Sociall.io, the blockchain-based alternative to social neworking giants, stands for secure and decentralized communication.

Users disappointed with latest turn of privacy-related events surround Facebook may find the blockchain-based alternative in social networking: Sociall.io.

As a reply to a growing demand from users for a more private and secure alternative to social giants, the Australian tech firm is creating a private and decentralized social network, an early version of which is already available for testing via a closed beta registration.

Data privacy has never been bigger on the agenda than it is now. While the current monopolies in mainstream social networks store data and claim ownership of all user-generated data and content, users have find themselves at risk of third parties accessing, harvesting and using their data for commercial purposes.

As public trust in centralized structures is rapidly going downwards, considerably reputable brands are losing their customers. According to the research of access management company Gigya, as much as 68% of consumers do not trust brands to handle personal information in the appropriate manner.

Sociall founder and CEO, Jade Mulholland, acknowledges this current state of affairs and iterates that the company’s mission is to provide a swift response to the issues faced by social networks and propose a relevant solution:

“To this end, we are building a secure and decentralized social network. Sociall encrypts all data and multimedia uploads, and stores it securely all over the world, making it completely decentralized.”

Offering its users a better means of data encryption and enhanced privacy, Sociall ensures that its data management is decentralized, with its structure discouraging search engines from indexing user profiles and preventing them from being displayed in search results.

Unlike its predecessors, Sociall will not claim any ownership of any content or data, meaning that all information belongs only to the users who generated them.

Sociall has its own native digital currency, SCL, allowing users to pay for all goods and services purchased via the platform. Already in circulation, SCL is available on the open market via exchanges, and can be stored securely by users on decentralized wallets that also manage popular cryptocurrencies, all utilizing smart contracts on the Ethereum protocol.

Sociall will promote a model of self-governance, allowing users to contribute in building a safe and helpful environment by assisting with removal of spam and offensive content, compensating their efforts with SCL. Eventually, users will also contribute in making useful updates and fixes to bugs.

With simple and strict settings on privacy of profiles and personal information, users will have greater control over the data they choose to share. All data will be encrypted on distributed storage, with plans to migrate by 2019 to the Inter-Planetary File System, distributed and peer-to-peer.

As with data, all user funds will be placed directly and controlled via decentralized smart contract wallets without the need of owning entities to ensure that Sociall doesn’t use the funds in any way whatsoever.

SCL will have many more uses, apart from being a currency for goods and services in the Sociall marketplace. SCL can always be purchased with popular crypto, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, and, in the future, even fiat currencies.

Communication will never be more secure, with end-to-end encryption planned for future releases. While messaging is focused on user-to-user, there will be options for group and event messaging for communities. Once fully developed, SCL can even be used to transfer media via messages.

Once set up, users can easily launch crowdfunding and advertising campaigns via the platform. SCL holders can also look forward to a debit card, in collaboration with MoxyOne whitelabeling, allowing them to spend tokens anywhere the cards are accepted.

The latter half of the year will see Sociall migrating the bulk of its projects, including API server and front end, to open source grounds, offering bounties to the public to help find bugs and flaws.