Steem Blockchain: Mining the Inner Structure of the Graph

Abstract

Since their introduction, Online Social Networks (OSNs) have transformed the way people interact with each other. Lately, a new trend is rising in the development of OSNs, fueled by an increasing interest of the blockchain technology and the benefits it can bring to the world of OSNs. Blockchain Online Social Media (BOSMs) are Social Media applications that are supported by the blockchain technology. Thanks to a blockchain, BOSMs either try to enforce the privacy of the users or try to redistribute with their users the economic wealth generated by the platform through a rewarding system. There are countless BOSMs available which incorporate a rewarding system. Among them, Steemit can be considered the most well-known platform exceeding 1 million registered users. Steemit is supported by the blockchain Steem, which is a blockchain that natively supports the development of social applications by the usage of transactions that model social activity. Even if other important blockchains, such as Ethereum has been widely analysed, at the best of our knowledge, no study exists concerning the topology of the transactions graph of Steem. The main goal of this paper is to study the structure of the Steem transaction graph to understand its characteristics and unveil crucial knowledge concerning their users. More in detail, we build the Interactions Graph and, after its study, we evaluate three subgraphs that capture its social and monetary aspects. The degree distributions of the graphs follow a power-law. Additionally, we detect a substantial number of bots that offer paid services on the platform among the most active users. Lastly, the investigation of the four analysed graphs through a bow-tie structure, suggesting that half of the users have a passive social behaviour and that 80% of the users tend to accrue economic value.