Ethereum Follow Protocol 101
Introduction to Ethereum Follow Protocol
TL;DR
In Web 3 social activities, standardization of various elements is necessary to eliminate the need for a centralized operator's involvement. Among these, the Ethereum Follow Protocol (EFP) is the standard protocol associated with "following."
Similar to how Web 2 services are operated in a "centralized" manner, current Web 3 services launched, such as the Lens Protocol, also depend on many operational elements on a central operator. This shows a tendency that contradicts Ethereum's basic primitive.
Looking ahead, it's anticipated that the EFP will be proposed as a formal Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIP) and is expected to compete with other social protocols.
How is EFP aligned to Ethereum Primitive ?
In Web 3 social activities, standardization of several elements is necessary to remove the need for a centralized operator's involvement. Among these, the Ethereum Follow Protocol (EFP) stands out as the standard protocol related to "following." In contrast to the traditional Web 2 services, which centered on developing and operating all elements in a centralized manner, this mechanism standardizes each element around a cryptographic private key, thereby fostering trustless interactions among them.
Recently, @brantly.eth, a member of the ENS Foundation, posted a tweet highlighting the need for an Ethereum Follow Protocol (EFP). The tweet under discussion suggests the necessity for a distinct standard, the Ethereum Follow Protocol (EFP), to follow other Ethereum accounts.
Various Web 3 Social Protocols currently exist. Among these, the notable Lens Protocol is structured with an aggregation of elements (or Legos), such as a Lens Profile, Social Graph, and Post. This format resembles a Web 2 environment and exhibits limited scalability, contradicting Ethereum's primitives. Therefore, the EFP, which aligns more closely with a Web 3 approach, holds significance in itself and is seen to have great potential for future expansion.
Moving forward, it looks like the EFP will be proposed as an official suggestion for improving Ethereum, known as an Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP). It's likely to work alongside other social protocols, growing by combining with things like name services. In particular, it's set to join with Ethereum's name service (ENS), which is seen as the first stage in broadening Web 3 identity using Ethereum.
What is ENS ?
Let's first take a look at ENS, the Ethereum Name Service. ENS, much like the domain names used in the Web2 era, maps human-readable names to complex Ethereum addresses. It's comparable to us typing 'www.tiger-research.com' into the browser rather than entering an IP address. For example, it maps human-readable names like '@@@.eth' to machine-readable identifiers such as Ethereum addresses, other cryptocurrency addresses, content hashes, and metadata.
As mentioned earlier, the ENS, with its simple structure focused solely on mapping, can expand by integrating with other elements like the EFP. Developers can utilize ENS to structure dApps, allowing users to avoid dealing with complex Ethereum addresses. Instead, they can use simple, easy-to-remember ENS addresses, offering significant convenience.
What is EFP ?
As mentioned earlier, EFP is a standard that enables the creation and management of other Ethereum accounts or ENS listings. One could see EFP as an improvement over the limitation of not being able to manage separate lists even if you know someone else's ENS address.
EFP is a simple standard for adding and maintaining other Ethereum accounts in a single list. This list needs to be public; otherwise, it becomes useless information if not utilized in dApps, for example. The reason for such a structure is scalability. Like ENS, it must have the simplest structure possible to facilitate expansion when combined with other elements or by adding additional elements.
Moreover, a single account can have multiple lists, allowing each list to be utilized as per its purpose. These lists can store additional information like Twitter handles or emails, along with account details, suggesting the possibility for extended use.
Users can store their follow lists on the Ethereum chain according to the EFP standard, but they can also choose to store them at arbitrary locations outside Ethereum. This could be an Ethereum-based L2 chain, another chain, server, or cloud service (like AWS). This method offers the advantage of cost savings, allowing near-free list management.
This standard can be utilized across various fields. On a large scale, it could be used as a social graph for decentralized social media services, while on a smaller scale, it could serve as a means to follow major accounts for tracking DeFi activities.
Conclusion
Recently, @brantly.eth conducted a discussion on EFP via Twitter Spaces. Many topics were raised, including the establishment of funding structures for standard development, additional features like premium lists, and trading follow lists. Positive responses were observed from the participants.
As previously mentioned, it's still in the discussion phase, and it might take some time to propose it as an EIP. However, given the rapid expansion of many social graph protocol services including Lens Protocol, which includes similar features, it appears necessary to launch services utilizing it in tandem with the proposal in the near future.