AT&T Seeks to Build Blockchain-Based Mapping for Social Media History with a New Patent

Blockchain technology is set to become the holy grail of underlying technologies. In the legacy server/client based systems, there was only the option of representing data collected through user input in some way or form. However, blockchain technology has brought forth a way to solve the problems of modern day internet. It brings transparency, reliability, and value back to the information that is present on a platform.

There are several ways that blockchain technology can be utilized, however. The most famous out of them is perhaps its ability to facilitate crowdfunding. That is how the world was introduced to the concept of cryptocurrencies. However, as cryptocurrencies continue to suffer the almost insurmountable decline in their prices, blockchain technology has gained a lot of traction in 2018.

Larger than life corporations like Amazon, IBM, Samsung, Walmart all have plans to implement the powerful technology into their systems somehow. The latest company to throw their hat into the ring is AT&T. The American telecoms giant is seeking a patent for a blockchain-based social media history map of users’ activities. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published the patent application Dec. 13. The patent application describes the system as a blockchain based mapping system that may store subscriber’s data.

The system works in a way that it stores the user’s microtransactions on the platform such as likes, comments etc., which are then used to trace current trends at any given time or place. Moreover, the users will still have control over who gets to see their data. The data is stored and uniquely identifiable, however, it is not shared with other users and advertisers without the data owner’s consent.

The patent application says the following regarding the feasibility of blockchain in building such a system and about the privacy and security of the users’ data:

“The social media history map platforms described herein may take advantage of the immutable and permanent nature of blockchain records to store, and provide access to, data representing online transactions that occur on multiple social media applications… However, instead of passing ownership of blocks of data between users, a social media account owner maintains primary ownership of his or her online transaction data. What passes from the social media account owner to other users of the social media history map service, such as followers of the social media account owner, is a notion of elevated visibility rights.”

More and more companies are placing their bets on the future of blockchain and distributive ledger technologies. Every day, a new innovative way of using blockchain technology comes to light. If this keeps up, it will not be long before the legacy server/client based systems will be completely replaced by this new and better technology.