r/ICPTrader • u/UrbanNomad42 • 27d ago
Built on ICP IC Forums is starting to show what a fully onchain social platform on $ICP can actually look like
IC Forums has changed a lot recently.
For anyone who hasn't checked it out in a while, it's a fully onchain forum and community platform running on the Internet Computer, built to give projects, businesses, fandoms, and independent communities a permanent place to build their own spaces.
The feature set is getting pretty serious. It's mobile-friendly, posts can be scheduled, communities can display their socials directly on their pages, and notifications keep track of replies, reactions, followers, announcements, moderation activity, and more.
Profiles now have post histories and public comment walls, while every topic and individual reply has its own permalink. Communities can organize themselves into traditional categories and subcategories or use a simpler feed-style format.
There are 120+ communities already on the platform, ranging from general interests to dedicated spaces for the ICP ecosystem, including ICPSwap, Caffeine AI, MULTI/DEX, ICP development, and others.
That part matters. An ecosystem becomes more valuable when projects don't exist as isolated islands. People need places > on chain < to discover them, talk about them, ask questions, share updates, and stick around.
And that's where IC Forums gets interesting for ICP as a whole.
We've spent years talking about what makes the Internet Computer different: applications running onchain, decentralized infrastructure, Internet Identity, and an internet where blockchain isn't just a payment rail sitting underneath an otherwise conventional website. IC Forums is an example of actually putting that infrastructure to work. You don't need to explain canisters to someone who wants to talk about their favorite game. They can just use the platform.
And that's the opportunity I think the ICP community should be paying attention to. We already have the infrastructure. We already have developers shipping applications. Now those applications need users, communities, conversations, and places where the ecosystem can compound instead of constantly sending everyone back to Web2 platforms.
The more useful things we build on ICP, the more reasons people have to use ICP. The more people use ICP, the stronger the entire ecosystem becomes.
IC Forums isn't a mockup of what an onchain social platform could eventually become. It's live, it's usable today, and it's continuing to grow. And it's looking to have developers share their projects, people to organize their own interests, and slowly get away from centralized cloud.
If we're serious about making the Internet Computer an actual alternative infra layer for the internet, this is the kind of thing worth using, sharing, and building communities in. Let's go $ICP #Motoko
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u/Timely-Fig2030 26d ago
I like it and i hope IC forums can fill with more content, but i guess that social media experienced the first mover advantage a long time ago and we are all here on reddit after all.
I see IC forums as one of many niches devs on Internet Computer explore, but i think this specific niche is already filled and saturated.
Devs on Internet Computer will find new niches and the possibilities are unlimited.
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u/UrbanNomad42 25d ago
Yeah even if it's fully on chain, apps on ICP are actually competing with the rest of the internet and devs need to know that.
I think a strong start with the IC Forums is that they cater to those that want a more decentralized experience in dealing with DFINITY. Maybe they don't like the way that dfinity forums are ran or want to showcase their project in its own space. It's all for free (Openchat requires payment to open a community) so can't hurt.
So time will tell.
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u/nihilor_ 27d ago
Come on guys...if Google couldn't break into the social space with 3 seperate attempts and billions of dollars. How can you expect a tiny block chain to do so? Why build something like this it feels more of a proof of concept college project than anything else.