RSS S.W.I.M — Decentralize The Internet

Abstract: An API which will form the basis of decentralized social media networks, that will be as convenient as Facebook without granting any one platform monopolistic power.

Introduction

The Centralized Web
Since its advent, Facebook has become the gateway through which many of us access the internet. Conveniently allowing us to keep up with friends or read the news, it collects anything we tell it we like, or that it thinks we might like in one appropriately named “Newsfeed”. Internet blogs have largely been replaced with Facebook pages, forums with groups and comment sections. Maintaining a Facebook page can be as essential for a business as having a website, and many livelihoods depend directly on Facebook — from advertisers to opinion journalists and publicists. None of its competitors in social media can boast a similarly multifarious and dominant platform.

This gives Facebook enormous power. From censorship to exercising a monopoly on advertisements, Facebook may do as it pleases, whilst users remain bound to the social media titan. Lacking competition and boasting membership numbers that would intimidate and render obsolete any new social media platform, it appears that a traditional approach to compete with the behemoth would be unsuccessful.

In addition to social media networks, there are two protocols (RSS and openID) that are used in order to efficiently navigate the internet. These tools could form the basis for a new way with which to decentralize the internet.

The RSS Protocol
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a format used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines, and podcasts. Broadcasting websites update their RSS files which are then picked up and read by programs which disseminate the contained information to subscribed users. This information can be the full content of an associated web site or a summary. In this manner, RSS allows for simple, automated way to stay updated with websites.

The OpenID Protocol(1)
OpenID, as explained on their own website:

OpenID allows you to use an existing account to sign in to multiple websites, without needing to create new passwords.

You may choose to associate information with your OpenID that can be shared with the websites you visit, such as a name or email address. With OpenID, you control how much of that information is shared with the websites you visit.

With OpenID, your password is only given to your identity provider, and that provider then confirms your identity to the websites you visit. Other than your provider, no website ever sees your password, so you don’t need to worry about an unscrupulous or insecure website compromising your identity.

Simply Walking Into Mordor

The RSS protocol already supports features that allow it be used “actively”. If enabled by content providers, RSS 2.0 permits one to comment in the comments section of the source website(2). This can easily be modified to allow users to “like” posts as well — having a particular string (e.g. “{LIKE}”), sent by clicking a button or manually typed, be counted as a like. Further, one can access RSS feeds that require identification — a login — by (after replacing the appropriate parts) typing this into the RSS reader: (3)
“http://username:password@the_rss_feed_url”

This of course could be done with the help of openID, which would also let users decide what information to divulge to which subscribed websites and to manage various profile and identities, permitting them to separate the various parts of their life rather than have work, family, leisure and social circles all wrapped up together.

These existing features and minor additions could allow for social media platforms to be created where, in similar fashion to Facebook, access (both passive and active) to subscribed websites and blogs would be amalgamated into one portal. News would flow through it, and one could post to websites via the portal. However, the posts themselves would remain on their “creative” sources, thus reviving the use of independent blogs and forums. Any site that uses RSS could be accessed — thus countering Facebook’s giant user base advantage. Further, one can already convert a Facebook page to an RSS feed, so platforms incorporating this feature would immediately grant their users access to all the content they had at Facebook. The actual activity would remain on the host websites, and the social networks would simply be conduits to the information.
It is simple to envision the creation of a user profile with this system — where every comment or subscription by a user would automatically trigger an automatic notification to her subscribers’ newsfeeds — or not, if she prefers her privacy.

This protocol would be publicly available, enabling entrepreneurs to try different configurations for portals (e.g. varying space for ads), allowing for widespread competition and ensuring decentralization. Individuals could even customize their own portals.

This new protocol can be called RSS SWIM — ‘Simply Walking Into Mordor’.

FAQ

• Could one have a “status”?
  One would publish “statuses” at one’s own blog or website, which would then appear in the portal of subscribers.
• What about groups?
  Instead independent forums (not subject to Facebook’s regulations) could be followed via the RSS protocol. They could determine their own rules and host their own ads.
• Would this impede the government from regulating the social media market via working with one company?
  Yes. While the government could easily block a blog or regulate a single platform, one could just as easily switch platforms or open a new blog.
• Could one follow the activity of other users?
  Different platforms running on the protocol could allow for different features, this amongst them.
• Could one easily switch between platforms?
  Yes. You could export your subscriptions from one platform and import them into another, all the while operating via your openID account.
• How will this break into the market?
  It is in the interest of many of the “big players”, from blog hosting sites (like Wordpress), content-generating websites (such as news websites) and advertisers, to be independent of Facebook. It would allow much more information to be accessible to its users, and it could capitalise on Facebook’s continued irritation of large segments of its user base.

Footnotes :
1) http://openid.net/get-an-openid/what-is-openid/
2) http://www.rssboard.org/rss-weblog-comments-use-case
3) https://podcastaddict.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/237642-how-to-subscribe-to-an-authenticated-premium-rss-f
4) Original Document: https://http://tinyurl.com/rssthree