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Citation: Hisseine, M.A.; Chen, D.;

Yang, X. The Application of

Blockchain in Social Media:

A Systematic Literature Review. Appl.

Sci. 2022, 12, 6567. https://doi.org/

10.3390/app12136567

Academic Editor: Federico Divina

Received: 30 May 2022

Accepted: 27 June 2022

Published: 28 June 2022

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Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.

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4.0/).

applied sciences

Review

The Application of Blockchain in Social Media: A Systematic Literature Review Mahamat Ali Hisseine , Deji Chen * and Xiao Yang

College of Electronic and Information Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 201804, China; [email protected] (M.A.H.); [email protected] (X.Y.) * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +86-185-0172-4250

Abstract: Social media has transformed the mode of communication globally by providing an extensive system for exchanging ideas, initiating business contracts, and proposing new professional ideas. However, there are many limitations to the use of social media, such as misinformation, lack of effective content moderation, digital piracy, data breaches, identity fraud, and fake news. In order to address these limitations, several studies have introduced the application of Blockchain technology in social media. Blockchains can provides transparency, traceability, tamper-proofing, confidentiality, security, information control, and supervision. This paper is a systematic literature review of papers covering the application of Blockchain technology in social media. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first systematic literature review that elucidates the combination of Blockchain and social media. Using several electronic databases, 42 related papers were reviewed. Our findings show that previous studies on the applications of Blockchain in social media are focused mainly on blocking fake news and enhancing data privacy. Research in this domain began in 2017. This review additionally discusses several challenges in applying Blockchain technologies in social media contexts, and proposes alternative ideas for future implementation and research.

Keywords: blockchain; social media; online network sites; application of blockchain

1. Introduction

Social media invoke digital platforms reachable by the internet and permit users to form and interact in virtual groups. People can easily share information, which greatly strengthens communication and contact. They can find old classmates and acquaintances, connect with novel groups, or find persons with similar attractions across political, financial, and geographic boundaries. Thus, social media enable millions of internet users around the world to exchange information. They deliver access to a massive data source on an incredible ratio [1–3]. However, there are certain limitations to social media. Academics, officials, and users have recognized several crucial problems, including massive control by limited firms, the publication of false content, discussions around restricted or unrestricted dialog, compromised confidentiality, and political restrictions [4]. Using private details on social media increases apprehension with respect to confidentiality and involves security issues. Netizens face considerable exposure to several kinds of attacks in light of the variety and particularity of the private materials exchanged on different sites [5]. Netizens can be exposed to a loss of privacy and control over their personal information. It is inexpensive to deliver news over a network, and quicker and simpler to distribute it via social media; large amounts of bogus content with deliberately incorrect articles form online for a variety of reasons, including to obtain economic and political advantage [6]. Researchers have discovered that fake articles are disseminated more quickly on Twitter than factual content by a considerable margin, that fallacious content is 70% more likely to be retweeted on Twitter than trustworthy content, and that it influences the first 1500 users six times as quickly [7]. These societal issues pose a substantial challenge in contemporary times. Many

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12, 6567. https://doi.org/10.3390/app12136567 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12, 6567 2 of 25

researchers have been working in this area in order to resolve these issues. Text analysis, labeling, artificial intelligence, and machine learning methods can be used to detect fake articles. However, recognizing the source of such news for liability purposes remains a major challenge for which no concrete method exists today. Several specialists have already started working on ways of responding to this problem by deploying Blockchain technologies in connection with social media. As an outcome, diverse entities have collabo- rated on developing prominent inventions towards obtaining a blockchain deployed on social media.

