Reddit continues to toe the line between staying a decentralized media platform and a centralized one, which could gain more backing from venture capitalists. According to prominent venture capitalist Fred Wilson, the platform might not be able to find this kind of middle ground and that a revamp might need to rely on blockchain technology.
Blockchain refers to the public ledger of transactions in bitcoin. This is updated by several computer solving complex algorithms to add blocks of code to the blockchain upon transaction verification. Since it is stored across a vast network, the blockchain is considered immutable and the records are irreversible.
Blockchain Technology Applications
Blockchain technology is starting to gain traction these days, as banks and other establishments have tried to make use of its various applications. Even governments are interested in blockchain, as this could enable more secure record keeping practices.
For Wilson, using blockchain technology in overseeing Reddit posts could allow the company to be less hands-on when it comes to regulating content being posted on the site. “You are either going to police the site or you are going to build something that cannot be policed even if you want to,” he says. In using a collective network of computers to monitor the site, blockchain entries could be made to serve that function.
Of course this raises the question of whether or not social media companies might need to carry on with their current operations. “To be clear, this does not mean the end of Reddit or Twitter or any other of the current media platforms that are out there,” Wilson adds. “But there is also a very interesting opportunity to build a truly decentralized media platform. I am not sure it will be a good business. I am not sure it will even be a business, but it can be a very powerful community and platform.”