[karmelapple]

When you say a protocol, do you mean in the same way http is a protocol? Like a new way to communicate that web browsers would start adopting?

Because in my opinion the browsers would need to make it as easy to use as any other website or phone app if it were ever to gain traction.

[intergalplan]

Usenet, email, http, XMPP, IRC, et c. Yes, just like those. In combination, that bunch is already not too far off. The trouble is that anything trying to do that is competing with "free" spyvertising services, which have no incentive to integrate with them (i.e. implement the protocol), unless it's to do it temporarily to eat their meager market share before cutting them off. IMO that dynamic is why protocols have stagnated for decades. Working on a client or server for some new protocol is thankless when you know it'll be niche at best, and more likely DOA. Making a go at a business with one is insane in this market. So they stagnate. No new ones catch hold, and old ones make slow progress at best, or gradually die.