Can Pulse Transition Social Media from Web2 to Web3?

The growing SocialFi project cultivates an expanding community and bridge to mass adoption.

Hard to believe that Web2 was once considered a radical advancement. All it really did was take a technology designed to push information and use it to spread information. The real radical advancement is yet to come, but a new project, the SocialFi startup Pulse, might just be the first pebble of the coming avalanche to drop.

Part of the problem with Web2 is that, however brilliant a platform’s design, functionality or user experience, it’s bound to have the same weakness: governance. It’s going to be run – eventually, if not immediately – by a top-down, hierarchical, corporate structure, and that’s just not how human beings organize themselves if they have a choice. As a result, we ended up with such misfires as the arrest of Telegram’s CEO and ByteDance’s pending forced divestiture of TikTok.

When you narrow the scope to the SocialFi market, Web2 platforms also exhibit unfair profit distribution and data lock-in. We had a conversation about the future of social platforms with Abel Sohajda, Head of Pulse, a rapidly rising SocialFi powerhouse in the Web3 realm. According to Sohadja, there’s an urgent need for decentralized social media to avoid all such negative outcomes and, beyond that, to create a sustainable ecosystem for the Web3 community where they can engage, create and lead.

What DeFi can do for SocialFi

“In Web2, the platforms own the content and hold the decision-making power, which allows them to easily turn against crypto,” Sohadja says. “For example, makenow.meme was suspended after enabling users to launch Solana meme coins directly from a post on X. This move, which could have promoted crypto mainstream adoption, was discontinued unilaterally by a centralized power.”

He lists three key advantages of moving to a Web3 model:

• True ownership and asset realization. The new mantra, "Not your keys, not your data," emphasizes that users should be able to share in a platform's growth by holding cryptocurrencies.
• Scalable ecosystem. A resilient social network is hard to compromise and protects participants. Feeds are free from manipulation, moderators are insulated from undue influence and content remains under the control of its creators.
• Open and interoperable identity. Federated systems allow users to control their data and communicate across different apps, similar to how email works between providers.

“Interest in decentralized networks is undeniable, even beyond the Web3 realm. This is because people understand the importance of having free, open, secure ways to connect. Decentralized Web3 networks fulfills this user demand. Within Web3 SocialFi networks, users can issue their own collectibles and tokens while sharing in the platform’s growth – something not possible on traditional social media platforms.”

Sohajda points to data supporting the emerging need for decentralized social media, highlighting that SocialFi platforms now attract over 8.7 million users, with about 550,000 active users. Pulse's rapid growth – from zero to 130,000 active users in less than three months – is further evidence of this demand.

Pulse’s value prop

Pulse is driven by two key elements: the Group and the User. Groups can be formed by project teams, key opinion leaders or basically anyone, and can be token-gated to create niche communities. They are cohesive cohorts led by the group owner and offer an active environment for members to interact and build social profiles. They not only offer real-time, decentralized chat rooms, but also high-quality posts called Casts. More than 1.5 million Casts have been posted already, many offering investment advice related to trend lines and trading signals, and members who benefit from these insights can share the Cast and tip the creator – both of which reward the thought leader. By capturing the entire value chain of a trade's lifecycle, from group discussions to trade execution, Pulse transforms trading into a socially engaging experience, facilitating new asset discovery and empowering communities to create their own assets.

“One of the standout features of Pulse is that communities can create their own tokens, generating real value and fostering innovation,” according to Sohadja.

This community-centric model means that the majority of $PULSE tokens are allocated to early contributors and active participants, incentivizing members to continue building. As a result, the community acts as a safeguard against scams and rug pulls, providing a more stable and trustworthy trading experience for meme tokens.

Nuts and bolts

Pulse, a project also supported by the well-known trading platform Phemex, is built on the Ethereum chain. It uses ETH Layer 2’s enhanced security, stability and scalability for on-chain applications. The project features ERC 4337 and ERC 404 standards to ensure a smooth user experience for social apps.

Overlaying all of this is the user experience that these technologies enable, including:

• Account abstraction, so users can sign in securely with their Ethereum credentials.
• Community-driven framework, with moderators and fact-checkers selected through community voting.
• Federated systems, which allow users on different services to interact directly, enhancing interoperability and user choice.

And it’s still early days for Pulse.

By the end of the current fiscal quarter, Pulse plans to release the testnet for Pulse Network, allowing Pulse groups to start staking as network validators. Pulse also has scheduled a hackathon focused on Web3 social applications to foster a vibrant third-party app ecosystem. During this period, the project expects to introduce features like verified decentralized data storage and the Community Asset Protocol, or PRC-404.

Expect the Pulse Network mainnet to launch by year’s end, coinciding with a token airdrop and initial group validator mainnet staking. The $PULSE token will serve as the payment and gas token for the network, enhancing ecosystem cohesion and user engagement.

Building the future together

“SocialFi addresses user demands by integrating both social and trading elements into a single, decentralized platform,” according to Sohadja. “This helps democratize information and removes the friction of hopping from platform to platform to socialize and trade.”

As Pulse grows, Sohadja’s team plans to regularly announce token airdrops and lucrative campaigns that reward community members. One such campaign, "Tokenize Your Reputation," is about to happen soon, according to Sohadja, and the team anticipates significant interest from the community.

“On our platform, creators can create, own and value their unique work, while users can interact with them, access cutting-edge research and easily implement community-approved strategies,” Sohadja says. “The rewards come naturally, as our platform is designed to incentivize real, active users and ensure fair distribution.”