Open Social Protocols
Open Social Protocols are decentralized, interoperable standards that enable social networking features—such as identity, content sharing, and social graphs—across different platforms without central control. They allow users to own their data, interact seamlessly between services, and foster innovation by providing a common foundation for building social applications. Examples include ActivityPub, AT Protocol, and Nostr, which power federated networks like Mastodon and Bluesky.
Developers should learn Open Social Protocols to build decentralized social applications that prioritize user sovereignty, data portability, and censorship resistance, addressing issues like platform lock-in and centralized moderation. They are essential for creating interoperable social networks, enabling features like cross-platform messaging and content discovery in a trustless environment. Use cases include developing federated social media apps, integrating social features into decentralized apps (dApps), or contributing to open-source protocol implementations.