Step by step guide to host your blog on Web 3 (and technical explanation)
đĄ This article is divided into two parts: đ The first part is a super easy step-by-step procedure to publish your first blog post on web 3 using Mirror, and the second part will be more technical đ¤ and will explain some technical details and architecture which stands behind the platform.
What is Web 3?
Itâs not the purpose of this article, but letâs start with a quick recap about what is Web 3.
Ethereum.org provides a good definition of what is Web 3 :
Instead of a Web monopolized by large technology companies, Web3 embraces decentralization and is being built, operated, and owned by its users. Web3 puts power in the hands of individuals rather than corporations.
Here are the two big changes: decentralization and ownership.
Why publish on a Web 3 platform?
Letâs take the example of Medium. You create content, you publish content through Medium platform, and then, Medium is generating revenues from your content. Most of the authors are getting nothing (or almost nothing) from this content creation. The content is hosted on Mediumâs servers, you have no control over it.
By nature, a web 3 platform will be much more ownership oriented. You keep control of your data and how you can use it, for money or not.
Why should I move from Medium to Mirror ? I already have many publications on my Medium account and I donât really see the benefits of switchingâŚ
From a pure editor experience standpoint, the look and feel between the two platforms are very similar.
But on the value creation from your content, this platform will consider every single post as creation, for which you can earn money. The content is yours and will be signed with your Ethereum signature.
Mirror blogging platform Starting Kit â Easy step-by-step setup.
I will dive more into details later, letâs start with an easy-to-understand process first.
We are going to use https://mirror.xyz/
Step 1: Create an Ethereum Wallet
As Mirror is running on the Ethereum blockchain, you need an Ethereum address in order to create your content.
First, you need to create an Ethereum wallet with an associated address.
There are several options including MetaMask, WalletConnect, and Coinbase Wallet. You can choose any of them.
Later, you can use this wallet to send and receive ETH, and purchase ETH.
Your Ethereum address is going to be your identity on the Ethereum blockchain.
For this example, I will use Coinbase Wallet.
You need to install the Coinbase Wallet extension to your browser, it will make every step easier.
Step 2: Connect your Ethereum address to Mirror
After clicking on the âConnect Walletâ button on the top-right of the page, you will be asked to scan the QR code with the help of the Coinbase Wallet app.
After some ultra-light setup questions, you will access the dashboard where you can create your first post.
Now Mirror is connected to your Ethereum address, and every single operation you do will be attached to this address and will be stored on the blockchain.
Step 3: Connect your wallet to Optimism
Optimism is the L2 used by Mirror to connect on the Ethereum blockchain (I will detail a bit more below).
For now, you have to connect to the Optimism website ( https://app.optimism.io/bridge/deposit ) and connect your wallet (With the help of the plugin it requires no effort).
Step 4: Create your post/contents
This is the less technical part, but the most difficult!
Simply use the online editor to create your page. Once you are ready, itâs time to publish!
Step 5: Publish your page
When you publish your page, you will get some interesting options.
You have the option of creating funding for your content. By activating it, you have to add a few parameters :
Price = The price of your article
Supply = The number of people who can âbuyâ your article
Once you are done with your parameters, you can sign (you need your wallet app) and publish your post.
You are done !!! Congratulations! You have now an article hosted on the blockchain đ
If you scroll down on this page, you will find a âcollectâ button. By clicking on it, you will be able to buy the NFT of this article, a good way to support the creatorsâ work.
Now we will dive a little bit more into the technical details, of how is Mirror working.
How is it working? (technical part)
Your Ethereum identity
<https://mirror.xyz/0xE474098F90e40E10aefffb47B08EA318a3017a3f>Your blog URL is accessible through your Ethereum address. Here you can see 0xE474098F90e40E10aefffb47B08EA318a3017a3f which is my personal address. (yes you can send money to my address đ ).
You can check all the data from this address with Etherscan: https://etherscan.io/address/0xE474098F90e40E10aefffb47B08EA318a3017a3f
And yes, as you can see, everything is visible, this is one of the core principles of the blockchain.
If I simplify a lot, Mirror is like a window on the blockchain, to display your contents.
Where is my data?
Mirror is using Arweave for data storage. Arweave is a storage protocol for permanent storage. The content will never disappear.
Mirror is providing the Arweave transaction id. For example GDz8iTey_VDpJrD1VKnTVkQx-hhMeTRXIT_hw4_UB9A .
With this id, you can search for details of the transaction: https://viewblock.io/arweave/tx/GDz8iTey_VDpJrD1VKnTVkQx-hhMeTRXIT_hw4_UB9A
Here we can clearly see the application that made the transaction, the contributor (me), and the Content-Digest.
You can also see the content of the transaction: https://da6pzcjxwl6vb2jgwd2vjkotkzcdd6qyjr4tivzbh7q4hd6ua7ia.arweave.net/GDz8iTey_VDpJrD1VKnTVkQx-hhMeTRXIT_hw4_UB9A
And yes, by browsing https://viewblock.io/arweave/txs you can access all the transactions on Arweave and see all the data.
NFT from my post
Yes, for all the posts that are created through Mirror, an NFT is created. This is what we get when we pay for a post. It will create a collection and as many items as you defined before publishing your post.
You can check the NFTs on https://qx.app/ (NFT marketplace for Optimism).
Optimism as a Layer 2 on the top of Ethereum
Mirror is running on Optimism, a Layer 2 for Ethereum. As with most of Layer 2, it allows to reduce significantly the costs of transactions and scales up the capacity of the network.
You can find all the data about Optimism here https://dune.com/optimismfnd/Optimism-Overview
This Optimism usage makes it mandatory to bridge the wallet with Optimism in order to make transactions on the posts (if you want to buy an NFT from the post).
Global architecture overview
I tried to recap in the below high-level architecture diagram the global layers behind the Mirror blogging app.
I hope you enjoyed this article, maybe it will give you the motivation to create and share new content on the blockchain/web3.
The purpose of this article is not to make a deep technical dive into the implementation, but to do some vulgarisation about web 3 architecture and logic.
