:PROPERTIES:
:ID:       1bc22b89-d3eb-4f6d-bcfc-2b0c19c8ed8f
:ID:       competitive-landscape-agora
:CREATED:  [2026-05-23 Sat]
:END:
#+title: Social Protocol Competitive Landscape
#+filetags: :passepartout:social-protocol:competitive:strategy:landscape:

The social protocol is a decentralized social operating system that replaces the entire centralized internet platform stack: every function that currently runs on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, Medium, Substack, OnlyFans, Pornhub, WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Discord, LinkedIn, eBay, Etsy, GitHub, DocuSign, Stripe, and Google/Apple ID — all through one unified identity, one data model (the Note), one communication protocol (DIDComm), one payment rail (Lightning), and one contract layer (SCAL).

There is no single competitor. The competition is the /category/ of centralized internet platforms and the psychological status quo of managing 15+ separate accounts.

This page maps every platform the protocol replaces, organized by domain, with the specific protocol capability that makes the replacement possible.

* Social Graph & Publishing

** Twitter/X
- *User need:* Broadcast short-form content, follow interesting people, real-time news
- *Social Protocol replacement:* Feeds and streams via the Note primitive (`is_feed: true`), with Lens architecture for customizable curation. Follows are cryptographic subscriptions, not API-gated relationships.
- *Social Protocol advantage:* No algorithmic manipulation, no ads, no shadowbanning. Users choose their Feed Generators via the Algorithm Marketplace. Portable social graph — follows are signed Notes, not a database row.
- *Migration:* Twitter archive import for followed accounts.

** Facebook / Meta
- *User need:* Social graph, family/friend connections, event management, groups
- *Social Protocol replacement:* Collective Personas for groups, DID-based social graph (not platform-controlled), Persona isolation for work/personal/family
- *Social Protocol advantage:* No central feed algorithm that optimizes for engagement over well-being. Portable identity — your social graph leaves the platform when you do. No data mining.
- *Timing:* Year 3+ after network effects. Facebook's moat is the largest social graph; the protocol's Persona system makes it portable by design.

** Instagram
- *User need:* Visual content sharing, photo feeds, stories
- *Social Protocol replacement:* Visual Notes with `content_type: image/*`. Lens architecture renders them through an "Instagram-style" grid or a "Pinterest-style" discovery view depending on user-selected Lens.
- *Social Protocol advantage:* User-chosen discovery algorithm. No engagement-maximized feed. Content is not manipulated for ad placement.

** LinkedIn
- *User need:* Professional identity, job market, professional networking
- *Social Protocol replacement:* Professional Persona (unlinkable from personal), Aletheia Portfolio (static site published natively to the network), Contract Notes for hiring/service agreements
- *Social Protocol advantage:* Portable professional reputation — not locked to a platform. Verified work history via signed Notes. Direct hiring without platform intermediation fees.

** Reddit / Forums (phpBB, vBulletin)
- *User need:* Community discussion, Q&A, interest-based groups
- *Social Protocol replacement:* Social Spaces with Collective Personas, pluggable feed generation, competitive labeling for moderation
- *Social Protocol advantage:* Sovereign moderation (users choose their Labelers), portable identity across communities, no censorship risk. Communities can fork if the Collective governance fails.
- *Migration:* Import subscribed subreddits.

** Medium / Substack
- *User need:* Long-form publishing, subscription-based content, creator monetization
- *Social Protocol replacement:* Feed Notes (`is_feed: true`) with paywalled content via LSAT protocol (Lightning Service Authentication Tokens). Subscriptions are streaming Lightning payments.
- *Social Protocol advantage:* Near-zero platform fees (relay costs only). Content ownership — readers subscribe to the creator's DID, not to a platform. No censorship risk.
- *Strategic target:* Phase 1 platform replacement.

