Lens Protocol, Aave's decentralized social media platform, launched a major V2 upgrade on the Polygon mainnet at the Devconnect event in Istanbul on Monday. This upgrade is an important step in the evolution of decentralized social media, marking a new chapter in the journey towards a more interactive and user-centric Web3 ecosystem.
Lens first emerged in May 2022, initially without a user interface. The version 2 upgrade was announced in July 2023, signaling a major leap forward in its capabilities and feature set. Following this week's launch the V2 platform is currently in beta.
Lens Protocol V2 – the next chapter in the evolution of Lens. V2 brings even greater control to builders and integrators as well as people exploring web3-powered experiences.
— Lens Protocol (@LensProtocol) July 17, 2023
Lens V2 retains its characteristic open design space that gives developers and integrators the choice.
Aave and its founder, Stani Kulechov, have emphasized that Lens V2 brings a significant evolution in the decentralized social networking space. Kulechov highlighted the upgrade's focus on enhanced composability, flexibility, and security within the platform.
"The goal of V1 was to bootstrap early Web3 social networks, resulting in creativity, experimentation and new discovery tools that benefited the Lens ecosystem" Kulechov
V2 is designed to propel innovation in Web3 social networks, offering a modular design that grants developers greater autonomy. This update aims to foster a more open, collaborative ecosystem, encouraging creativity and new social media experiences that benefit all stakeholders, including builders, users, and creators.
Multisig Profiles, NFTs, Personal Crypto Marketplaces
The upgrade introduces several features that significantly enhance the user experience and offer new monetization avenues for creators, unlike similar Web2 platforms such as Facebook.
These include multisig-managed profiles, allowing profiles to be controlled by multiple users or decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), and new options for tipping on 'smart posts'.
The platform also introduces functions such as 'mirror', a feature similar to retweeting, and 'collect', allowing users to store content as NFTs. These features give creators more flexibility and autonomy in managing their social media presence and monetizing content.
Lens Protocol V2 also goes deeper into crypto-native actions. It offers advanced features like on-chain user blocking, akin to traditional social media platforms, where blocked accounts cannot interact or use specific features of Lens.
User profiles have been upgraded from the ERC-721 NFT standard to the ERC-6551 standard, aligning them more closely with the functionalities of a crypto wallet. This allows users to buy, sell, and store cryptocurrencies within their profiles, further enhancing the overall user experience by integrating a more comprehensive digital asset management options.
Those wishing to join the Lens social platform can currently sign up to a waiting list for wider rollout.
