ICXGram

Your one-stop destination for a blockchain-run social media platform where you have exciting features like NFT, in platform transactions, crowdfunding and much more.

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Inspiration

With Web 3.0 dominating the technology news, we, as technology enthusiasts, pondered as to how we could do our part in this upcoming revolution. The brainchild of a brainstorming session that ensued is ICXGram, a blockchain-based social media platform.

What it does

ICXGram is absolutely feature-filled. It has the fundamental features one might expect of a social media platform with the Web 3.0 edge. Below is an extensive list of how ICXGram seeks to serve to the end-user:

  1. Enables users to express their thoughts in an intuitive feed page.
  2. Populates user feed based on topics liked by the user.
  3. Allows users to start crowdfunds to fund projects and other needs.
  4. Allows users to contribute to crowdfunds.
  5. Allows users to transact ICX.
  6. Shows users their past transactions and current ICX holdings.
  7. Allows users to create text and image NFTs.
  8. Allows users to buy and sell NFTs.

How we built it

Week 1 and Week 2

  1. We decided the development stack as follows: a. React for frontend b. NodeJS for backend c. Test network https://sejong.tracker.solidwallet.io
  2. We explored the Icon documentation to understand the various API calls that were available. We then proceeded to bootstrap the frontend and backend applications.
  3. In parallel, we had multiple discussions with our UI/UX designer to explain the requirements and the kind of look-and-feel we were trying to achieve for this product.

Week 3 and Week 4

  1. Preliminary designs were ready.
  2. We implemented google OAuth on the front-end and converted the designs to actual pages in React.
  3. We developed the database design.
  4. We created a mongoDB Atlas instance, created collections and defined the respective schema in NodeJS.
  5. We wrote APIs for the social media Feed, Crowdfunding, Wallet (creation and fetching), and Transactions.
  6. We deployed the NodeJS backend using heroku.
  7. We called these APIs from our react application using axios.

Week 5, Week 6, Week 7 and Week 8

  1. We explored the NFT technology and how we could integrate that with ICXGram.
  2. After developing a road map, we proceeded to incorporate text NFTs and image NFTs.

Challenges we ran into

  1. Understanding the ICON documentation.
  2. Understanding the various available API calls.
  3. Establishing the environment for development and deployment of SCORE.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  1. We built an end-to-end full-stack web application empowered by Web 3.0 technology.
  2. We came up with designs adhering to UI/UX principles, which is a statement of our commitment to building a good, user-friendly product which stands as a testament the harmony between design and engineering.
  3. We engineered the integration of NFTs into our application, which was not initially planned. It was just an afterthought that we decided pursue given the additional time. This is a testament to our willingness to build.

What we learned

  1. We witnessed first-hand the benefits entailing the confluence of good design and good engineering.
  2. We broadened our horizons on Web 3.0 technologies.
  3. We now have deeper understanding on blockchain than we did before starting off with ICXGram.

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