Blockchain Social Platforms Review Updated
Hey everyone,
This review is a follow up to the review that I did previously. I have shared it everywhere, but the most updated version is on Minds with edits plus a video and blog on how to get better results on Steem, Sola, and Minds.
Comprehensive Blockchain & Alternative Social Platforms Review: https://www.minds.com/scottcbusiness/blog/blockchain-review-928935693803081728
How To Get Better Results On Blockchain Social Platforms: https://www.minds.com/scottcbusiness/blog/how-to-get-better-results-on-blockchain-social-platforms-940866124957995008
This will be covering new platforms not covered in the previous as well as rereview any applications or websites that weren’t quite to par but weren’t awful. I will very briefly double check the awful ones and either add them here if they’ve improved or not include them given, they were in the last one and you don’t need to see the same thing twice.
I’ve also updated the category names and made a few changes to the template as I’ve greatly reduced the size of this review by eliminating all the platforms from the first few categories covering those that were very low quality, low to medium quality, and those that required approval or had some connection with legacy social platforms. I still went through some of them which proved that they all hadn’t seen much progress since the first review. Also with this review I will only focus on blockchain platforms and I will have a separate review for alternative platforms.
In the video itself I go through some of the main recommendations I give and platforms that I am currently using. I don’t cover everything given the video is already 42 minutes long, so depending on how much you want to know about these platforms you can read my brief or watch the video. I explain some of the features on the platforms, but I don’t fully explain everything. I go over the differences and reasons why I like or don’t like the platform comparatively. Also note in the video I kept saying BitTube when I was reviewing BitChute, but you can clearly see what platform I’m on. Just keep that in mind.
Not Ready Yet (Unrated):
Substratum https://substratum.net/
SocialX https://socialx.network/
Foresting – Been in the making way too long - https://foresting.io/
Typerium - https://typerium.io/
Betexcoin - https://betexcoin.io/
Facebook blockchain (I’m concerned about this one) TBA
Platforms Not Previously Reviewed, But Not Recommended:
Creary – Still too early on, couldn’t update my account (profile picture and info) so I gave up - https://test.creary.net
U.Community – Can’t embed links or add video. Also can’t add any media to blog posts so I didn’t continue using it - https://u.community/
Amino Chats and Communities – Amino is interesting, but I really like using the desktop version of applications and given this is mobile only, that’s a unideal for me. Nonetheless I’m not a huge fan of small group chat communities so Amino isn’t my thing. If you like Discord/Telegram groups or have enjoyed using node based social platforms like Mastodon - https://aminoapps.com/
Eos.discussions.app – Couldn’t connect an account via EOS. Allows you to post anonymously though which I feel is problematic and could allow for relentless spam. https://eos.discussions.app
Onz – You had to download their wallet and I wasn’t sure how the social platform was accessed or utilized. The site was also slow - https://www.onzcoin.com/
Voten – Little to no users and engagement. Top posts had less than 5 likes. - https://voten.co/
Snapzu – You need to be invited to join the platform and there didn’t seem to be a lot of interaction - https://snapzu.com/
Leeroy – Not currently accepting new users - https://leeroy.io/
Obisidan – Facebook messenger replacement but requires a download - https://osm.obsidianplatform.com/
Lisk – Need to download explorer and is still very early in development - https://lisk.io
PeerTube – Look I’d love to recommend this, but the average user would be confused and though I understand that true decentralization requires many networks but separating and keeping users in that network with an extremely limited upload space capacity would lead me to not even bother using the platform. Had I joined an instance, there would be 59 others in it only and I’d have the ability to upload 1 or 2 videos before capping out. Not recommended. https://joinpeertube.org/
Uptrend – Encourages sign up via Facebook. Attempted to sign up and it wasn’t working. Even tried using Facebook and didn’t work. Eventually got on via an invite. Cool site that is very similar to Reddit. Their topics and discussion is very focused on crypto and a few other closely related topics, so it’s pretty niche for now. Also the site is a bit slow to navigate around on. However, I will use it for a couple months to test it out and get back to you on the next review. - http://www.uptrend.com/
Tertiary Recommendations:
Buzzshow – Great layout, great video hosting application, but I couldn’t successfully upload a video after a few tries so I gave up. I will come back to this in the future as obviously given other people have uploaded it may just be not working for me. - https://buzzshow.com
