Desmos Modules Explained #4 — Relationships
In part # 3 of Desmos Modules Explained we saw the functioning of the Posts module, which represents the form of the contents that can be shared on a social network. In this chapter, we will explain how relationships between users work inside a decentralized platform built on Desmos Network.
A relationship is a connection between 2 users, which can be expressed in different forms. To extend the possibilities, we have decided to introduce two different layers of relationships.
A simple relationship between two users can be seen as a mono-directional link between a creator and a counterparty. This is equivalent to the follow action concept, which we are used to seeing on famous social networks like Twitter or Instagram.
Whenever a user A creates a relationship towards a user B, it means that user A is interested in being notified about what user B does. For example, if I want to stay updated on Vitalik Buterin's latest posts on Instagram, I can decide to follow his profile, knowing that it will be a unilateral relationship.
However, if user B decides in turn to reciprocate the follow to user A, this relationship becomes a friendship. A friendship, therefore, can be seen as a mutual relationship, which consists of two mono-directional relationships. If user A creates a relationship towards user B, and user B creates a relationship towards user A, then user A and B can be considered to be friends.
A new feature made possible by the use of Desmos Network is the connection of a single profile to an existing social account, in order to verify the ownership of any account in a fast, secure, and decentralized way. In addition to this, Desmos allows you to create your own portable social graph, which allows the different apps built on Desmos to know who a user is following on other social networks built in the Desmos ecosystem. This feature was designed to achieve a more efficient transition to the use of new decentralized social networks built on blockchain.
When it comes to relationships within social networks, there may also be situations in which you want to limit relationships with other accounts for various reasons. A user block from one user (blocker) to another (blocked) represents the willingness of the first to block any future interaction that the latter might have with them. This concept is used to allow users to block misbehaving users from future harassment or unwanted interactions. When a user A creates a user block towards a user B, they can specify inside which subspace they want to block the user. If no particular subspace is provided, this means the B will not be allowed to have Desmos-level interactions with A in the future.
These types of relationships are used to model the type of platform conceived to your liking: from a social network to a publishing platform, or even to a dating site, there will always be the need to define the different types of relationships between users.
Continue to find out how we are working on the next generation of social networks with Desmos Network by following us on social channels.
