This is what I wrote about back in 2021 if you want to take a look: https://rossulbricht.medium.com/decentralize-social-media-cc47dcfd4f99
The basic idea is that users would pay for content delivery, but it would happen under the hood at the protocol level and be super cheap and plentiful because of node competition (I called them "content servers" back then). Your average user wouldn't know or care about it, wouldn't have to shop around for private nodes or run their own.
But we don’t want ads and clicks model.
We are exhausted of this model.
optionality is key. the freemium through ads model is clearly valued on the internet, but the ability for an individual to start with or upgrade to a different model would actually apply pressure on the freemium ad models to not be so harmful to the end users
The average user should know about relays, even if they don't care. Everyone should have exposure to the knowledge that allows for recourse if/when they're censored. If leveraged well, that's a big part of what makes Nostr interesting and unique, too, which is where business could thrive.
That’s quite interesting, thanks for sharing. And your right we have seen a lot of open projects being centralized and controlled by single entities a lot.
Glad to see you in this space. Do feel Nostr, has a chance at long term success?
Oh yes, I do. That's why I am interested in understanding it and looking for possible weaknesses. I want it to succeed long-term, and the best way to ensure that is to look ahead, iterate and improve.
pretty much every single one of us has asked
"how is it going to scale"
after the first month
Ok. Not a dev, coder, particularly bright perspective here, but I would submit a gentle plea for space in a scale-less realm. A space where #nostr remains the cozy little aerie where the cool kids gather, away from the many-headed masses. One can dream.
We are very happy to have you and appreciate your efforts. If you ever have any questions be sure to ask the community as well. 🐶🫂
To be honest though when I first saw you had joined I thought you would probably attach your X to auto repost here then forget about us. Glad to be wrong.
Most of us here on Nostr have been waiting on you to get free
And then come to Nostr …
You did both
Yay glad your here finally 💟
The nostr:nprofile1qqsggm4l0xs23qfjwnkfwf6fqcs66s3lz637gaxhl4nwd2vtle8rnfqprdmhxue69uhhg6r9vehhyetnwshxummnw3erztnrdakj7qfqwaehxw309ahx7um5wghx26tww4hxg7nhv9h856t89eehqctrv5hsz5xkmf team has been working on some very interesting projects that you might be interested in. I've been paying close attention and many others are beginning to, as well. 😎🫡
It’s great to have your pov in the space 💜
LFG! keep poking holes! nostr needs your criticism and also your advocacy
I image a day, when car/house, hire/share, and so much more is simply a nostr client :)
Assange needs to be here asap
It’s a step in the right direction but still WIP I feel.
and here we are :)
What you're describing is very similar to NIP90 data vending machines:
"This NIP defines the interaction between customers and Service Providers for performing on-demand computation.
Money in, data out."
Nice 'greed' typo
Hey Ross, glad to see you on Nostr.
I've read your medium article. You're thinking within slave tech architecture, even your terminology like decentralized social protocol (DSP) is from the dinosaur era. The problem of most decentralized social media ecosystems is that they try to create a native solution for everything. Spasm is different because it's modular and agnostic, that's why it's the endgame of social media.
Don't get me wrong, I like Nostr, I know many Nostr devs, I was one of the winners of the first Nostr hackathon, and I've started integrating Nostr into Spasm in 2023. That said, Nostr is a closed ecosystem and it's at least one generation behind Spasm.
Let me take you on a wild Spasm ride so you can understand what I mean.
Firstly, let's see why Nostr is a closed ecosystem. Note that I use "ecosystem", not "protocol".
- Nostr locks you to one specific private key.
- Nostr locks you to one specific messaging protocol.
- All native Nostr apps support only one network.
- Most Nostr users use native mobile apps, which don't provide much freedom to e.g. sign arbitrary messages like web3 browser extensions.
- Nostr's most popular npm package 'nostr-tools' doesn't even expose a function to sign arbitrary messages, which is the most basic expectation of pretty much any other web3 library.
- The most popular Nostr app, Damus, is literally an iOS app.
- Most core devs are bitcoin maxis.
- The Nostr network is pretty centralized.
In other words, Nostr, SSB, Lens, Farcaster, Steem/Hive, Bluesky are much more open ecosystems than legacy social media platforms. However, when Spasm entered the room, the bar was raised so high that it became obvious that Spasm is the only truly open ecosystem, leaving all previous generations of social media as closed ecosystems.
Let's look at a few examples and how issues raised in your article can be solved.
