Thoughts about the implications for Nostr and zaps?
Discussion
Thousands of patreon, GoFundMe, Kickstarter, and onlyfans disagree.
The problem is not the tipping. The problem is they can't do it because they are worried about being an MSB.
Most of those aren't primarily tipping sites though. The major use case is often purchasing a product vs tipping.
Patreon is billed as a way to tip but in practice is often used for additional benefits for members.
Most people donate to the Kickstarter for the perk they get vs tipping a creator for an idea.
OnlyFans is to gain access to additonal access to creators.
The only one that doesn't have a direct product you get is probably GoFundMe but I think the charitable feeling is the product you're buying there.
Tumblr Tips: credit rails, bad #V4V design, audience of cheap skates and horrible name
Nostr Zaps: zero friction, competition for top zap, early adopters that care about money and great freakin' name
none, we're still early...
Tumblr still exists?!
Money exchange in a social app will not work because of the encroachment on the legacy financial system. Only way is to go on a decentralised protocol on a parallel financial system. There is a reason why I use NOSTR but have never used any of the other ones
I think we are 30 years early
I just took a look at the https://tumblr.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4417356885527-Tipping page on how to set up tips.
Min tip $1
You need to set up a KYC'd account with Stripe (so probably geo restricted, at least to only places where stripe operates) and anyway how is it normal that to use a service you have to open an account with their banking partner?
You don't get the tips till they reach $25
You need to be 18+yrs to use?!
Depending where you live >1% cut is taken from each tip
Hopefully we can do better!
For example it should be possible to tip a nostr account without a nostr account and with any bitcoin wallet support lightning payments.... Though I just tried tipping your post not signed in via nostrudel but couldn't get the payment request to come up.
i really think it is the company and not the tipping in the case....i just researched there stats: "In December 2023, the social network Tumblr.com had 198.3 million website visits worldwide, down from 230 million site visits six months earlier. In December 2018, the platform banned porn and adult content, a controversial move that sparked user outrage and caused artists and sex workers to move to other sites." That doesn't seem like you can build a fanbase off of anything with that number (and this is just surface level research). If TikTok implemented tipping, I bet it would be a different story, because they already offer gifts. The value of those gifts mainly go to TikTok. I watched hardcore followers sending massive quanitities of gifts to PO boxes as well.....I think Tumblr is just a lost cause at this point.
Tipping by normies on streaming platforms such as Twitch and YouTube seem popular, so maybe Tumblrās tipping UX was just bad
Twitter added the ability to tip with lightning a long time ago and hardly anyone uses it cause the UX is shit
I second this. I have sent probably $200 in super chats on YouTube. My YouTube account just used the same card I had on file for paying for youtube premium. Zero friction.
Maybe let people pay in Fiat but use BTC on their behalf on the backend like Strike? Then let users āupgradeā to using BTC directly if they choose to? Only have friction for the power user. Normies get zero friction.
Sounds very complicated: https://help.tumblr.com/blaze-faq/
I think the less friction it has the better it will work, so ideally if Bitcoin became widespread and easy and cheap to use maybe we would see tipping work well enough.
But ultimately I think that just tipping is not sustainable in most cases: nostr:naddr1qqyrsef3xpnrwvecqyghwumn8ghj7enfv96x5ctx9e3k7mgzyqalp33lewf5vdq847t6te0wvnags0gs0mu72kz8938tn24wlfze6qcyqqq823cafr3z6
Oh man! This is how it looks if the product/dev can't say no.
Chief of compliance deserves the promotion to the EU, though.
Stramlabs and Streamelements enable this for creators on Twitch and it seems to work well in that context.
There is also a huge industry for donations and the infrastructure to send it directly to the organization. In these instances a creator does some sort of online event or challenge and encourages their community to donate.
The larger nonprofits are into it - they show up to Twitchcon every year to recruit streamers for fundraising efforts.
Tipping is a practice I generally dislike both irl and in apps- although I think it is good it's there.
Personally think committing to a subscription is best- a tip should only be a secondary option, not the primary. The creator can set expectations about what they need, and the user can commit for a period of time.
Another similar story from a couple weeks ago: https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/19/24135011/twitter-alternative-post-news-shutdown
I feel like tipping is different from Value for Value economies. Tipping is fun but I donāt think we should construct a social space where money is the signal of value. It will just reinforce class dynamics.
Value for Value is working in certain spaces. Like I follow some artists that release all their albums for āpay what you wantā on bandcamp, and a lot of creators on Nostr are excited about V4V but Iām not sure any of them are making dependable or āprofitableā businesses around it. Iād love to see examples to the contrary?
To me the much more exciting possibility of micropayments in social spaces is pooling resources to achieve collective goals. This is something that churches, clubs, recovery groups, and other communities have learned to do really well in physical spaces, but it hasnāt taken off in online communities.