Why are Social Networks like Facebook and Twitter moving towards blockchain?

[Red-Apple]

If you understand blockchain well, you'll have an easy answer to that.

One answer I have in mind is, blockchain is seen by these social media giants as a powerful technology — powerful in a sense that it is decentralized. By being decentralized, it won't have to be controlled by any central authority or government. There will be reduced (to zero) taxes, easier transaction based on smart contracts, lesser manpower on the part of FB and TW (hence the huge money that can be saved).

Any visionary would see blockchain taking over most business transactions in the near future.

you have some good points but for the most part you are wrong.
first mistake is that you said "blockchain is decentralized". well it is not. it is just a technology and it can be used both centralized or decentralized. for example bitcoin is using it decentralized, XRP, ETH, the government coins like Petro of Venezuela, the coin of Indian gov., the Iranian coin,... are all centralized usage of blockchain.
second mistake is that you think these companies are using the "blockchain technology", they really aren't doing that. what they are doing is simply creating a centralized token for internal money transfers and they are doing that purely out of greed to make money because things are hyped up with this technology these days.
there will be no smart contracts, no decentralization, no innovation, ... there will only be a centralized database which might as well be like Paypal.

[aioc]

https://bitcoinexchangeguide.com/why-are-social-network-juggernauts-facebook-and-twitter-moving-towards-blockchain-technology/

I really would llike to know why social networks are all of a sudden just now wanting to implement blockchain. Should we trust their motives?

That's because the hype has become a real thing, at first they all thought Bitcoin is like a tulip or the community is shilling Bitcoin, but after all these years they have proven that Bitcoin and blockexplorer are the real thing and here to stay, but I'm glad they are moving in.

[JohnMacZeppelin]

Probably because they are interested in the fact that you and I really believe in a miracle. I still hope that the blockchain and cryptocurrency will be able to win this fight for the championship. Therefore, I think that everything will work out.

[Kevin77]

These companies rely on data storage waaaay too much, they have way to much information in their servers and it costs them a lot of money.

A company like youtube where people constantly upload videos and billions of people watch videos every single day just managed to make profit recently, they couldn't make any profit for a long long time because their server costs was other worldy. Hence, moving to blockchain for these social networks would mean they could potentially cut the server costs down a bit and use blockchain instead.

I know having everything you did on social media implemented on blockchain forever might sound like a daunting thing but these are business and they want to make a lot of profit and if something could make them a single dollar more profit they will take a look into it.

[joeperry]

There's a lot of new technologies now and one of this is the blockchain most of the projects in the ICO today are using blockchain technology to have a decentralized system and of course it was spread all over the internet and now the social media might adopt the blockchain technology in order to have a decentralized platform.

But there's still question in my mind... How this would work?

[5thFear]

They are not doing it because they love it but because they need it. They now realize that the future is the blockchain so there is no point in not accepting this innovative technology so they have now decided to move towards it.

[darylalban]

All interesting points made. Both positive and negative. I am ready to see decentralized social media platforms and not KYC intensive centralized platforms. I have to agree with David Chaum in that article that it seems like Mark is utilizing blockchain as a PR hype since it's in the news now.

[singlecrytpo]

All interesting points made. Both positive and negative. I am ready to see decentralized social media platforms and not KYC intensive centralized platforms. I have to agree with David Chaum in that article that it seems like Mark is utilizing blockchain as a PR hype since it's in the news now.

I feel that Jack has his heart in it a little bit more than Mark.
Facebook would do it for the PR and to rebuttle all their issues with privacy

[romelitounknown]

Aside from everyones here were saying , I think it's about adoptation and scaling. More companies are already into blockchain and other should have to.

[passwordnow]

Main reason technology. And it is one reason why it never stops and tech giants aren't stopping to adopt such new features and technology that they can adopt to their businesses. They are making themselves still on the trend so their users and customers won't be outdated but they won't just adopt a single technology that recently found if there's nothing that they can take advantage of it. A good technology such as blockchain will always be adoptable by any company that sees its potential.