Usernames are easily solved with an agnostic solution. Since Spasm supports different private keys, it can get the best from different ecosystems. For example, a non-unique name and bio can be fetched from Nostr, while a unique username can be fetched from various blockchain-based naming services like ENS. And there are privacy-preserving blockchain-based solutions, e.g., Zano aliases. Zano private keys have not been integrated into Spasm yet, but we've already discussed that option and it might happen this or next year.
Spasm is capable of what you're describing in the article because it can gather content from different networks, including Twitter-style social graph-based friend circles and Reddit-style niche forums.
The Spasm-powered forum also supports groundbreaking multi-signing, which allows users to sign the same message with different private keys and different messaging protocols and send it to different networks, while still having the same deterministic Spasm ID, meaning that all reactions and replies can be properly chained to the parent event regardless of the network they came from.
For example, I've published a detailed review of Session vs SimpleX architectures on MoneroTop.
https://monero.top/news/spasmid010a70651fc27fb9125f7ea
However, you can read the same article on DegenRocket because it partially federates with MoneroTop.
https://degenrocket.space/news/spasmid010a70651fc27fb9125f7ea
You can also read it on other Spasm instances that federate with DegenRocket using short or long Spasm ID, e.g.:
https://dark.vegas/news/spasmid010a70651fc27fb9125f7ea9f945d6add3530af91c829cdc414bcd5dda080f3020
Since that event is multi-signed with both Ethereum and Nostr private keys, it has multiple IDs, so you can access it using a Nostr ID on any of the instances mentioned above, e.g.:
https://monero.top/news/note1e94uvd0vx2k9mgdgnzzpqmdh0swkqmkhq6uy4c2g3pganxy96pvqlkvmsz
Additionally, this event was pushed to the Nostr network, so you can find it via your native Nostr app, e.g.:
nostr:note1e94uvd0vx2k9mgdgnzzpqmdh0swkqmkhq6uy4c2g3pganxy96pvqlkvmsz
Thus, you can get benefits from different networks and blockchains like Nostr's social graph and profile info as well as Ethereum-based social graphs provided by Farcaster or Lens and unique blockchain-based usernames like ENS. Nostr integration has already been implemented, while Farcaster, Lens, ENS, and other Ethereum-related integrations can be added later.
You can reply to the event with Ethereum or Nostr browser extension on a Spasm instance or using your native Nostr app as if it was a usual Nostr event.
Spasm-powered forums use reactions instead of flags, which can be used to filter content. Spasm instances can choose which reactions to use.
You're also focusing too much on ads in your article, which are mostly used in highly centralized networks with millions of users who don't have a habit of paying for social media services. There are many other ways to sustain a decentralized network, especially if it's not based on a social graph. Most Nostr apps currently rely on a social graph to show messages from a follow list and that requires huge Nostr relays with millions of events in order to provide good UX, which leads to centralization of the network.
There are other approaches, though. For example, Spasm is an agnostic solution, so it supports not only the Nostr network, but also other networks with different models of content distribution. Spasm-powered forums are mostly targeting many niche communities, which often don't require any ads to pay for infrastructure. Think about a conference that runs a Spasm instance so users can discuss details of the upcoming events on one forum, or a marketplace that runs a forum to discuss different products and vendors, or any other business or local community that can host a forum without serving any ads. These forums can also federate with each other, creating a highly decentralized and censorship-resistant network that doesn't rely on ads.
Let me know if you want to learn more about Spasm and the future of social media in general. You can reply to this message, send me DM on Nostr, find me on Session at 'degenrocket', or simply read more at https://spasm.network
The idea seems similar to what nostr:nprofile1qqsth7fr42fyvpjl3rzqclvm7cwves8l8l8lqedgevhlfnamvgyg78spzpmhxue69uhkummnw3ezumrpdejqz9rhwden5te0wfjkccte9ejxzmt4wvhxjmcpp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqqdtrej is building
Keychat has introduced the sats stamp concept, which is quite similar to what you’re talking about.👇
Keychat is a chat app, built on Bitcoin ecash, Nostr protocol and Signal/MLS protocol.
Keychat is inspired by the postal system — stamps, post offices, letters.
Keychat uses Bitcoin ecash as stamps and Nostr relays as post offices.
Keychat uses Signal/MLS protocol to ensure message encryption security and meta-data privacy.
For the love of god, please say "good morning" to nostr:nprofile1qqsfev65tsmfgrv69mux65x4c7504wgrzrxgnrzrgj70cnyz9l68hjsprfmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuem9w3skccne9e3k7mf0wccszyrhwden5te0dehhxarj9ekxzmnyqyxhwumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmvkw5g0z!
