D-Space: A Decentralized Social Media App
Mahavir A. Devmane · 2023
In the current era of digital technology, Online Social Networks (OSNs) produce a massive amount of data, leading to scalability issues and concerns around privacy, provider dependency, and the need for constant online connectivity. The centralized nature of OSNs has significant drawbacks, leading to a push towards decentralizing social networking functions. This has given rise to a decentralized application network (Dapp), which is a distributed system for social networking with little or no dependence on a dedicated central infrastructure. Although large OSN sites use content distribution networks for caching to distribute some of the load and improve performance, a central repository still exists for user and application data, which can lead to issues around scalability, privacy, and provider dependence. To tackle these issues, several specific Dapp designs and types have been explored to achieve decentralized OSNs while maintaining the functionalities offered by centralized OSNs. To overcome these limitations, Dapps provide a decentralized platform that eliminates the need for a central repository of data, ensuring that users retain control over their data and offering greater privacy and security. This research aims to explore the various motivations for a decentralized approach to online social networking and the challenges and opportunities associated with decentralization. By embracing a decentralized approach, a more robust, secure, and privacy preserving OSN that promotes user control and ownership is created, while addressing the limitations of centralized OSNs.