Twitter planning to set up independent research group to build decentralized standard for social networks

The social media platform, Twitter Inc is planning to set up an independent research group. It will help to create an “open and decentralized” system for social networks which could relieve pressure on the company to appease critics of its content policies but also give rise to a new crop of competitors.  As per Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, the system or standard would not be owned by any single private company. It will empower individuals to use a variety of services to access the same network, just like they choose different email providers to see the same messages.

He also said that the new approach will allow Twitter to focus on building open recommendation algorithms which promote healthy conversation and it will also force the company to be far more innovative than in the past.  

Twitter’s Chief Technology Officer, Parag Agrawal will be responsible for hiring a lead for the research team, called BlueSky.  

As per Dorsey, Twitter will fund the project, which will take many years to complete, but will not direct it. He went on to suggest that blockchain technology might provide a model for decentralizing content hosting, oversight and even monetization of social media, without elaborating on possible alternatives to Twitter’s ads-driven business.