A Case for Some Centralization in a Blockstack Social Network
So normally I am an iOS developer but in March I went to a blockchain hackathon in Manhattan and attempted to use the Blockstack platform because I was curious about the startup for a while. There was no iOS library at the time but I was pretty cocky thinking I could just make calls from my iOS app to a custom API. After a couple of hours of being in denial I found out it was not that simple (I also lost the hackathon). This summer I promised to start learning React again and while doing that I decided to start using Blockstack again. I made 2 Ethereum Dapps on the testnet this year but I wanted to use Blockstack for a while.
I decided to go through the tutorials and use the micro blog tutorial to make a a basic decentralized social network. It works the same as the regular tutorial but I added two components: a bio component and a friending component. The main difference was the friending component , and where I get to my main point:
For the friending I actually made that centralized by having it through Firebase. My reasoning for this is that on a grand scale you get all off the benefits of a decentralized system while still allowing the creator to view and manage connections. As you can see below the only information stored is the username; if any centralization is being included in a Dapp it needs to store the bare necessities without compromising trust or creating the opportunity for trust to be compromised.
I really don’t believe centralization and decentralization are mutually exclusive in this new wave. And I am also not saying that this concept is the best way to go about decentralized social networks. In fact, there several blockchain startups I have been keeping up with that I think will have their tech stack work seamlessly on the decentralized internet. Some may argue that the incorporation of Firebase to manage users friending each other keeps this from being a Dapp but the foundation of the application is powered by Blockstack. Authentication is handled by Blockstack as well.I see it as being no different from a business using Blockchain technology to streamline specific processes.
Below is the link. I’m still trying to improve my React skills but hope you give what I wrote some thought and would love to see how you guys improve on your own versions!
P.S. I noticed earlier that I forgot to add deleting friends.