In recent years, the decentralization of social services has been considered an oppor- tunity to overcome the main privacy issues in social media, fake news, and censorship. Blockchain technology represents the most well-known decentralized technique today, and has been considered in developing the new generation of decentralized social plat- forms [8]. In the beginning, Blockchain was used only for Bitcoin; nowadays, however, it is being implemented on many other platforms and used for several different objec- tives [9]. The application of Blockchain in social media brings several benefits, including improved user privacy, bypassing of restrictions, and the possibility for participants to engage in cryptocurrency transactions through social media platforms [10]. Privacy pro- tection is a very complex concept, usually referring to the protection of data that entities such as individuals or groups do not want to be known by outsiders. In a blockchain, a decentralized data repository is generated where critical information is secured, mak- ing it very difficult for anyone to crack the data [11]. For those in repressive regimes or where censorship is an issue, blockchains deployed in a social networking context of- fer the benefits of secure authentication while ensuring anonymity [12]. A transparent autonomous process can be implemented that allows connections to be verified by dif- ferent participants [13]. Blockchains make it very easy for an entity to be tokenized and exchanged on the Blockchain. This means that any content, whether pictures, music, or video, can be tokenized and traded on the Blockchain [14]. Blockchains can guarantee the origin, credibility, and traceability of data by offering a transparent, immutable, and certifiable operation registry while producing a safe peer-to-peer environment for keeping and exchanging material [15]. Another utility is combating disinformation by tracing and checking the provenance of potentially perilous data. Another application is the creation of a registry of uploaded photos containing data such as geographical positions, contratual agreements, copyright possession, and other metadata that are certifiable by everyone [16]. As we will discuss, several current issues with social media can be addressed by Blockchain technology, and much research has been carried out in this area, making a summary of all the proposed solutions necessary.

This systematic review elucidates research trends and ways in which Blockchain can be used in social media. It identifies research gaps and proposes future research directions. The research questions underlining this systematic review are as follows. (1) What are the different methods and techniques proposed by past studies to leverage blockchain tech- nology in social media? (2) What are the existing challenges and limitations of blockchain application in social media? (3) What are the knowledge gaps future research can address?

The remainder of this study is organized as follows. Section 2 briefly introduces Blockchain, its main characteristics, and its components. Section 3 provides an overview of social media, and introduces the most popular platforms that combine the two technologies. Section 4 presents the methodology, used in this review, and Section 5 provides an overview of selected papers. Section 6 discusses the main applications of Blockchain in social media and answers the research questions posed above, while Section 7 presents the conclusion together with future research areas.

2. Overview of Blockchain

A blockchain is a growing distributed ledger that keeps a permanent record of all transactions that have taken place in a secure, chronological, and immutable way. It was conceptualized and first used in 2008 by an unknown person or group named Satoshi

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Nakamoto to create the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. The primary aim is to use a cryptosystem to encrypt the sequence of bits in electronic files so as not to be anteceded or tampered with [17,18]. When evaluating a blockchain, the notable characteristics to consider in- clude audibility, privacy, confidentiality, consistency, decentralization, and integrity [19,20]. Blockchain technologies can be categorized into three types: Public Blockchains (anyone can join the network), Private Blockchains (the members are chosen based on conditions), and Consortium Blockchains (semiprivate blockchains limited to a group) [21]. All three types can additionally be classified as Permissionless (public Blockchain), permissioned (private Blockchain), or both (Consortium blockchain). A Blockchain network comprises several components and attributes, such as a distributed and immutable ledger, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks, a consensus mechanism, and smart contracts.

2.1. Cryptography Hash Function

A hash function is a cryptographic algorithm that is widely used in blockchain technol- ogy. A hash function returns any kind of input as a string of bytes with a fixed length and structure. The output formed is named a hash value. A hash value formed from data using an explicit hashing algorithm is always the same length and one-way, that is, it cannot be reversed. The SHA-256 is the most illustrious of all cryptographic hash functions, and is used widely in blockchain technology.

2.2. Immutable Ledger

Blockchain is recognized for its ability to be immutable. When people talk about Blockchain’s “immutability”, they are referring to the impossibility of adjusting the data after it is recorded and stored. This is an essential attribute when dealing with blockchains. Figure 1 shows how the blocks are linked and how each block contains the previous block’s hash value.

Figure 1. Illustration of block links.

The first block does not have previous blocks, and is named the genesis block. As can be seen, immutability emphasizes the fact that a blockchain is very secure and well designed. When the hash varies and no longer equals the previous hash in the ledger, the blockchain rejects that hash, making it invalid, similar to a bad check. A hacker would need to completely modify the next block, the block after that, and indeed the whole blockchain.

