Socialroots Presents Intimacy Gradients at Dweb Seattle

Socialroots -

This blog is summarizing Socialroots’ talk at  Dweb Seattle. The question presented was: “What are the UX/UI challenges of the decentralized web.” Socialroots is developing tech infrastructure for the digital commons to facilitate coordination across networks of decentralized autonomous groups, effectively serving as a "front end for the decentralized web."

Key Takeaways

  • Current social platforms lack nuanced privacy/intimacy gradients found in physical spaces
  • Group-centric architecture enables more democratic, boundary-aware online interactions
  • Implementing and explaining multi-level group contexts to users is a key UX challenge
  • Integration with existing protocols for cross-platform interoperability remains difficult

The Problem: Missing Intimacy Gradients

At Socialroots, we began by examining how to solve complex social problems that require coordination at scale. After research funded by the National Science Foundation, we identified a critical missing element in  digital communication infrastructure: intimacy gradients.

In physical spaces, we navigate through natural gradients of privacy and access—from public reception areas to private offices, or from public sidewalks to private bedrooms. Online, however, this nuance is absent. Our digital landscape offers primarily two models:

  1. Organizational tools designed for single-entity use, creating isolated silos
  2. Social media platforms functioning as public squares where all communication is broadcast

This binary approach significantly limits effective online collaboration.

A Group-Centric Solution

The limitation stems from architecture—most platforms make individual users the primary building block. Our approach shifts the fundamental unit from individuals to groups, enabling:

  • Multi-level relationships across organizational boundaries
  • Groups within groups (subsetting)
  • Groups that span multiple other groups (supersetting)

We've developed a platform supporting networks of autonomous groups with "fractal communications." This allows independent groups to communicate without merging through "transcluded objects"—shared spaces visible to multiple groups simultaneously.

Identity Through Group Context

A key design decision in our system is that users always communicate as members of specific groups—"Ana from Socialroots" or "Ana from the D-Web community." This produces several benefits:

  1. It establishes communication context from the outset
  2. It creates community accountability
  3. It reduces problematic interactions through natural group moderation

This approach significantly reduces disruptive behavior because reputation within communities matters. Additionally, new members immediately access the connections and contexts established by their group, reducing the effort needed to build valuable networks.

Challenges and Next Steps

Designing the user experience for this paradigm has presented significant challenges. Something as seemingly simple as helping users navigate between groups and subgroups required six months of research.

We've built the foundational architecture and basic interface and are now seeking partnerships, particularly with protocols that support cross-group communication. For effective self-organization at scale, we've found that systems need at least three levels (subgroups within groups within networks) and at least three permission levels at each tier.

As a cooperative ourselves, we're particularly interested in supporting democratic organizational structures. The internet need not force users to choose between isolated silos and public broadcasting—we can create online spaces that better reflect how we naturally organize in physical environments.

This post expands on concepts presented at a DWeb Seattle meetup on February 28, 2025.