How Does the Theta Network Empower SocialFi?

As an amalgam of social media and decentralized finance, SocialFi opens up new possibilities for content monetization while also allowing censorship-resistant decentralized applications. 

We already have a diverse range of companies in today’s SocialFi landscape. Some are decentralized social media applications like Steemit, Leo Finance, and PeakD. Other companies, such as DeSo and Lens Protocol, are building railways on which developers can build their own decentralized applications. The Theta network is one of them.

Theta is a blockchain infrastructure specifically designed for the video and entertainment industries. It provides the foundation that will empower the next generation of web3 video-sharing and streaming platforms like YouTube and Netflix. 

SocialFi and the Scalability of Theta Blockchain

Many business sectors require onboarding millions of users to web3. This is particularly true for the media and entertainment industry. The blockchain networks on which these companies build their businesses must possess high scalability to handle high user demand. 

Theta Metachain 

Theta has recently launched a metachain – an interconnected network of blockchains– which allows customizable and scalable transactions through horizontal scaling. Metachain consists of one mainnet and an unlimited number of subchains, where each subchain is purpose-specific. As Theta Metachain is permissionless, anyone can launch a subchain.

Subchains can execute operations independently, and they can also add new blocks much faster than the mainnet. All these allow high scalability. Consequently, web3 video and media companies will be able to build their businesses on a reliable foundation. 

The entertainment company Fuse Media, the web3 production studio Verified Labs, and the blockchain gaming company Symbiote Creatives are all partners that will launch their own subchains on Theta Metachain. 

SocialFi and Theta: decentralized video streaming and storage

Theta Edge Network

Theta’s infrastructure is also supported by a global ”Edge Network,” which is a fully decentralized network for data delivery, storage, and edge computing. It has over 130,000 nodes worldwide. 

The Edge Network powers a set of products for developers, including the Theta Video API and Theta Edge Store. 

Theta Video API: reduce content delivery costs 

Video API lowers the cost of encoding, storing, and delivering video through a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. 

Decentralized video on demand

Video API allows the easy uploading of videos to any website without any central servers or video hosting software, i.e., in a decentralized way. Once a user uploads a video clip, Video API delivers a playable link the user can add to a website.  

Decentralized live streaming

Video API can also help capture live video. It can transcode videos in the real-time, cache, and relay live stream video data. Again, because the Theta blockchain is fully decentralized, there is no need for a central server or hosting tool for any part of the process. 

Both video on demand and live streaming are cost-effective decentralized solutions provided by the Theta Video API for video ingest, storage, and delivery. Theta claims around 30–60% of cost savings are possible in comparison to centralized solutions. 

NFT-based Digital Rights Management (DRM)

Theta Video API enables another feature highly relevant for SocialFi applications, namely, NFTs with DRM, that helps monetize content and secure intellectual property and digital rights. In essence, DRM lets content creators publish videos protected by Theta’s patent for digital rights management. 

The NFTs with DRM feature gives the power back to the content creators by allowing them to convert their content into NFTs. As such, creators can strengthen fan engagement and build NFT loyalty programs. They can also decide how to distribute their content by defining token-gated experiences that grant exclusive access to NFT content owners. 

Speaking of NFT-gated content, Theta also added another feature known as Studio DRM to the Video API, which was specially developed for Hollywood movie studios and ensures a higher level of security that prevents movie leaks. Movie studios can, for example, control how viewers consume their content based on copyright licensing, limit content playback, and prevent unauthorized distribution. 

Theta Edge Store: Decentralized Storage

The second product provided by the Theta Edge Network – Edge Store – is a decentralized storage service. Media companies and content creators can use it as permanent storage for their NFT video, image, or 3D content and also as a decentralized content delivery network.

A look into the future of Theta

As a partner of giants like Sony, Google, and Samsung, Theta must undoubtedly be on our radar. The prominent infrastructure company for the web3 media industry has recently also partnered with Trusted Media, a leading community-driven entertainment company with Reader’s Digest and Pet Collective in its portfolio.