Pi Network Launches Fireside Forum: A Tokenomically Moderated Web3 Social Platform That Aims to Address the Problems of Web2 Online Behavior
Jun 01, 2023
Pi Network, a community and Web3 app ecosystem with tens of millions of humans mining Pi cryptocurrency, today announced the launch of Fireside Forum: a Web3 social platform offering a new internet experience that emphasizes authenticity, constructive conversations and healthier online social interactions. Fireside Forum allows Pioneers (Pi Network members) to connect and interact with millions of peers while rewarding positive interactions – and penalizing negative ones – through a novel token model powered by Pi cryptocurrency.
Unlike traditional social media platforms, Fireside Forum integrates cryptocurrency and tokens into the core of its social mechanism to help moderate online behavior, resulting in a better and healthier user experience. Counterintuitively, it explores the idea of creating posts at a cost, whereby authors can only recover this cost – via tips from an approving decentralized audience – by providing great content. It propagates meaningful interactions through the posts, replies, and channels users create. Content that the community considers valuable will receive greater visibility based on the level of engagement it receives. This gives the community decentralized authority on how content will trend, encouraging not only more authentic interactions but greater accountability.
"Traditional social networks are struggling with misinformation, trolling and internet violence. Blockchain and cryptocurrencies can facilitate the much-needed change that people are hoping for," said Nicolas Kokkalis, one of the two Founders and Head of Technology. "Fireside Forum is a materialization of what Pi Network envisioned as the new Web3 social network and intends to solve issues of popular Web2 social networks by emphasizing authenticity, decentralization, and quality online experience."
Fake accounts are a problem on all Web2 social platforms. In 2021, Facebook removed 1.3 billion fake accounts, Instagram found 95 million and Twitter dealt with 20 million. Although Facebook's parent company, Meta, has regulations in place that outline what is and is not permitted on the network, spam content is an ongoing issue that the platform faces, with 1.4 million pieces of spam content being removed in the third quarter of 2022 alone.
Fireside Forum's unique tokenomics power the in-app token utilities and operate the system that incentivizes positive contributions and disincentivizes negative behavior. Pioneers who have passed the network's native KYC program and migrated their mined balance to Pi Mainnet can purchase in-app tokens with their Pi cryptocurrency. Tokens are necessary to post, reply, interact with, and promote and demote content while receiving in-app token tips based on community engagement with the content they've authored. Through this token model, the self-moderating platform institutes a cost mechanism to increase accountability of online behavior, encourages positive interactions, and discourages negative content, helping address the issues of spam and online harassment. By utilizing incentive-disincentive-based designs through tokenomics, Fireside Forum aims to create a safe and healthier environment for the next generation of online social interactions.
In yet another example of Pi Network's mission to develop utility-focused apps, Fireside Forum offers a decentralized platform where transparency and self-governance reign supreme. Using the Pi cryptocurrency they mine through their meritocratic mobile mining contributions, Pioneers can engage in accessible and meaningful interactions with other real KYC-verified humans.