Using Affordance to Understand Usability of Web3 Social Media

Web3 social media refers to a new generation of platforms built on decentralized technologies, particularly blockchain. Although academia has investigated the newly emerging Web3 social media, it is not clear how users perceive the usability of such platforms and how these perceptions are influenced by the inherent characteristics of Web3. To address this gap, we utilize affordance theory to explore the unique usability of Web3 social media compared with Web2 social media. We conducted interviews with 32 participants who are experienced with Web3 social media and examined the affordances of Web3 social media from the perspectives of content creation, content consumption, and community interaction. We further discuss the correlation between the usability of Web3 social media and the underlying decentralized technology, and provide design implications for enhancing the usability of this new type of social interaction platform.