There is a joke in tech circles that "if the user experience is bad, it must be Web3."
While the focus on incorporating blockchain technology is a priority, there is a growing concern that, in pursuit of this innovation, valuable lessons learned from Web2 in terms of user interface (UI) design are being overlooked—and that it's hindering broader adoption.
Web3 should embrace proven user experience (UX) practices from Web2 rather than reinvent the wheel, ensuring a more familiar and user-friendly transition into the next phase of the internet. Otherwise, there's significant risk of alienating mainstream consumers and ending up with products accessible only to a small, tech-savvy niche.
Years have been spent painstakingly creating fluid and understandable user interfaces for Web2 and mobile applications. It has been demonstrated that clarity and simplicity deliver engaging and productive user experiences. These principles have resulted in billions of users flocking to social media platforms, content destinations, travel services, streaming venues, and e-commerce giants.
The shift to blockchain-based technology—and with it, decentralization and cryptographic ownership—should not come at users' expense.
Here are three reasons why Web3 needs more Web2:
1. The average user prioritizes usability. Complex onboarding processes, jargon-filled interfaces, and lack of intuitive navigation hinder adoption.
2. Familiarity with Web2 interfaces fosters trust and engagement, enhancing comfort and security for those entering the Web3 space, and promoting further exploration and engagement.
3. Simplicity and clarity are key for promoting accessibility to a wider audience.
While the majority of Web3 apps have no chance at mainstream adoption, there is a new generation—less smitten of Web3 geekiness, more focussed on Web2 ease of use—that's gaining traction.
In the dining category, Blackbird looks like a restaurant loyalty app to the user. Somewhere in its technology structure, blockchain magic enables unique, non-transferable badges (NFT-based) that track visits, and there is a private cryptocurrency—akin to airline miles—that can be exchanged for restaurant perks, all with very little transaction friction.
In DeFi, where apps tilt on crypto nerdiness, Prime is a cross-chain prime brokerage service that lets users deposit, borrow, repay, and withdraw cryptocurrency across eight different chains seamlessly. This sounds like a boring trait in traditional finance because currency fluidity is taken for granted—though at the cost of a lot of inner friction. In the blockchain world, Prime represents an advanced level of interoperability users never see.
In social media, Warpcast looks almost exactly like Twitter (now X), but behind the scenes lies a social network protocol with a few Web3 features such as blockchain-based identity, encrypted authentication, and decentralized data that casual users can completely ignore. The initial experience feels very mainstream Web2, while the platform gently surfaces Web3 snippets.
In the fantasy sports world, Silks lets you take ownership of a jockey, a horse, and land for your stables. The most interesting aspect is a synthetic 1:1 linkage from your fantasy (NFT) horse to a real one that could be racing at, say, the Kentucky Derby or Belmont Stakes. No one else owns that relationship. You can follow the real horse’s activity via a virtual stable dashboard on Equibase. When the horse wins, your account is credited 1% of earnings, which are automatically deposited in your crypto wallet.
In messaging, Converse is a simple application with embedded wallets. Users create any number of accounts, and a crypto wallet automatically appears, enabling you to send/receive cryptocurrency or even collect event tickets. Converse flipped the traditional crypto wallet model by embedding it inside a messaging app, elegantly and without obfuscation.
In the money transmission field, several apps are vying to replicate Venmo. Among them are Beans, Code, and Sling. Even Coinbase has entered the fray with the relatively simple idea of generating a special link that can be shared across messaging apps to enable stablecoin transfers.
The common thread here is that users aren't required to geek out over Web3 to use certain apps—they can go at their own pace or, in some instances, ignore those aspects entirely.
Blockchain purists may disagree with this approach, with some arguing that everything must be decentralized from the jump—that signing on with one's Google credentials, for example, defeats the purpose of decentralization. But the counterargument is grounded in user experience best practices: Let people absorb Web3 in incremental doses—small ones before larger ones.
Early adopters of Web3 who want their friends to join them can snag more of them through a Web2 veneer that's familiar and inviting. By prioritizing user-centric design, Web3 can truly revolutionize the internet experience, making it more accessible and intuitive for everyone.
William Mougayar has four decades of tech industry experience and is the author of The Business Blockchain. The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
