Joseph Delong, the former Chief Technology Officer of Sushi and a seasoned Ethereum developer, has introduced a groundbreaking decentralized social platform named Untitled. This innovative venture represents a new frontier in blockchain-based social media, often referred to as SocialFi. Untitled went live on July 26, 2024, marking a significant step forward in the integration of blockchain technology with social interaction and economic incentives.

The Vision Behind Untitled

Delong’s vision for Untitled is clear: to create a decentralized social platform that empowers users with complete freedom of expression and visibility. As he explained in an interview with The Defiant, “Untitled is focused on creating a disintermediated social platform where users can see what they want and say what they want.” The long-term objective is to migrate the entire platform onto the blockchain, ensuring that all control is on-chain and the server is eventually turned off.

How Untitled Works: A Dutch Auction-Powered Economy

Untitled operates on a unique Dutch auction mechanism that fuels user interaction and content creation. Each day, a “title” message becomes the focal point of activity on the platform. Users can claim ownership of this title by participating in a 48-hour declining Dutch auction. The highest bidder earns the right to compose a message featured as the daily title, setting the stage for discussions and interactions among users.

Subsequent user comments on these titles are also facilitated through a Dutch auction system. The cost of replying starts at half the price paid by the title owner and decreases over 48 hours. This auction-driven engagement model is designed to encourage users to participate actively, with the original commenter receiving a share of the auction proceeds.

To further incentivize participation, Untitled introduces a tipping feature. Users can “snap” (like) titles and comments, rewarding the creators with financial incentives. Notably, the title owner receives 90% of the revenue generated from comments and snaps, making content creation both engaging and profitable.

Decentralization and Content Management

A key feature of Untitled is its commitment to decentralization. The platform plans to store all content on a decentralized storage network, such as IPFS, with each user acting as both a content server and client. Delong mentioned that a user-configurable AI model is responsible for content filtering, ensuring that the platform remains user-driven while maintaining quality and relevance.

Early Adoption and Growth

Since its launch, Untitled has been gradually attracting users and generating activity. Although still in its early stages, the platform has shown promising engagement metrics. The launch announcement post received the most comments, while another post titled “hell is empty, all the memecoins are here” garnered significant interaction with 44 snaps. As of now, Untitled has 178 users who have posted 101 titles, 156 replies, and 857 snaps.

The topics discussed on Untitled range from memecoins to Delong’s philosophical musings, reflecting the platform’s diverse and evolving user base.

Technical Foundation and Future Plans

Untitled is built on top of Lens, a decentralized social graph protocol developed by Avara, the company behind Aave. Stani Kulechov, CEO of Avara, has praised Untitled as “one of the most exciting social apps launching on Lens.” However, Delong clarified that Untitled is currently powered by Base, Coinbase’s Layer 2 network. Lens is in the process of developing its own Layer 2 solution, Lens Network, which will utilize ZKsync technology.

Delong’s motivation to launch Untitled stems from his dissatisfaction with the current trajectory of Web3 development. He expressed his concerns on Twitter, stating, “When I started in web3, we believed in a decentralized future… Our use cases have devolved into government coins — but on-chain, pump and dumps, and degenerate leverage… The web3 we wanted it to be is definitely dying… The time is now for a reset.”

SocialFi Experiments: A Look at the Competition

Untitled enters the SocialFi space at a time when other projects have seen mixed success. FriendTech, a dApp on Base, experienced rapid growth but saw a significant decline in user retention and trading volume over time. Similarly, Farcaster, built on the OP Mainnet, enjoyed a brief surge in activity before seeing user numbers drop.

In contrast, Lens, the platform underpinning Untitled, has managed to sustain user growth throughout 2024. Lens has consistently achieved new all-time highs in user activity, with nearly 262,364 wallets interacting with Lens-based applications in the past month alone.

No Points Program for Untitled

Unlike many other SocialFi platforms, Untitled has chosen not to implement a points-based incentive program to boost early adoption. Delong believes that while such programs can generate short-term growth, they often degrade the overall user experience and lead to a sharp decline in activity later on. However, Delong hinted that an airdrop is likely in the future, although the specifics of how to reward early and frequent users are still being considered.

Joseph Delong’s Untitled represents a bold experiment in the SocialFi space, combining blockchain technology with innovative social interaction mechanisms. As the platform continues to grow, it will be interesting to see how it evolves and whether it can achieve the long-term sustainability that has eluded many of its predecessors. With its unique approach to user engagement and a strong commitment to decentralization, Untitled may well become a significant player in the next phase of Web3 social media.