On Saturday evening (June 1, around 8 p.m. Eastern Time), Brendar Blumer, the CEO of Block.one, the company that created the blockchain protocol software that is used to run the EOS network, announced that his company is using the EOS public blockchain to build “a more transparent” social media platform (called “Voice”).

Background

As our article on May 28 that predicted this move by Block.one explained, there were quite a few clues as early February 2018 that Block.one was interested in building a radically improved social media platform.

For example, here is a tweet that Block.one CTO Daniel Larimer (who is co-founder and former CTO of blockchain-powered social media platform Steemit) posted on 20 February 2019:

Larimer had also left several clues (found by EOS-focused blog EOSwriter) on Telegram over the past few months :

  • March 4: “A public roadmap will disclose everything we have been and will be working on.A date has been set..”
  • March 13: “When the time comes out marketing will be beyond anything seen in crypto. But before you can market you need an onboard strategy that can convert user and a service that can retain them.”
  • March 25: “June will be biggest news since eosio announcement.”
  • March 28: “Trumps advisors know about block one. Everyone in dc wants to talk with us.”
  • March 28: “We will not sell data to advertisers.”
  • March 28: “We will not collect data like Facebook does.”

More recently, on May 27, one of the top EOS Block Producers, “EOS New York”, sent out the following tweet:

The June 1 Keynote Event

Here is how the Block.one CTO explained Voice would be different and better:

  • Users “directly benefit from their ideas and engagement.”
  • “Value of good content gets circulated right back into sustaining the community, not just corporate bottomlines.”
  • Voice is a platform where “real people connect with real people, not bots, and not hidden trolls.”
  • Voice is a platform where “everything, from who backs content to how content surfaces is out there in the open for everyone to see.”
  • Everyone “plays by the same rules” with no “hidden algorithms” and no “hidden agendas.”

The Block.one CTO then came on stage to explain how this new social media platform will work. Larimer said that Voice uses a cryptoasset called the “Voice Token” that only be created by “real people producing real content liked by real people.” He went on to say that users earn Voice by participating, and that this token is used to “reward unique users, content creation, and content discovery.” Users then can use these Voice tokens to “raise” their voices on the platform.

To avoid the problem of fake accounts, Voice is going to use “a multi-step authentication process” that is designed to ensure that every account on the platform is associated with a real person.

Here is a screenshot from the Voice app that shows Larimer sharing some content:

Voice App Screenshot.png

If any users like your post, you are rewarded with more Voice tokens. The more people that “like” your content, the more Voice tokens you earn and the higher visibility your content will have. Larimer says that “bot armies and anonymous trolls” will not be able to manipulate this system.

According to Larimer, here the things you can do with the Voice tokens that you earn:

  • “You can use it to increase the visibility of your own content.”
  • “Use it to allow others to discover the content that you find valuable.”

For example, let’s say that Larimer comes across a post from Blumer and he wants to comment on it. After he comments, he can use some of his tokens to make his comment go right to the top, which also will have the side effect of increasing the visibility of Brendan’s article:

Voice App Screenshot 2.png

Now what if someone else decides to also “voice” his/her comment above Larimer’s comment? Well, then, Larimer will get back all the Voice tokens he spent plus some additional tokens. 

Larimer says that in the future Block.one plans to introduce other ways of earning and using Voice tokens.

As for EOS, what this means is that “everyone that signs up for Voice will get a free EOS account that they can use on the Voice platform.” Furthermore, it means that “other applications on the EOS public network can now create identity-enabled applications.” 

This tweet from Larimer explains why users of the Voice platform will not need RAM or COU to use it:

You can apply for beta access to this new platform by going to the Voice website.

Screenshot Images of the Voice App Via Live Stream of Block.one’s June 1 Keynote.