What Is Synereo: Decentralised Social Networking

Two-thirds of all internet users communicate and share their lives on social networks. The number of sites that garner the most attention is surprisingly small compared to the massive number of users, and the traffic they generate is truly staggering. For instance – 1 of every 5 page views in the United States occurs on Facebook.

What started as a way to keep in touch with friends and share content has turned into something entirely different. Have you ever been shopping online and stopped for a Facebook break, only to see numerous ads upon arrival for things you were viewing seconds before?

This is no accident. User data – personal and private information, including browsing history – is big business. With the majority of social networks avidly participating in this business, chances are that a sizeable chunk of your online identity is being bought and sold right now.

With money being made solely on human presence, the term ‘user’ could readily be replaced with ‘unpaid worker.’ Users retain little control or benefit from this, and often aren’t even aware what they are signing up for. Terms & Conditions are lengthy enough to make a quick scroll followed by ACCEPT a very attractive option.

What can be done

These websites are established giants of social media who have no obligation to entertain requests for change in their immensely profitable system. There is a remedy however – vision, innovation, and a radical departure from the norm.

Dor Konforty and Anderson Mccutcheon are poised to provide that remedy. They had been gaming buddies for well over a decade when the world of cryptocurrency first caught their attention, some 4 years ago. Mccutcheon was working at one of the world’s largest gaming companies and Konforty was studying for a Ph.D in interdisciplinary brain research.

“Dor was one of the first miners in Israel and I spent my yearly bonus on buying Bitcoin,” Mccutcheon recalls. Their excitement prompted a variety of ventures in the crypto field. Experience and years of knowledge culminated in their current project: Synereo.

“Dor called me from Israel and said that he wanted to build a decentralized social network; one that doesn’t ‘farm’ its users.”
— – Anderson Mccutcheon, Synereo President and Co-Founder

“A few seconds into the conversation I cut him off; didn’t need the pitch, I got it,” Mccutcheon went on to say. “I then traveled to Israel, where Dor already started seeking additional co-founders while designing the basic requirements for the decentralization and cryptographic technologies needed.”

After much time spent building a team, conceptualizing, and planning, Synereo was starting to come together. The result is a system designed with the user in mind, delivering data security and complicated concepts in a simple, innovative, and easy to use package.

“[The] users run nodes on their own devices and connect directly to one another,” Mccutcheon explained. “User data is encrypted and distributed among the nodes, forming a ‘distributed cloud.’ Data is redundantly saved, also flowing to where it’s most requested on the network, and is only accessible to those given keys to it.”

Rather than using the Blockchain, the project utilizes a DendroNet that features a decentralized ledger, local consensus-keeping mechanism, and distributed content model.

Konforty further describes the network, “Every user on Synereo has their own fraction of it – a ‘Dendrite’, allowing them to view the part of the network relevant to them: What others nodes they’re connected to, what the parameters of these connections are, how information flows through that region, and where data relevant to that region (and shared with that node) is stored on the distributed cloud.”

“Thus, each node has its unique view of the network and its topography.”
— – Dor Konforty, Synereo CEO, Architect

There is a cryptocurrency woven in with this great system named AMP. It is designed to be exchanged across the website to help promote content. March 23rd is the beginning of the Synereo Crowd Sale where 18.5% of all initially created AMPs (1 billion) will be sold to help develop the project. Those who purchase the AMPs from the crowd sale get exclusive early access to bits of Synereo. The exchange rate will remain at 1 USD to 154 AMPs for the entirety of the sale. Distribution of the remaining AMP has been designed with growth in mind;

• 18.5% are sold in the initial crowdsale.
• 10% will be used to compensate users as they join the network, invite others, and contribute to it.
• 7.5% will be awarded to content creators who begin operating on the network.
• 10% are awarded to the founders of Synereo, vested over a period of 30 months.
• 11.5% are kept for bounties, awarded to contributors and developers.
• 42.5% will be kept for future funding rounds.

At its core Synereo is a powerful shift in the status quo for social networks. If all goes well in its execution, they could embody the idea that decentralizing is a far superior solution than centralizing. A large shift in the way we interact with each other online might soon be happening before our eyes.

“Given the extensibility of the platform, Synereo is capable of removing the middleman from most of today’s content delivery and communication services – whether it’s voice & video calls, music streaming, or text messaging,” Mccutcheon says. “Once Synereo is adopted widely enough, decentralized applications can use Synereo’s platform and user base to replace services such as Uber, Instagram, SnapChat, WhatsApp, Spotify, etc. None of these services needs a central entity to function properly – and with Synereo’s adoption, deploying such decentralized services will become not only possible, but actually quite a lot easier than centralized ones.”

“Synereo’s goal is to essentially make centralized communication and content delivery services obsolete.”
— – Mccutcheon

This project could be the jolt of life social media needs. People want an alternative to the networks currently available, and this far exceeds expectations of a communication service. Many alternative attempts have received fast funding only to fail, lacking enough innovation to grow roots. Thankfully a whole new approach is being taken this time; one that has the chance to both compete AND succeed.