A new startup believes it has the solution to preventing fake news from spreading by linking the blockchain to social media.
Warsaw-based Userfeeds is a platform built on the Ethereum blockchain that links blockchain tokens to news that is important to the reader. Through its model it enables quick creation of reputation currency schemes, which means a person can reward users for actions taken within an application with their own currency.
Lately, what we see on social media seems to be plagued by news that appears to be real, only for the general population to find out later that what we’ve read is in fact fake. Knowing whether a story is real or fake is not what readers should be wondering when they watch or read the latest news. What they read should be truthful with the correct facts contained within it. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.
Now, though, Userfeeds is offering a potential solution to the problem. By creating a decentralized Twitter, Facebook and Reddit, Userfeeds believes that an individual can produce a transparent and publicly auditable content network through the use of the blockchain.
According to a report from Tech Crunch, Userfeeds has created its first product known as the Userfeeds Engine. This gives users, developers and publishers the ability to run custom rankings in addition to information feeds, top 10 lists, search results and sponsored links. It is hoped that this method will ensure that information being fed to audiences is news that they can rely on.
Furthermore, through experimentation with the blockchain-based equivalent of Google Adsense, it allows a person to look behind the advert to see the identity, reputation and history of the advertiser.
Improving Confidence in News
According to Maciej Olpinski, founder of Userfeeds, he says that anyone who wants to get their voices or opinions heard can be CNN on YouTube.
In a blog, he said:
The New York Times competes for your attention on Facebook with your uncle’s alternative news blog. On YouTube, it doesn’t matter whether you are CNN or a 15-year-old vlogger. You get the same treatment by the algorithm.
At the moment what we see and read online is partly determined by what we like, vote on, our shares and interests. This extraction of attention is what many companies rely upon to keep you engaged and to keep coming back for more. Facebook is a good example of this. The most effective way of keeping a person engaged is, naturally, to display things that are of interest and relevant to them.
However, Userfeeds are hoping to produce a system that ensure users receive the news and information that’s relevant to them without having to worry about whether or not it’s fake, and by giving them something that adds value.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
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