Hyperspace – I almost wasn’t going to recommend this because it has approval for posts, but I realized it’s just like Trybe in that sense. You must connect and verify your phone number in order to receive free $AMPS every 24 hours which you can then use to upvote others and “amplify” their content. It’s designed like SOLA in its Instagram card like appearance but operates more like Medium or Trybe in terms of the way posting works. The design is clean, but the network is still very beta considering you can’t even follow other users yet, profiles are very basic, and topics are very few, but the community is fairly engaged. This could easily be a top performer if it progressed and fixed its current issues. I was disappointed though that Canadians can’t verify their phone and get free Amps. - https://hyperspace.app/
Brighteon - Must request invitation to use – When I was able to sign up I did enjoy the community and layout especially given it’s a video hosting alternative and free speech advocate – Great, but a little too exclusive - https://www.brighteon.com
Sapien – Made massive improvements to their design and UI, but still is a bit clunky making posts and the community is still pretty small and unengaged. The top posts on the platform had only between 50-100 engagements and the site was so slow that it timed out at one point. If it continues to grow, makes the post process a bit more streamlined and can get over some bandwidth hurdles I think it will be a viable competitor with the other top platforms - https://beta.sapien.network/
Steem Alternatives - I am still determining how I feel about these alternatives to Steem. I think it would be at the very least a good way to diversify if you were to share whatever you share on Steem to the audiences on these platforms. Given it’s the same format you could copy paste your article from Steem and post it all at the same time fairly easily.
Weku – A Steem alternative that has some potential as a new budding community however their coin has still not reached exchanges as far as a I know, they have one witness, and they have had issues without people illegitimately obtaining Weku via making many fake accounts for the sign in bonus so it has its issues and investing a lot into it may be a mistake, but ignoring it entirely may be a mistake too - https://main.weku.io/
Whaleshares – Another Steem alternative that is safer and more well setup than Weku although they do not use a reputation system like other Steem platforms which is very interesting. They are also tied to BTS, and there have been some issues with witnesses running scams with their own witness coins used on Whaleshares so again be wary, but don’t ignore this platform - https://whaleshares.io/
Scorum – This platform is well set up, but I do not use it because I’m not big on sports or gambling. This is a very niche platform geared for just that. They have their own cryptocurrency and operate similar to Steem, but with a more Minds like blogging style. https://scorum.com
Secondary Recommendations:
BitChute – Major improvements over time after using it more, but still unimpressed with the functionality. It’s slow and sometimes the loading screen gets stuck when I’m trying to navigate to a comment to reply to and then it never loads and I have to go through my videos to find the video that was commented on which is fairly tedious. Given that you can have it automatically copy YouTube videos over entirely was the key to me using this platform and getting past the other issues. If the functionality issues were fixed and major some slight design improvements, this could be one of my major recommendations on the next review. https://www.bitchute.com/
BitTube – I’ve never had functionality issues, but they still could improve their design and it’s really hard to get views and interact with the community here. Their top videos have less than 1,000 views. I previously didn’t realize how small the community was here. https://bit.tube
Indorse - very similar to LinkedIn, with some UI and ease of use improvements it could do well - mentioned later in connection with dock.io - https://indorse.io
SpringRole – very similar to indorse, but focused on skills – mentioned later in connection with dock.io - https://springrole.com
DLive – This uses the Lino network and works well. It was originally on the Steem blockchain competing with DTube and has since moved off and become more independent. I wouldn’t give a primary recommendation because if you were going to live stream you could just use DTube on Steem, however it may be something you’d like to use if you aren’t using Steem or want to explore more options. I don’t know why I’m not a huge fan of going live considering I know it’s detrimental to my marketing efforts, but it’s just not my thing. - https://dlive.tv/
Primary Recommendations:
*Note that a lot of these haven’t changed much. I may have added some more info to the end of the recommendation, but a lot of these are the same as before.
