Since blockchain technology went mainstream, social media has been one of the key target markets for developers. One new ‘revolutionary’ platform after another has sprung up, but to date, none has managed to upstage the legacy Web2 platforms like X, Facebook, and Instagram.
On the latest CoinGeek Weekly Livestream, John Calhoun delved into why we need a new social network, the mistakes that its predecessors made, and why his platform, Zanaadu, is the perfect blend of Web3 data ownership and Web2 user experience.
What’s Zanaadu?
Calhoun has been in the Bitcoin industry for years, and in that time, he has built tools and platforms such as ToolBSV which offers image, text and video generation; Thryll Arcade, where “every entry is to a fair lottery onchain”; and now, Zanaadu, the latest social media platform taking aim at a sector where hundreds of Web3 protocols have failed.
Do we need another social media platform? Calhoun says we do, and he believes Zanaadu is the perfect blend of Web2 and Web3, offering users the best of both worlds.
With Web2, the users are at the mercy of the operators — Elon Musk can decide to change the algorithm overnight without prior notice or ban a group of users. Zanaadu is also an upgrade on Web3 platforms; it’s completely open-source, with smart contracts available on GitHub, and anybody can run an overlay.
“Anyone can duplicate all the data on Zanaadu and put it on your server. On top of that, you can build transactions from your own implementation of Zanaadu. [Other platforms] would submit their data to their overlay, my overlay instance would sync to theirs, and now we’re all sharing data,” Calhoun told host Kurt Wuckert Jr.
Zanaadu is currently in beta, and users can easily be whitelisted to join the trailblazers. As with many other social media platforms built on BSV, users get to earn from reposts, likes and shares.
‘Shared humanity’
With 5.5 billion users spending over two hours a day on social media, these platforms have become critical in shaping opinions, connecting people, and spreading information. However, they each operate under a data silo model that limits interoperability. Interconnecting these platforms is a gold mine that Web3 platforms can tap, Wuckert believes.
“We have shared humanity…when you break down these walls that separate us, we can start to have valuable conversations. The first step would be to have access to the data opened up,” he noted.
Beyond social media, Calhoun and Kurt delved into the ‘magic of tokens.’ Essentially, anything can be a token, from cash to data, stocks, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
“If everything is on the same lowest-level substrate, then everything is money. Data is money, but people keep it all siloed. There’s such a rich universe that’s possible if everything is on the same substrate,” Wuckert summed up.
Watch | DigiCon 2025: The power of personalization in Digital Marketing