* Video & Audio

** YouTube
- *User need:* Video hosting, discovery, comments, monetization
- *Social Protocol replacement:* Video Notes (`content_type: video/*`) viewed through a "YouTube Lens" (displaying comments via `reply_to` and related videos). The exact same Note can be viewed through an "Educational Lens" or "Podcast Lens."
- *Social Protocol advantage:* No algorithm that optimizes for watch time over well-being. Lens architecture lets users choose discovery logic. Content monetized via LSAT + Seeder Rewards — creators earn directly, and bandwidth providers (seeders) earn micro-rewards.

** TikTok
- *User need:* Short-form vertical video, discovery algorithm
- *Social Protocol replacement:* Short-duration video Notes trigger a "TikTok-style" vertical scroll and auto-play in the UI when `content_type: "video/mp4"` and duration is short.
- *Social Protocol advantage:* The "For You" algorithm is a user-chosen Lens, not a platform-controlled black box. No engagement-extremification.

** Podcasts / Audio
- *User need:* Audio content, background play
- *Social Protocol replacement:* Audio Notes (`content_type: audio/mpeg`) viewed through a "Podcast Lens" with 1.5x speed and background play. Same Note can be listened to or watched depending on Lens.

* Messaging & Communication

** WhatsApp / Signal / Telegram
- *User need:* Private messaging, group chats, voice/video calls, encryption
- *Social Protocol replacement:* DIDComm v2 for transport, Double Ratchet Algorithm (Signal Protocol) for Perfect Forward Secrecy, WebRTC for voice/video with decentralized signaling via DIDComm. PDS acts as encrypted mailbox proxy.
- *Social Protocol advantage:* Multi-persona isolation — Work DID and Personal DID have separate message queues that never mix. Onion routing for metadata privacy. Off-the-Record mode for ephemeral interactions. No central server controlling the directory.

** Discord / Slack
- *User need:* Community chat, voice channels, collaboration
- *Social Protocol replacement:* Social Spaces with Collective Personas. DIDComm-based group messaging. Governance modules (GEM) for roles, permissions, and moderation.
- *Social Protocol advantage:* Server ownership is cryptographic, not corporate. Communities can fork. No per-seat pricing. Portable membership history.

** Email
- *User need:* Asynchronous messaging, identity, document delivery
- *Social Protocol replacement:* Directed Notes (Copy-on-Send model). PDS as encrypted mailbox. The Note is a universal message format — no separate email protocol needed.
- *Social Protocol advantage:* End-to-end encryption by default. Cryptographic sender verification (no phishing, no spoofing). No spam (relays only route to subscribed destinations). Attachments are CIDs, not MIME blobs.

** Zoom / Google Meet
- *User need:* Video conferencing, screen sharing
- *Social Protocol replacement:* WebRTC over DIDComm signaling. P2P tunnel — no central server sees call data.
- *Social Protocol advantage:* No Zoom-bombing (call is authenticated by DID). No platform listening in. No account required beyond your DID.

* E-Commerce & Marketplaces

** eBay / Etsy
- *User need:* Buy and sell goods, auction, fixed-price listings, dispute resolution
- *Social Protocol replacement:* Contract Notes as product listings (Offer → Take model). HODL invoice escrow for payments. SCAL (Sovereign Contract & Arbitration Layer) for dispute resolution.
- *Social Protocol advantage:* Fees below 5% (vs. 10-15%). Transparent reputation system based on DID history. No account bans. Multi-level arbitration (Local Elders → Guilds → Global Juries).

** OnlyFans / Patreon / Fansly
- *User need:* Subscription content, adult content, creator-direct monetization
- *Social Protocol replacement:* Paywalled Notes via LSAT protocol. Streaming Lightning subscriptions. Encrypted content with Blind CDN seeding.
- *Social Protocol advantage:* Censorship-resistant (no payment processor can cut you off). Near-zero platform fees. Pseudonymous by default. Adult content doesn't face the banking discrimination that existing platforms do.
- *Strategic target:* Phase 1 platform replacement (underserved, clear pain point).

