using decentralized products and protocols. They addressed various topics, including the challenges faced in decentralized social media, funding models, community-owned services, and social accountability.
Vitalik and Juan both acknowledged the challenges in decentralized social media. Juan emphasized the need for scalable and fast user interfaces to manage different message types, while projects like Farcaster will have to solve hosting and incentive issues.
The funding models for these initiatives were also discussed, with a nod towards the subscription model. For example, one idea participants brainstormed was to combine elements of Twitter Blue and Patreon, driven by active community engagement in product development. This approach calls for funding strategies as innovative as the services they aim to support.
A key takeaway was the importance of a capable technological stack and aligning incentives among community members for community-owned social media services. Vitalik highlighted the necessity of creating decentralized social networks that align with user preferences and structures.
In addition, Large Language Models (LLMs) could play a vital role in surfacing diverse opinions and forming consensus. Integrating AI with community structures could connect user statements with broadly recognized concepts, potentially enhancing social media accountability.
Aside from the fireside chat, Juan Benet also presented “Ideas for Next-gen Social Network”, in which he emphasized the importance of social networks in facilitating collaboration and community growth, offering a fresh perspective on their potential and influence. His perspective extended beyond traditional social media platforms, encompassing social collaboration tools like Github, Slack, and Discord. Juan concluded with his encouraging call-to-action to all builders: “Go save the world and build something”!
Jieping Zhang from Matters Lab then examined the formation of network states and the political and social challenges specific to different communities, particularly in the Chinese-speaking world. Josh Davila, the author of The Blockchain Socialist, presented his insights on the emerging landscape of network coordination and the intersection of crypto and capitalism.
The agenda also included redefining digital social connections by the physical world and translating the design of physical public space into the digital realm, drawing insights from architecture and urban planning to understand how to create humane online environments.
Other discussions revolved around conceptual discussions to current landscapes. Panelists offer insights into social connections in peer-to-peer networks like IPFS. The discussion then shifted to current decentralized social protocols, focusing on decentralized identity, social graphs, and the application side of these technologies.
Another panel addressed the complexities of reputation and trust in open networks, contrasting them with traditional social media platforms. Here, the challenges of implementing a decentralized reputation system without a single controlling entity were explored, learning from real-world trust dynamics.
- See the full panel sessions here: https://app.streameth.org/zuzalu/zuconnect__decentralized_social_track/archive
20+ Autonomous Workshops for Co-learning Shape the ZuSocial Community
Zusocial has become the Schelling point for decentralized social builders. During November 8th to 16th, we conducted over 20 workshops in collaboration with the leading teams and thinkers in this field.
In a workshop dedicated to content moderation, Vitalik Buterin shared his perspectives on X’s Community Notes algorithm, ‘BirdWatch’. This algorithm evaluates user-contributed notes on posts, factoring in differences in personal preferences that could be interpreted as political leanings or even humor. It operates by analyzing the interactions between users and notes, aiming to represent collective opinions while considering mood, friendliness, and note helpfulness. The workshop highlighted both the effectiveness and limitations of Community Notes, particularly in politically sensitive contexts. It acknowledged the need for improvement in areas like real-time fact-checking and misinformation response. The session also delved into the algorithm’s complexity, potential for manipulation, and its broader implications in various digital communication scenarios.
In the workshop on Farcaster, David Furlong unraveled the intricacies of Farcaster’s architecture. He explained how Farcaster distinguishes itself by seamlessly blending users, applications, and a data layer that integrates both on-chain and off-chain elements. Tim Daub, the creator of KiwiNews, guided us through network-based synchronization using merkle tries in Farcaster, elucidating how these networks replicate messages and maintain credible neutrality.
There are also workshops on infrastructure projects such as Lens, Web3MQ, Base, Litentry, XMTP, iExec, Orbis, they walked us through from protocol to dapp, revealing the potential of open data’s future.
Aside from technical workshops, we also emphasized the business and go-to-market strategies for Web3 projects. Experienced designer Ira Nezhynsk provided a hands-on experience in brand creation. Our resident hacker Colton Orr led a captivating workshop where all harnessed AI and creativity to blend projects with memes and mythology.
Our in-house hackers also initiated their own sessions autonomously to share technology stack. Srdjan, Mario, and Daniel, delivered an “#IPFS 101 to expertise” session. Akira conducted a brief session on Machine Learning and Data Science 101. Yassine delved into how recommendations work in social media, designing personalized recommendation systems, and employing trustworthy AI in decentralized networks.
These workshops not only provided the hackers with foundational skills in decentralized tools but also enriched the exchange of skills and familiarity with the decentralized social ecosystem. This comprehensive preparation and networking laid the groundwork for the participants to excel in subsequent hackathons.
- The records of the workshop will be uploaded here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVV7MitPS-w&list=PL4XMPCLU2qOfnPXxmytEBUNilrFVps8rM
ZuSocial Hackathon Demo Day: 10 groundbreaking projects built by 20 hackers
Culminated in an exhilarating Demo Day, 20 hackers showcased the ingenuity of 10 projects in decentralized social networks. These projects, spanning four diverse tracks, demonstrated a blend of real-world impact, novel use cases, and technical innovation.
In Track 1, “On-Chain Identity and Reputation” sponsored by Litentry, projects likeDeGit,Buddy-Guard, FootyDAO W3, and blocktalk focused on building robust systems for identity verification and reputation management on the blockchain. The winner of this track, Buddy-Guard also won the finalist for ETHGlobal Istanbul among 1350 hackers and 427 projects.
Track 2, “All About Social Graph,” featured projects like Vapor and Lens Bet, De-Wiki. Vapor emerged as the winner of the track.
Track 3, “Decentralized Social for Users and Market” supported by iExec, highlighted projects like Chirpy, prolly-tree. Chirpy, the track’s winner, was lauded for its practicality and broad appeal.
Finally, in Track 4 “Autonomous Social,” DeGit won this track with its innovative combination of Git, blockchain, IPFS, and distributed computation.
These projects reflect the vibrant potential of decentralized social networks. The ZuSocial Hackathon is complimentary with ETHGlobal, providing a platform for these builders to support builders building on projects related to real-world use cases with social context. It allows them to not only showcase their talents but also to prepare for future endeavors in the rapidly evolving landscape of decentralized social interactions.
The two-week long ZuSocial Hacker House held in Istanbul, in synergy with ZuConnect, the event brought together expertise from DWeb, innovative experiments from Web3, and lessons learned from physical public spaces. The focus was to ask the right questions and pave the way for a new kind of public infrastructure in the digital world.
Co-organized by communities of Matters Lab, Mask Network and Social Layer, Zuzalu and DWeb, we’d like to send gratitude to our sponsors:iExec, Web3MQ, Base, Litentry, and L2Scan. This event stands as a beacon for future explorations in decentralized social infra, illuminating the power of community, collaboration, and innovation in shaping a more decentralized and user-empowered digital future.
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