The digital world should be big on choice. On the options we have for our social interactions, our personal messaging, and our willingness to stay connected online. Users are offered a choice, of course, when selecting their preferred social networks. But scratch the surface and it’s evident that the ever-growing power of such platforms is concentrated in the hands of a few companies.
Worse still is the lack of choice in the experience on offer to people. Of the stories they’re able to see, the content they themselves are able to share, and the amount of advertising they receive 24/7.
Today’s user is seen as nothing more than a data stream
Most social networks are fascinated with our personal data. Facebook alone collects 98 different data points about its users. This is done to help target advertising and generate huge profits. At the same time the real value of any network – the users who produce and distribute the content that drives traffic – are rarely if ever rewarded for their activities.
But people are starting to wake up to this value exploitation, and the backlash against Facebook has already started. Millennials, in particular, are uncomfortable with this assault on their privacy, which helps explain why Facebook alone has seen a 21% drop in users sharing private information.
Instead of exploiting data for profit, Howdoo is creating a platform that allows users to take control over all aspects of their digital footprint – both past and present. It’s a new way to think about the social web: where power is decentralized, and where users have the ability to shape and manage their overall experience. It’s about offering an alternative based on the values of sharing, contribution, and fairness – where users are transformed from being the mere sum of their data into empowered individuals incentivized to share their outputs, their attention, and their processing power.
How Does It Work?
Howdoo is the first fully decentralized social network, a messaging and social media platform with all the features you would expect to find, but where users maintain control over their digital footprint and don’t have to see a single ad unless they want to. It’s also about choice and bringing together advertisers, entrepreneurs, and online communities around three core features designed for the benefit of all:
Connect
Any member of Howdoo will have the ability to set up their own community and decide on rules for privacy, content, behavior standards, and everything else necessary for it to run smoothly. Communities will be self-moderating, without the need for any ‘one-size-fits-all’ user policy imposed from above.
Pay
Howdoo user accounts will incorporate a cryptocurrency wallet from the start, allowing for quick and efficient money transfer between users anywhere in the world. Individuals and businesses will be able to set up shop in Howdoo and receive hassle-free payments from users with all the transparency and clarity offered by the Ethereum blockchain.
Earn
Advertisers want to target users who will engage with their products, and users want to feel they have a choice in the kind of ads they see. Howdoo taps into both of those needs by giving users the chance to earn payouts by interacting with ads, empowering users to take control over their data and deal with advertisers on their own terms.
Overall, Howdoo incentivizes users to contribute to every stage of the network’s operation, sharing content, buying and selling products, even operating the nodes that keep the network running in exchange for a reward. It also incentivizes advertisers and content creators to create relevant, impactful material for an audience actively prepared to listen. And all of this while letting users retain ownership of their data, and to extract value from it when and if they want to. It’s a new model for social networking, and one that values individual contribution and participation over any ‘insidious centralized algorithm’. Indeed, we’re confident about the fact that this is exactly what users will want, and demand, from all social networks in future.
Join us in building the new social web, a journey that begins today, with even more exciting features coming soon – starting with our Alpha launch on the 20th of February. Subscribe to our newsletter and telegram channel today.
Images courtesy of Howdoo
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