** Pornhub / Adult content
- *User need:* Adult content hosting, discovery, monetization
- *Social Protocol replacement:* Same Note primitive with `content_type: video/*`. LSAT for paywalled access. Blind CDN for distribution.
- *Social Protocol advantage:* No centralized moderation that can delist creators. Lightning-native payments bypass banking discrimination. Privacy (identity not tied to consumption).
- *Strategic target:* Phase 1 platform replacement.

* Work & Collaboration

** GitHub / GitLab
- *User need:* Version control, code hosting, issues, pull requests, CI
- *Social Protocol replacement:* Code is stored as Merkle DAGs of commit Notes. Issues and PRs are Contract Notes. Collective Personas own repositories.
- *Social Protocol advantage:* Truly decentralized version control — no central repository host. Signed commits with DID. Smart contracts for bounty management (Lightning bounties).

** Google Docs / Office 365
- *User need:* Collaborative document editing, spreadsheets, presentations
- *Social Protocol replacement:* Static pages (`is_feed: false`) with versioned CID history. Collaborative editing via Contract Notes defining access control.
- *Social Protocol advantage:* Document history is immutable and verifiable. No platform lock-in.

** Project Management (Jira, Trello, Asana)
- *User need:* Task tracking, project management, team coordination
- *Social Protocol replacement:* Tasks as Contract Notes in negotiation state. Status changes are signed state transitions.
- *Social Protocol advantage:* Portable project history. Tasks are data you own.

** Upwork / Fiverr / Freelancer
- *User need:* Find freelancers, manage contracts, escrow payments
- *Social Protocol replacement:* SCAL contracts for service agreements. HODL invoice escrow. Multi-level arbitration. Reputation tied to DID history.
- *Social Protocol advantage:* Lower fees, portable reputation, no platform lock-in.

* Identity & Infrastructure

** Google / Apple ID
- *User need:* Single sign-on across the internet
- *Social Protocol replacement:* DID-based authentication via Personas. No central identity provider. User controls which Persona is used for which service.
- *Social Protocol advantage:* No surveillance (Google sees every SSO login). Granular persona isolation. No single point of failure.

** ENS (Ethereum Name Service)
- *User need:* Human-readable decentralized names
- *Social Protocol replacement:* Social protocol naming registry with similar auction model. But integrated with PDS, messaging, contracts, and payments — a name in the protocol is a full identity, not just a pointer to a wallet.
- *Social Protocol advantage:* Names come with native capabilities (PDS, messaging, contracts). ENS is names-only.

* The [[id:3aa22300-2f25-57b0-8787-9f199cc978b1][Competitive Analysis]]: What This Changes

The social protocol is not competing with any single product. It is competing with the /aggregate/ of 20+ products — and the friction of managing 20+ separate accounts, logins, reputations, and data silos.

** The Real Competitor Is the Status Quo

The centralized internet works well enough for most people. The friction is spread across 20+ platforms — no single platform is bad enough to leave. The social protocol's value proposition is not "Twitter but better" but "one account replaces every platform you use."

This is a harder sell because:
1. The status quo is familiar. Switching all 20+ platforms at once is cognitively overwhelming.
2. Network effects at each platform are entrenched. No single platform can be replaced without bringing the users.
3. The value of unification compounds with adoption — but requires critical mass to be visible.

** The Entry Vector Must Be a Niche, Not a Mass Market

The strategic documents recognize this explicitly. Phase 1 targets underserved communities with clear pain points:
- OnlyFans creators facing payment discrimination and censorship
- Reddit communities tired of centralized moderation
- Developers frustrated with platform lock-in
- Adult content platforms facing banking discrimination
- NGOs and guilds needing sovereign identity

Each of these communities has a /specific/ pain point that the protocol solves directly. The win condition is: a user joins for one reason (e.g., censorship-resistant adult content monetization) and discovers the other 19 capabilities as a free bonus.