Yes, of course. They are aware of the technology trend, and now, cryptocurrency has become a new trend which they can participate too. Besides that, they are big companies that can easily to join and trying to implement blockchain with their system. But still, there is a time for them to research and find out what will fits with their needs.

Blockchain is always at the tail or let's say along side with cryptocurrencies. If someone talks about cryptocurrency, expect that there's also a blockchain sub-topic with that conversation. And with these tech companies, they don't want to miss the opportunity while it's on fire. The upgrade might come overtime but as long as it's on the trend, they won't just let this pass without riding the popularity and opportunity that it has accompanied with.

[steveabrahams]

In my opinion blockchain is the future technology, i'm sure on more and more company and business will use blockchain technology too in the future. Let's see what will be happen in the next 5-10 years, maybe we will see blockchain technology will become mainstream on that year.

[Lakai01]

In my opinion blockchain is the future technology, i'm sure on more and more company and business will use blockchain technology too in the future. Let's see what will be happen in the next 5-10 years, maybe we will see blockchain technology will become mainstream on that year.

Well, currently a lot of companies just use it as a database replacement, which a blockchain definitly shouldnt be. So I am very excited what Facebook is coming up with.

[Ucy]

Seems op does not trust the blockchain or something.
Of course it is a good thing if they move to Blockchain. But I don't they will. They are probably going to use some blockchain coins while having their data  on centralized data storage.

[raven7886]

https://bitcoinexchangeguide.com/why-are-social-network-juggernauts-facebook-and-twitter-moving-towards-blockchain-technology/

I really would llike to know why social networks are all of a sudden just now wanting to implement blockchain. Should we trust their motives?

I don’t think anything is bad about their idea, they are just simply following the trend too, many of their users are already exposed to the blockchain and they have seen how its establishment has made it easy for most of their user when it comes to transaction with other companies, also, if they don’t do it, it will not be long before a guru come up with that idea that may see that a lot of migrate from platform.

Moreover, they also need it too to be able to solve the challenges of many of their users who are also finding it hard to make payment for the use of their platform because of some policies guarding the financial institution in the user’s country and also away to probably avoid taxes, with the technology, government will not be able to monitor their funds.

[labilaab]

If other untrusted sites can just build their own project coin then why facebook or any other trusted social media sites cannot? Maybe facebook and other trusted social media sites find it more profitable for them to join blockchain that’s why they are building their own too. I think this is their advantage already or shall we say they are gambling already their reputation to the people since they are entering crypto.

[gensol]

They want to be part of the next big thing which is blockchain technology. I could remember when they were kicking against it now they want to join as they couldn't stop the movement. The decentralized nature of Blockchain is attracting everyone.

[globetrotter43]

Decentralized social networks could put them on backfoot. Crypto is the future so they have realized that the only way to be alive is to adopt the blockchain. Their motive cannot be trusted for the fact that they are wholesomely centralized and the users cannot have their privacy there. We look forward to better social networks serving the true purpose of decentralization. 

[beerlover]

They want to be part of the next big thing which is blockchain technology. I could remember when they were kicking against it now they want to join as they couldn't stop the movement. The decentralized nature of Blockchain is attracting everyone.

The same way, central bank, government, SEC and many more that has really been against the technology will have no choice than to work with it because virtually everyone they feel they are protecting from the disaster they feel blockchain might cause are solidly behind the technology and already adopted it and see the benefit it has brought to them.

Hence, I expect more and more of these happening factors this year to facilitate the movement of cryptocurrency market to its ATH. I really see Facebook coin being a major booster of the market when they roll out their coin and I know their project will be more professional as they have always been.

[Galantin]

Because if they don't do it today. Competitors will bypass them. Everyone understands that blocks are better than old technologies. And they are already pulling for too long.

[bittick]

Because if they don't do it today. Competitors will bypass them. Everyone understands that blocks are better than old technologies. And they are already pulling for too long.

Quite agree, technology based company need to always keeping up with the growth or development of a new technology, if not they will easily being left behind and there's many company that go bankrupt because of such thing.
Also blockchain could solve so many things that it's really beneficial for such company to implement it.