2.3. Distributed Peer-to-Peer Networks

By using a blockchain, interaction between two parties through a peer-to-peer model can be easily accomplished without any third-party requirement. Blockchain uses P2P pro- tocols, which permits all network members to hold an identical copy of contacts, allowing agreement over a consensus mechanism.

2.4. Distributed Application

To preserve an effective digital transaction platform, the blockchains used by most cryptocurrencies utilizes Distributed Applications (ÐApps). Dapps are software applica- tions which are usually maintained and implemented on cloud services and can work on

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12, 6567 4 of 25

various systems at the same time. Many DApps have been built and deployed on a model based on Blockchain, although DApps can run on a cloud environment or other network systems as well [22].

2.5. Consensus Protocol

A consensus protocol is an agreement between nodes in a blockchain network that submits transactional information, and is one of the most critical blockchain technology components. A blockchain network is restructured through the arrayed consensus protocol in order to certify that contacts and blocks are organized correctly, to guarantee the dis- tributed ledger’s integrity and consistency, and ultimately to enhance trust between nodes. There are several consensus mechanisms used in various blockchain networks. Proof of Work (PoW) was the first consensus mechanism used in Blockchain. In this mechanism, the miners, who are the nodes, resolve cryptographic or mathematical problems using their machines [23]. Proof of Stake (PoS) represents an alternative to PoW, as it is more energy efficient; it utilizes a collection method that is pseudorandom in order to choose the validator of the following block from among the current nodes [24]. In addition, to these, there are other popular mechanisms, including consensus proofs such as Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS), Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT), and Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET). In addition to the conventional blockchain consensus protocols, other alternative protocols have been proposed in recent years for specific applications, such as Proof of Familiarity (PoF), Proof of Benefit (PoB), Proof of Participation and Fees (PoPF), Proof of Vote (PoV), CHB, and CHBD; others for more general-purpose use include Proof of Reputation (PoR), Proof of Reputation X (PoRX), Proof of Phone (PoP), Proof of Learning (PoL), Proof of Search (PoSe), Proof of Sincerity (PoSn), Proof of Adjourn (PoAj), Proof of Evolution (PoE), Proof of Experience (PoEx), and Proof of Accuracy (PoA) [25].

2.6. Smart Contracts

Smart contracts refer to computer programs that obey a succession of previously established instructions stored on a blockchain [26]. Today, smart contracts remain popular in the cryptocurrency industry, primarily for exchanging currencies. However, they are not limited to this context, and many insurance and property companies are adopting smart contracts for better scalability at cheaper rates. In a nutshell, smart contracts are an essential component for many platforms. The advantages of smart contracts are multiple. A smart contract allows anyone to protect an arrangement, automate payment, and eliminate the risk of scams while at the same time reducing intermediary fees. Unfortunately, accurate implementation of a smart contract’s code cannot ensure its complete safety. An examina- tion of existing smart contracts illustrates that a substantial portion of them are undeniably exposed [27]. A study found that while developers care a great deal about code security, there are no effective ways to prove the correctness, reliability, and security of code [28]. In 2021, digital assets built on a smart contracts with a value equivalent to USD 680 million were cracked or stolen due to safety weaknesses [29]. The importance of smart contract security cannot be exaggerated, particularly now that smart contracts are acquiring more attention. One study used pure methods to implement a smart contract design pattern which increased the security of the source code to allow for the continuous delivery and deployment of selected classes while updating verification rule classes at runtime [30]. Continuous integration, continuous delivery, and continuous deployment are the software development industry practices that allow organizations to regularly and constantly issue new features and products [31]. Research suggests that use of the continuous deployment framework in generating distributed applications for blockchain nodes can raise the design level of smart contracts and deployment arrangements, encompassing security algorithms for registering new nodes in the blockchain network while achieving automation of the deployment of reconfigurable blockchain networks with updatable and extensible smart contracts at runtime [32].

