Concepts for Decentralized Context-Aware Social Networking

As social media continues to influence every aspect of daily life, current social media platforms play a vital role in connecting people, forming relationships, facilitating information exchange, and providing entertainment. However, these platforms face significant challenges, including privacy concerns, the spread of fake information, personalization, data monopolization, censorship, and regulatory scrutiny. To address these issues, the thesis proposes an innovative, decentralized, context-aware social networking platform that delivers location-specific services, information, and personalized recommendations tailored to the location and profile of individual users. In contrast, users can connect, share content, access localized services, and build social relationships within physical environments such as restaurants, coffee shops, or libraries. The primary objective is to overcome the limitations of traditional social networks by designing a decentralized, context-aware, and user-centric architecture that empowers users and businesses to own their data and interactions. The proposed platform supports the creation of localized social networks in specific areas. Each network operates its own independent server hosted locally to manage and deliver content specific to that location. It enables users to seamlessly and securely access various locations using location-based authentication, eliminating the need for repeated registrations and encouraging engagement with local communities through mobile devices over local Wi-Fi networks. The platform integrates user profiles, context awareness, and machine learning techniques to deliver dynamic, personalized, and contextually relevant experiences, effectively reducing information overload. The findings reveal that the proposed platform has the potential to provide seamless and secure access, preserve user privacy, adapt content, facilitate localized interactions, and scale effectively across diverse locations. Thus, it offers practical architecture for significantly shaping the next generation of social networks.