Trybe – Although it’s improved and has been awesome, it was insanely challenging to setup with Trybe. I spent so long trying to get Scatter working so I could use my Trybe and stake it – After more than a week and talking with 4 different support staff at Trybe and EOS, it finally worked. You may have a ridiculous amount of trouble getting started, but after that it’s smooth sailing. Runs on Wordpress, but hopefully they don’t rely on Wordpress. They do have moderators that approve your posts at the moment, but the staff say they will only do this during its early stages and eventually decentralize more. I really like the feature set they have. I appreciate wall posts and allowing you to use slideshows etc. like you would find on Linkedin. There is a lot to this platform and if you can get over the initial challenge and or you don’t care about earning Trybe and just want to use this as a social platform, then this is definitely for you! - https://trybe.one
Steem - This is my alternative to Medium / Reddit / Facebook – Steem is an innovative blockchain that enables you to earn money for every like you receive from other users. It has a reputation system, invested staking, it’s censorship resistant, and it solves a lot of monetization issues. It’s a great solution for the censored, demonetized and anyone looking to earn some money and explore a new platform. Not much at all has changed and I wouldn’t expect it to, given how long Steem has been around. The link provided is for Steemit, the first interface people usually get on, but there are plenty of other Steem interfaces you can use like DTube, Steepshot, Partiko, and more. It’s still the most viable place to earn money that you can withdraw and get into your hands quickly and easily. - https://steemit.com/
SOLA - This is my alternative to Twitter / Instagram – Similar to Minds, SOLA has an earning model that only is really useful within the platform to spend on boosting and promoting your content. SOLA is similar to Minds, but a bit simpler and focused on a more Instagram like delivery of content with a mobile preferred experience. I have had great success on this platform and I highly recommend it. - https://sola.ai/
Minds - This is my alternative to Twitter / Facebook – You have less opportunity to earn than on Steem, but Minds is much more robust and has a lot features and things to offer. Their blockchain integration currently is just for their boosting (advertising) model where you earn for everything you do, but it’s only usable to spend on promoting yourself. It’s very useful and a great system, but you’re not likely to make profits from it. Still that being said, it’s one of the best platforms and it has the most hype right now. The CEO was just on Joe Rogan’s podcast and there are many influencers who are on Minds and some like Tim Pool who are even advocating that people use Minds and get off Twitter. - https://www.minds.com
Dock.io + sub dapps - like Indorse it’s a replacement for Linkedin, but needs more people and more work done to it – Connects to Springrole, Remote, soon to Indorse, and many other Linkedin/employee recruiting/professional networks – It may still need more work, but it’s the best Linkedin alternative on the blockchain so far - https://dock.io/
Conclusion:
Not much has changed. Trybe is in my top recommendations now and I’ve put BitTube and BitChute in my secondary recommendations. Given you can embed their videos anywhere, they have a small community, a bit of a clunky interface and there are better video hosting alternatives like DTube or DLive, I couldn’t rationalize keeping them at the top. However, I have been using them more and have been very impressed with the automatic YouTube conversion and upload on BitChute and have been getting more views and engagement there but have still had the occasional issues.
My recommendation otherwise remains unchanged from before. I’ve been using all these platforms for quite some time, except for Dock.io which I’m still trying to figure out. It’s a bit more confusing because of all the sub-dapps and its capabilities changing all the time, but I update when I update my Linkedin and try to keep them synonymous. Minds, SOLA, Steem, and Trybe the rest of my top recommendations because of their robustness, community, performance, and functionality. Trybe has made its way to the top because it’s been getting more and more engagement and growing its community. It’s done very well considering it’s still in presale. I also found out you can share the same way you would on Minds on your Trybe wall when previously I thought you could only post blogs. Trybe has proven itself to be a big competitor and a great way to be involved in the EOS blockchain network. The major complaint I have with Trybe is the centralization they have which they said they will get rid of eventually. I also am not a fan of the navigation and it can sometimes be a little clunky and sluggish. Regardless it still stands well above the rest outside the other top platforms.
If you feel I made a mistake, poorly reviewed something, or missed a key platform to review, please comment below and I will take your feedback in and edit this to include it or edit my post accordingly. I really hope this benefits you as much as I hope it does. This took me a very long time. Please share this with others if you believe they will find use in it too! For some I explained my reasoning more than others. If you’re interested, you can inquire, and I’ll get more in-depth. Also, I will be reviewing the platforms I use more in-depth too. There are great browsers, messengers and other applications I will cover in the future, this was just focused on blockchain social media.
Let me know what you think about all this in the comments below!
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