If A) centralized social networks charge advertisers for a slice of the attention users give to see content via their integrated client B) what is the natural economic model for a decentralized network where the protocol is enjoyed by many clients who independently compete/cooperate?

I have opinions but am curious what others think — or whether this is even a good framing.

Natural economic model for decentralized networks to me still feels like payment processors biz

If you’re doing something of value, you charge a subscription to the protocol users to make the protocol better for them perhaps

If you’re moving / helping move something of value you take a cut of the value moved

On the client side: may the best frontends win

On the protocol side: base usage fee per user, likely abstracted by the winning clients

Worth paying the protocol fee as the client so you benefit from other winning clients, and fair competition to become the winning client because they all have access to the same data

Protocol usage fee (ideally subscription, if feasible) with a portion going to protocol treasury and a portion going to clients that generate usage