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3. Social Media Basics

Social media can be defined as a website or mobile application that allows users to build a network of friends, relations, or subscribers and that promotes social interactions between individuals, groups of individuals, or organizations. It is a relatively new concept, only emerging in recent years. The principle is to find people the user knows, which in turn allows the user to contact other people. Progressively, such a network can quickly become very considerable. In the virtual world, a social network is an internet site that allows users, whether professionals or individuals, to share information. Social network development is changing with each passing day in light of the extension of the internet, and has progressed from personal usage to corporate media communication and collaboration [33]. People can create specific profiles and communicate more efficiently through these sites, which emphasize interaction and camaraderie. These sites allow registered members to submit data such as birthday information, interests, education background, career, songs, pictures, media files, and hyperlinks, and to share them with others.

3.1. The Different Types of Social Media

There are different types of social media, all with their own unique characteristics.

3.1.1. Social Networking Sites

Social networking sites are used to allow individuals associate with one another online [34]. These sites allow users to create profiles with photos and connect with other users who share their interests, for example, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram [35].

3.1.2. Social Media for Sharing Photos, Videos, and Music

Video hosting platforms provide independent filmmakers, journalists, and other creators with a way to connect with their audiences and to stream videos quickly and easily [36]. Apart from the sharing function, such media allow the creation of a profile and permit commenting, thus placing them in the category of social platforms. The most famous are YouTube, Tiktok, Snapchat, Vimeo, Instagram, Flickr, Pinterest, and Dailymotion.

3.1.3. Professional Networks

Professional social networks play an essential role in the recruitment process, and have become a natural support system for people to develop their professional careers. While LinkedIn may be the world’s largest professional networking site, there are several others options as well, such as Meetup, Reddit, and Jobcase [37]

3.1.4. Social Media Messaging

Generally free, messaging platforms allow billions of users to exchange information across the world. The most notorious are Messenger, WhatsApp, Skype, WeChat, and QQ.

3.1.5. Forums

Forums are the oldest social platforms. They are timeless and remain popular with Internet users today. Users can interact, create discussions, ask questions, and respond to multiple topics.

3.2. The Most Popular Social Media Sites Today

Nowadays, the most popular social media sites based on the number of monthly active users are Facebook (2.9 billion), YouTube (2.2 billion), WhatsApp (2 billion), Instagram (2 billion), WeChat (1.26 billion), TikTok (1 billion), and Sina Weibo (573 million) [38].

Figure 2 shows the top twenty most-used social media rankings according to the number of monthly active users in April 2022.

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Figure 2. Top The twenty most-used social media platforms based on the number of monthly active users in April 2022. Source: Buffer Library.

3.3. Existing Blockchain-Based Social Media Platforms

Apart directly using blockchains in existing popular social media, there are already blockchain-based social media platforms such as Society2, Peepeth, Sapien, and Steemit [39].

• Society2 is a social media architecture that is decentralized according to the client, management of information, and speech. Members have options such as exchanging information, and the platform handles their status, conversation, and contacts [40].

• Peepeth consists of Ethereum and IPFS from the database and the Peepeth frontend. Peepeth’s posting, liking, following, and other behaviors need to pay gas fees to be packaged on the blockchain. With no company controlling the data, anyone can build a frontend that reads and writes smart contracts, saving the content to the blockchain [41].

• Sapien is another platform based on Ethereum; it has the goal of using a proof of value consensus protocol to return control of the social media experience to users by creating a truly autonomous social network environment that compensates content creators and combats bogus information. It provides users with a speech structure and promotes community enthusiasm and participation [42].

• Steemit is a decentralized social media structure that promises to develop groups and improve social interactions by awarding members with cryptocurrency for their content based on the number of positive reviews they receive. The platform provides users with structured news and analysis, appropriate replies to personalized inquiries, and a stable cryptocurrency pegged to the US dollar, among other things [43].

