In a nutshell, what is Zion, the Web5 application for social networking?

Key points:

• Zion is an open, global, scalable, decentralized community platform that facilitates the direct flow of content and payments between creators and their audiences.
• It's built using Web5 components.
• Web5 is a decentralized peer-to-peer network based on decentralized network nodes and identities, using Bitcoin as the underlying consensus layer. This underlying technology can enforce privacy without targeted advertising.
• Zion uses Decentralized Identifiers to solve many of the issues that make the Web2 experience frustrating from an identity perspective.
• It also uses Decentralized Network Nodes for data storage and messaging. It allows participants to securely manage and share their data with others without having to rely on the provider or site-specific infrastructure or routing.

After Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and his team laid the groundwork for a Web5 future earlier this year, it was only a matter of time before projects using Web5 components were announced.

Shortly after Dorsey’s comments, developer-facing app Zion announced it would be using the decentralized web payments app Block platform in its second release. This brings the world closer to a Bitcoin-based social network. But how does it work, and how does it relate to Dorsey's social app, Bluesky?

What is Zion?

Zion describes itself as "an open, global, scalable, decentralized community platform that facilitates the direct flow of content and payments between creators and their audiences." Zion is built using Web5 components, with a different core architecture and design than Web3.

Web5 is a decentralized peer-to-peer network based on decentralized network nodes and identities, using Bitcoin as the underlying consensus layer. Zion aims to break the link between social media companies that act as intermediaries between content creators and fans.

By replacing intermediaries with proven open-source protocols, Zion hopes to create a fully sovereign space for your digital identity. Zion emphasizes freedom of speech and autonomy of personal data. Because Zion is built within a Web5 framework, the underlying technology can enforce privacy without targeted advertising. Privacy and self-custody are enforced by the protocol, not by the company.

The Zion app has two main functions: payments and community. These communities are forums that look and function like a hybrid of Twitter and traditional/Facebook online forums. Zion users can use the forum to share content, discuss ideas, and get paid based on their contributions. Since the Zion Wallet runs on the Lightning Network, users and creators can conduct cross-border transactions instantly.

Bitcoin serves as the base consensus layer for Zion, and Lightning serves as the layer 2 scaling tools. The Zion team believes that identity on centralized networks is corrupted. Traditionally, identities are issued by external authorities who ultimately decide whose identities are revoked and when.

Organizations may inadvertently disclose personal information or change policies, or personal identities may be replicated in the form of identity theft. In the case of Twitter, this issue was recently brought to the fore by changes to how users get their Twitter blue badge. The previously manual process of offering a live account on the platform has been simplified to purchasing a Twitter Blue subscription. This change has led to confusion about identity and a loss of trust.

Zion uses Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) to solve many of the issues that make the Web2 experience frustrating from an identity perspective.

What is a decentralized identifier?

We hear the term more often when referring to Dorsey's Web5 projects and plans at Block (formerly Square), but the idea of ​​a decentralized identifier extends far beyond Block's current projects and roadmap and fits nicely into Web3. Zion's plans make more sense when understood in the context of W3C-influenced frameworks and future models of the decentralized web.

Founded in 1994, the W3C is the premier international standards organization for the Web as we know it today.

As defined by WC3, "a decentralized identifier is a new type of identifier that enables verifiable, decentralized digital identities."

Truly decentralized identity is something that both the Web3 and Web5 initiatives are trying to achieve, with many projects based on the Ethereum blockchain trying to solve different parts of the problem.

Web5 and DID go one step further, laying the groundwork for the core architecture, data model, and goal of running on a fully decentralized web. The main difference between Ethereum and Web5 decentralized identity products is planning and design. Web5 components are created and validated before products are built on top of them.

DIDs have been recognized by W3C as a new type of web-based identifier, and after an extensive technical review, the consortium is now recommending an open standard. The block has W3C support for building Web5, and TbDEX can accelerate the adoption of Bitcoin-based decentralized networks.

What is a decentralized network node?

Zion uses Decentralized Network Nodes (DWN) for data storage and messaging. It allows participants to securely manage and share their data with others without having to rely on the provider or site-specific infrastructure or routing.

Decentralized network nodes are still in development as a draft specification within the Decentralized Identity Foundation and have not yet been recommended by the W3C.

Are Zion and Bluesky similar?

Zion’s mission is similar to that of Bluesky, an initiative Dorsey launched in 2019 to develop a decentralized social network. Since Bluesky was formed as a nonprofit owned by the development team, it was not affected by Musk's recent acquisition of Twitter. In October 2022, Bluesky announced that it will build the AT protocol, which is a new foundation, which also includes the use of DID as a stable ID. Bluesky shares the same goals as Zion in terms of portable accounts, privacy, and decentralization.

What's next for Zion?

The Zion waitlist can be found on its website and the app is available for download for iOS and Android. The product is being rolled out gradually, and there's no word yet on when it will be available to registered users.