The Global Impact of Blockchain Technology on Social Media and Community Engagement

Since its initial implementation in 2009 as the basis for Bitcoin cryptocurrency, blockchain technology has spread to sectors ranging from digital art to supply chain management, and expanding its applications beyond cryptocurrency and financial services. Its innovative potential is having an impact on a wide variety of areas, such as digital art, where non-fungible tokens (NFTs) allow artists to assert control and ownership over their creations; identity verification, controlling the privacy and security of personal data; supply chain management, providing a tamper-proof record of a product’s journey; electoral systems, increasing the reliability and accessibility of voting processes; or social media. In social media, blockchain acts as a powerful driver of social change, promoting transparency and accountability.

Examples of blockchain-based social media platforms include Steemit, Minds, BitClout, and Voice. By allowing decentralization, data validation, and secure storage, these social networks become more transparent and efficient, facilitating robust community-building and meaningful engagement among users. In the article “The Role of Steemit as a Blockchain-Based Platform in Fostering Digital Financial Activism and Community Engagement” (Engineering For Social Change, 2024), we examine the use of blockchain in the Steemit social network, which uses this technology to reward content and promote social interaction. Our research analyzed blockchain's impact on digital activism and community dynamics using advanced data analysis techniques. We employed Steemit's API for data extraction and used Python for three key tasks: FastText-based language detection, frequency analysis, and Pearson correlation tracking to measure relationships between term usage patterns and cryptocurrency price fluctuations.

This study also explores how financial knowledge influences users’ behavior, and examines the economic implications of blockchain and its capability to solve decentralized finance (DeFi) problems, as well as its role in combating fake news and protecting privacy. This transdisciplinary research work combines fields of knowledge to analyze how platforms such as Steemit can transform social networks and solve complex social problems. 

How does blockchain work in a social network?

Launched in 2016, Steemit opted for blockchain technology to revolutionize social networks. In addition to enabling a decentralized platform with transparent, tamper-proof data records, this technology allows users to interact in an online community where they can receive financial rewards for developing and promoting content, thus enhancing the platform's functionality.

Blockchain enables the operation of social networks through transactions that mirror what users do on these platforms. Unlike Bitcoin, Steemit's blockchain is faster at processing transactions and consumes less energy, since, instead of allowing all the users to verify transactions through a peer-to-peer network, it picks a few people, called witnesses, to do this job.

Furthermore, the platform differs from other social networks as it rewards its users, who can generate earnings in a digital currency by creating or promoting content. This currency can be exchanged on the platform to obtain a leading role in debates or even converted into real money. This system encourages users to think about the quality and appeal of their posts, since better content generates greater rewards. 

Steemit blockchain design makes content created and promoted on the social network transparent and immutable, guaranteeing the platform’s trustworthiness. Every action performed on the site—such as writing a post, leaving a comment, or casting a vote—is permanently saved on the blockchain. Consequently, anyone can check the records at any time, and nothing can be changed later on. Transparency is essential in creating a place where users feel comfortable with the content they share and how rewards are distributed.

The Impact of Blockchain on Social Media

Our study analyzes user interaction data on Steemit over four years, from 2016 to 2019. We examined a total of 84,505,306 transactions, including posts and comments created by users. In Steemit, such content is assigned unique identifiers to locate and reference them permanently, depending on whether they are “permlinks” (permanent links to comments and posts), “parent permlinks” (start of each conversation), or “parent author” (username).  

Employing comprehensive data analysis, our study delves more deeply into the mechanisms through which blockchain technology can generate social change and empower communities. The case of a blockchain post that received 1,220 comments—and earned $1,930.45 USD from upvotes—illustrates how Steemit incentivizes content creation, user interaction, and the capability to financially reward creators, while fostering dynamic community discussions and supporting social and economic empowerment through user-generated content.

Our study revealed that blockchain-related discussions stood out, with the proportion of total transactions increasing from 12% in 2016 to 28% in 2019. This upward trend suggests that blockchain technology was becoming increasingly relevant within the Steemit community, reflecting the adoption of discussions that were also gaining attention outside the platform, such as content related to cryptocurrencies, decentralization, fintech, and other technological advancements. Greater engagement in more complex conversations (through threads) and greater diversity in topics portray an active, demanding and committed community, demonstrating significant social change driven by blockchain technology.  

The intersection between technology, communities and digital activism

Additionally, Steemit, as our research shows, contributes to transdisciplinary engineering, an area of ​​knowledge integrating various fields that address complex societal issues. This platform is an example of integration by combining blockchain, social media dynamics, and community-based content creation.

This technology applies engineering principles in a social context, blending aspects of computer science, social sciences, and economics to create cohesive and dynamic communities. These communities are places for social interaction and hubs for knowledge exchange, learning and collective problem-solving, contributing to the democratization of complex technological knowledge.

Finally, the rewards given to users for producing quality content and actively participating in the community are aligned with the goals of transdisciplinary engineering, as this approach aims to create socially inclusive and economically empowering solutions. By incentivizing quality contributions, Steemit fosters a culture of innovation and collaboration, encouraging users to engage in deeper, more thoughtful discussions and acting as a catalyst for digital activism initiatives. 

The authors are research professor, Department of Marketing and Business Intelligence at EGADE Business School and leader of the Transdisciplinary Analysis of Value Chains and Global Opportunities Thematic Area Research Group at Tecnológico de Monterrey (Federico Trigos); professor of International Business at Tecnológico de Monterrey and Blockchain Leader at EGADE Business School Center of Digital Evolution (Hatem Mabrouk); and director of the Regional Department of International Business, Tecnológico de Monterrey School of Business(Francisco Valderrey).