4. Methodology

The detailed methodology of any systematic review should be fully reported in order to facilitate better understanding of the authenticity and availability of the review’s results. In order to assist in the complete and transparent reporting of systematic reviews, researchers have developed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) to explain the methods and terms in system reviews of the latest research progress [44]. We follow the PRISMA methodology in this study. A systematic literature review aims to synthesize scientific research on an explicit subject through accurate analysis of past and present studies. This systematic literature review includes the standard steps: abstract, introduction, methods, results, and discussion.

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This study covers all the characteristics of a usual systematic review: a clear title and clear purpose; a comprehensive retrieval strategy; clear inclusion and exclusion criteria; a list of all selected studies; evaluation of the characteristics of each selected study and the quality the research methodology; systematic reporting of research results; and assessment of the possibility of any publication bias.

4.1. Eligibility Criteria

Below, we lay out the inclusion and exclusion conditions used for this review and how studies were gathered for synthesis.

4.1.1. Inclusion Criteria

Blockchain and social media are recent fields of inquiry, and studies have only emerged in recent years; hence, publication date was not used as an eligibility criterion. However, papers were included in this SLR if they satisfied the criteria below:

• Papers published in journals or conference proceedings, as these are much better indexed in scholarly databases and are easier to find;

• Papers written in English; • Papers containing the following keywords: (“Blockchain” OR “Blockchain platform”

OR “Blockchain application”) AND (“Social media” OR “Social network” OR “Social platform” OR “Online community” OR “media platform”);

• Papers must have proposed methods to resolve an issue in social media by applying blockchain to improve privacy and security or have proposed a model using one of the characteristics or components of blockchain.

4.1.2. Exclusion Criteria

The review excluded:

• Reviews, reports, case reports, abstract-only papers, patents, magazines, and editorials, as well as books, dissertations, and theses, all of which are hard to find and infrequently available online;

• Papers for which the full text was not available online; • Papers with a title and abstract not explicitly related to both blockchain and social media.

4.2. Information Sourcing

The next step in our research approach was to determine the online databases and internet materials to be used data collection. We chose eight highly relevant sources by researchers in computer technology-related fields. A final search was carried out on 5 April 2022. The databases we used were

1. Scopus 2. Web of Science 3. IEEE Xplore 4. ACM digital library 5. ScienceDirect 6. Wiley Online Library 7. EBSCO 8. ProQuest

4.3. Search Strategy

The search methodology is fundamental for any systematic review. The determination of search terms is the second phase. We first defined a search term relating to our study topic; second, we described alternatives for the terms and similar theories. One of the keywords we used was ”blockchain”, along with the associated terms ”blockchain platform” and ”blockchain application”. The other key term was ”social media”, along with the associated terms ”social network”, ”social platform”, ”online community”, and ”media platform”.

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The search strings were built by combining the keyword with the connectors “AND” and “OR.” Each database uses its own search syntax; thus, different query and search strings were constructed, as illustrated in Table 1.

Table 1. Query Strings.

Database Query Strings

Scopus TITLE-ABS-KEY (((“Blockchain” OR “Blockchain platform” OR “Blockchain application” ) AND (“Social media” OR “Social network” OR “Social platform” OR “Online community” OR “media platform”)))

Web of Science TS = (((“Blockchain” OR “Blockchain platform” OR “Blockchain application” ) AND (“Social media” OR “Social network” OR “Social platform” OR “Online community” OR “media platform”)))

IEEE Xplore (“All Metadata”: blockchain OR ”All Metadata”: blockchain platform OR “All Metadata”: blockchain

application) AND (“All Metadata”: social media OR ”All Metadata”: social network OR “All Metadata”: social platform OR “All Metadata”: online community OR ”All Metadata”: media platform)

ACM digital library

[[All: “blockchain”] OR [All: “blockchain platform”] OR [All: “blockchain application”]] AND [[All: “social media”] OR [All: “social network”] OR [All: “social platform”] OR [All: “online community”] OR [All: “media platform”]] AND [[All: “blockchain”] OR [All: “blockchain platform”] OR [All: “blockchain application”]] AND [[All: “social media”] OR [All: “social network”] OR [All: “social platform”] OR [All:

“online community”] OR [All: “media platform”]]

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