'Untitled' Project Starts a Counter-Culture Movement in Web3

Despite the poor long-term performance of the decentralized social platforms that have launched so far, the race for a social network that incentivizes content ownership and quality content continues.

Created by blockchain veteran Joseph Delong,' Untitled' is a "completely decentralized and disintermediated" SocialFi project launched last month on top of Lens Protocol.

In a thread on X, the former CTO of SushiSwap and former Ethereum core developer explained that the main reason he built the SocialFi app was his dissatisfaction with the course Web3 is on. He expressed his desire for a shift in the industry, starting with Untitled.

"The time is now for a reset. Let's all go out and build the next wave of ambitious applications."

What Is Untitled?

In а post on Untitled, one user described it as "a platform by reply guys, for reply guys." Whereas Delong prefers to describe it as "a space for sharing ideas and getting them challenged by anyone who sees value in them."

Like similar platforms, Untitled combines economic incentives and social interactions as a way to foster the creation of quality content.

The network revolves around 'Titles'—user posts. Users need to purchase these 'Titles' to become 'Kings of the Hill' and start a discussion on an issue of their choice. Posters collect 90% of the revenue of all replies and tips, called 'Snaps,' from other users interacting with the post.

Untitled's price of social interactions is organized in a Dutch Auction system, meaning it declines over time and is determined by the cost of previous posts: new Titles can be purchased for twice the price of previous Titles, while the price to reply to a post starts at half of that of the previous interaction.

"Our thesis is that regular users on Untitled will naturally see the best content because of our economic model," shared Justin Bram, the co-founder and CEO of lending protocol Astaria, who is also in on Untitled.

He further explained that because all participation is paid and users can select the content they want to see via a custom AI moderation tool, Untitled's economic model naturally blocks bots and creates an incentive for content creators to produce high-quality posts.

Furthermore, the distribution of the revenue generated in interactions with the platform allows it to pay for itself without the need for "ads or suspicious algorithms."

Another SocialFi project, why?

Several attempts have been made to build a decentralized social network, but all have failed to retain users for the long term. Platforms such as Friend.tech and Farcaster have enjoyed brief moments of explosive popularity but were quickly abandoned.

The success of any social network relies on its network effects—the additional value generated by the increase in users and engagement. Blockchain-based social platforms have failed to generate these effects due to the difficulties in creating a seamless onboarding experience for mainstream users.

Ed Moss, head of growth at DeSo, noted that "99% of mainstream users will drop off at that first step" of the onboarding process. Those who make it past that point end up leaving the network because they don't know anyone on it.

Untitled, however, does not cater to mainstream users or even massive growth.

Delong is an active critic of the short-termism and profit-driven projects created under the decentralization motto.

"My thesis is the decentralized maximalists growing at all costs invited exclusively financially motivated builders," said the former Ethereum developer.

"Our use cases have devolved into government coins but onchain, pump and dumps, and degenerate leverage," he said.

Delong's vision for Untitled is to create a network where ideas can evolve to bring back the ambitious building spirit that reigned in Web3 before big capital waltzed into the sector.

While the project has made few headlines since launching on July 26 and still has a very small number of users, many posts on the platform have stayed on topic: discussing Web3, how to develop projects, and sharing ideas and information about the space.