DECAY NETWORK

The first social network to eliminate algorithmic bias by making attention a renewable resource that users control.

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About the project

Social media today runs on opaque algorithms that decide what billions of people see. These ranking systems often reward extremity, create unfair visibility gaps, and leave new creators buried under the weight of established influencers. This recurring pattern — the rich-get-richer effect — was the core inspiration behind Decay Network.

Decay Network explores a radically different idea: What if influence wasn’t permanent? What if visibility decayed over time unless the community actively supported you?

This project is built around that simple but powerful concept.

Inspiration

We are inspired by three major observations:

  1. Algorithmic Feeds Are Unfair Platforms like Instagram and TikTok create entrenched hierarchies where a small group dominates attention indefinitely.
  2. Transparency in Social Media Is Almost Non-existent Users never know why they see certain posts or why others disappear.
  3. Decay Is a Natural Equalizer In physics and network science, decay prevents permanent accumulation. The idea of applying a half-life model to influence became the foundation of this project.

This project blends social science, fairness research, and system design to prototype a more democratic network.

What it does

Decay Network is a social media platform where users control visibility by allocating points to creators. These points decay over time using a half-life formula, causing a creator’s influence to fade unless the community continues to support them. The feed is ranked entirely by these decayed influence scores—no engagement-based algorithms, no manipulation.

Users can:

  1. Post content
  2. Allocate points
  3. Watch influence rise and decay naturally
  4. Join groups, follow creators, and message others

The system creates a fair, transparent, community-driven social network where influence is always changing and newcomers can rise at any time.

How we built it: We built this website using Base44

Challenges we ran into

  1. Designing a Fair Decay System Balancing fairness with usability was harder than expected. If decay was too fast → creators dropped instantly. Too slow → monopolies reappeared.

  2. Scaling Influence Calculations Recomputing influence for thousands of creators in real time is expensive. We solved this with: batching, caching, and incremental updates instead of full recalculations.

  3. Avoiding Gamification Exploits Some allocation patterns can be abused. I had to build: rate limits, cooldowns, and anti-spam filters.

  4. Crafting a Clean, Trustworthy UI Social media design often encourages addiction. We intentionally built something: calmer, transparent, and focused on fairness instead of engagement baits.

  5. Proving the Concept Works Convincing users (and myself) that a non-algorithmic feed could compete with modern platforms required: simulations, user testing, and prototype comparisons.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Built a completely new social media model using a transparent, decaying point system instead of biased algorithms.
  • Implemented a working half-life decay engine that updates creator influence in real time.
  • Designed a clean, modern, and user-friendly UI inspired by professional app galleries.
  • Developed a scalable full-stack architecture with real APIs, databases, caching, and background workers.
  • Created a fair, community-controlled feed where visibility is earned, not algorithmically manipulated.
  • Solved complex engineering challenges like influence recalculation, anti-abuse systems, and efficient point distribution.
  • Built a functional MVP that proves the concept is both technically feasible and meaningful.

What we learned

  1. How traditional social media algorithms create inequality and bias.
  2. How to design and implement a half-life decay model for influence.
  3. Full-stack development: APIs, databases, caching, and background workers.
  4. UI/UX design for clean, modern, user-friendly social platforms.
  5. How to balance fairness, performance, and real-time updates.
  6. Handling challenges like spam prevention, scaling influence scores, and feed ranking.

What's next for DECAY NETWORK

  1. Launching the first public beta with real users.
  2. Adding advanced creator analytics and improved point-allocation tools.
  3. Introducing private communities, groups, and collaborative spaces.
  4. Optimizing the decay engine for larger networks and heavier traffic.
  5. Building mobile apps for iOS and Android.
  6. Exploring decentralized or blockchain-backed transparency for influence scores.
  7. Conducting user studies to refine fairness and usability.

Built With

  • base44
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