** The Structural Advantage Is Unassailable

No centralized competitor can match the protocol's bundle:
- Meta cannot offer portable identity (it destroys their business model)
- Google cannot offer private messaging (it destroys their data model)
- Stripe cannot offer contracts and social (outside their competence)
- DocuSign cannot offer payments and publishing (outside their competence)
- The entire category of centralized platforms cannot offer user-owned data

The only way to compete with the protocol is to build a similar decentralized platform — and that requires matching all four layers (identity, publishing, payments, contracts) simultaneously. No decentralized project has done this. The closest (Farcaster) has identity and social but no payments or contracts. Bluesky has identity and social but no payments or contracts. Ethereum + ENS has identity, payments, and contracts but no social layer.

** The Risk Is Not Competition but Indifference

The protocol's biggest risk is not that a competitor builds a better product, but that the status quo friction is tolerable enough that users never switch. The centralized internet is bad — but it is familiar. The protocol is better — but unfamiliar.

The counterargument: this is true for every platform shift. Email was a worse experience than postal mail in 1992. The web was a worse experience than AOL in 1994. Instagram was a worse experience than Flickr in 2010. Each won because a /specific/ use case was dramatically better, and the rest of the ecosystem followed. The protocol must find its "camera with filters" moment — the one use case that is so clearly superior that users adopt it despite the rest of the ecosystem being immature.

* Comparison Summary

|| Social Protocol replaces | Incumbent | Social Protocol advantage | Risk to Social Protocol |
|----------------+-----------+----------------+---------------|
| Social graph | Facebook | Portable identity, no data mining | Facebook's 3B user moat |
| Microblogging | Twitter/X | Algorithm choice, no censorship | Network effects |
| Visual content | Instagram | No engagement-extremified algorithm | UX polish gap |
| Professional | LinkedIn | Portable rep, no platform fees | Professional network effects |
| Video | YouTube | Lens choice, Seeder Rewards | Content moderation surface |
| Short video | TikTok | Users choose the algorithm | Discovery algorithm sophistication |
| Forums | Reddit | Sovereign moderation, portable identity | Community migration inertia |
| Publishing | Medium/Substack | Near-zero fees, content ownership | Creator distribution |
| Messaging | WhatsApp/Signal | Multi-persona isolation, onion routing | Friend network effects |
| Community | Discord | Cryptographic ownership, forkable | Voice/UX maturity |
| E-commerce | eBay/Etsy | <5% fees, transparent reputation | Trust in new platform |
| Subscription | OnlyFans/Patreon | No payment discrimination | Creator acquisition cost |
| Video hosting | Pornhub | No censorship, Lightning payouts | Reputation risk |
| Code hosting | GitHub | Truly decentralized, DID-signed commits | Developer habit |
| Identity | Google/Apple ID | No surveillance, persona isolation | Convenience of SSO |
| Naming | ENS | Name + PDS + messaging + contracts | ENS's 2M domain moat |
| Collaboration | Google Docs | Verifiable history, no platform lock-in | Real-time collaboration UX |
| Freelance | Upwork/Fiverr | Lower fees, portable reputation | Liquidity of gig listings |
| Meetings | Zoom | P2P, no central server | Call quality/reliability |

* Conclusion

The protocol does not compete with any single platform. It offers an alternative to the /entire paradigm/ of centralized internet services. The competitive analysis is not about which platform to beat — it is about which /use case/ to lead with so that users adopt the unified platform despite the rest of the ecosystem being immature.

The OnlyFans/Patreon entry vector is the strongest Phase 1 play: a community with clear pain (payment discrimination, censorship), high willingness to pay, and low switching costs (creators want their audience independent of the platform). From there, publishing, messaging, and identity flow naturally.

* References

- [[id:1d074690-a279-59cb-b91d-e9a22ae104ad][Social Protocol overview]] (brain docs)
- [[id:64708e1f-00e9-4cb7-b44b-ea0b98e5296d][Social Protocol contract platform]]
- [[id:57f9538a-6270-4302-8d07-d742168419eb][Social-first growth scenario]]
- Social Protocol Overview (spec repo)
- Social Space specification
- Exchange and Contracts specification
- User journey and platform replacement strategy
