Social media existed well before the web2 sites of Facebook, Twitter, and their ilk. Not only that, but it was decentralized.

In fact, it started in 1979, and was called USENET. But it was missing the one "secret spice" that modern day social media sites use to turbo-charge user engagement (and subsequently profit from data harvesting and advertising).

Want to know what that secret spice is? Listen to the episode.

I think there's a lesson to be learned from this when we look at what web3  might be, and what its "hidden herb" is going to turn out to be. I have some suspicions and hunches, but I'm not completely sure.

What I am certain about is that in hindsight it's going to seem so obvious most people won't even really notice or appreciate it. They'll just accept it as the new reality without realizing.