Secure Scuttlebutt (SSB) proposed a radically different model for social networks. Instead of global feeds or servers, it relied on signed append-only logs shared directly between peers. Messages propagated through social graphs, not algorithms, and identity was rooted in cryptographic keys rather than accounts.

SSB deliberately rejected scale in favor of intimacy and resilience. It showed that decentralization does not have to mean global visibility or infinite reach. By prioritizing trust, locality, and human-scale interaction, it expanded the design space for what decentralized systems could feel like.