I agree with this take.

I would add that connections matter. I see many people on Nostr say that blue-checks still use Twitter mainly for audience reach. They’re addicted to the reach, and so forth.

While I do love the dunking on blue-checks overall (as a blue-check myself, it amuses me and you should keep it coming), I’d point out that it’s more than that.

When I was temporarily locked out of my 700k+ follower permissioned account on Twitter, I didn’t lose sleep over not being able to broadcast to people. I have email lists and other mechanisms for that, where it economically matters.

What I lost sleep over is that I couldn’t see my friends’ posts or DMs. The *receiver* side of it all.

Similarly, when people ask me why I don’t just leave Twitter and be Nostr exclusive, that’s the reason. My friends aren’t just bitcoiners; they’re also tradfi people. Twitter is where they are. Leaving that network would mean leaving friends. Would mean not seeing their content.

-Twitter is the fastest news source. I literally monitor it as part of my research process.

-Twitter is where my friends are. The tradfi community isn’t on Instagram or TikTok or Facebook. It’s on Twitter. Bitcoiners too. I’ve been open here on Nostr about dealing with isolation when my husband has had to be in Egypt longer than normal due to a construction process, and my social media life, both here and on Twitter, has been helpful for me at dealing with that. The sheer amount of people I know on Twitter, and the rapidity of responses, is really powerful.

That network effect is so strong. It’s generally not optimal to try to attack it directly.

Instead, you need to build and popularize things that *can’t* be done by Twitter. Zaps are the go-to example. But also using the social graph for non-social media things (ie reviews). Be a compliment to Twitter that a user *also* needs, rather than trying to convince a user to leave Twitter and join Nostr.

That’s how you win. How we win.

nostr:nevent1qqsf0sqdllvshxs3yf0le80ew00kkqse66e3ww44z6vgkvm0psfu2rspzemhxw309ucnjv3wxymrst338qhrww3hxumnw5kadfj

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šŸ’ÆāœŠ

hot take, but there are no friends on any social media. just images of people. social media has legitimate uses, but those have nothing to do with friends

Neither does it have anything to do with news. What it is is a massive place where everyone gets to share their uneducated opinion about something they barely understand. Waste of time imo but may be I'm just getting old.

yep, i never liked myspace or facebook when they came out right after highschool. thought social media was stupid then, and despite my best efforts, i personally can’t really find a good use case for me.

it’s really a ā€œi need a way to take a break from productive workā€ might as well check out social media

if i was a content creators or a group leader, then i would find great utility.

It’s a fair take, but for many social media friends I then meet them in real life.

So I’d disagree.

yeah, good point, it can be a tool for making real friends.

i was thinking more of interactions in comments and tweets, seperating DMs. We dont call texting or sending an email ā€œsocial mediaā€ so DMs are just an additional feature built into the platform.

we don’t @ a friend to ask them to come over, but no sense in dissecting definitions of ā€œfriendā€ or ā€œsocial mediaā€

Yeah I've definitely made IRL frens that are now probably homies for life...

All from Bitcoin Twitter.

When you say Xitter is the fastest news source, you probably mean it's the fastest source of rumors, wrong interpretations and outright misinformation.

If you strip all this noise, what you actually end up is the presence of the legacy media, i.e. the real journalists doing their job. The saddest thing is that people spend years learning and mastering the craft of being a journalist (which requires a degree btw) only to end up in a pool full of self proclaimed bat takers and noise generators.

I see us going back trusting the educated and experienced, vs attention seeking social media grifters.

If you sculpt your social graph well, you can get most of the good stuff with less of the bad stuff.

Yes, Twitter at large is a cesspool of fast rumors.

No, my feed is not that, because I sculpted it.

The Nostr vs. Twitter comparison is what I see the most. Personally, I’m hoping someday Nostr can best Instagram as a way for artists to connect directly with their audience and get paid/zapped for all the tutorials etc that they currently make as part of their efforts to appease the algorithm. It’s awesome to see creators achieving that on Nostr now, like nostr:npub1z674e6ztne66luq0qmt3l9r8uck68zqnz6x6fzuwad46me0mjwfsfngz59 with custom knitt blankets.

I never liked using twitter / didn’t get into it … it would be interesting if the Noster protocol was meshed with IG and Reddit, but also still be its own separate thing

I’ve heard they call it X now

It seems like you’re in full agreement with the perspective that connections and networks play a huge role in how people engage on platforms like Twitter, and the difficulty in leaving them behind when there’s so much value in being connected to others there. The idea that Twitter is more than just a broadcasting platform, but also a place where you maintain relationships, get quick news, and access a network of like-minded people, is compelling.

The idea of building alternatives like Nostr that complement Twitter, instead of trying to replace it outright, also makes a lot of sense. Rather than trying to convince people to abandon the network effects that Twitter provides, focusing on creating something unique that adds value beyond what Twitter offers can be the way forward. It’s a smarter approach that aligns with building a broader ecosystem.

In short, you’re agreeing with the importance of those existing connections and suggesting that the goal should be to provide value in ways that platforms like Twitter can’t, which helps create an alternative that’s more complementary than competing. It’s a thoughtful and strategic approach.

Love this. For the people. For the freedom. For the value. That’s why I’m here. And because I’m censored, banned or locked out from any other social platform available šŸ˜…šŸ’œšŸ¤·ā€ā™‚ļø. Toxic triple maxi on a bitcoin standard 🫔🧔

Non-social media things, I just finished watching some guy's stream and to think that Nostr can so easily provide this, just 1 click away, no need to change website, no need to sign up in another platform, just his npub, amazing, then I can go look at the painting some other guy has uploaded, again same platform, Nostr.

Reasonable🫔

But let’s hope more people will come here

One of the best takes I’ve read about this subject.

It doesn’t have to be PvP.

It isn’t PvP.

All value is subjective. I value my freedom more than social media network effects.

It’s not about numbers. It’s about SIGNAL over NOISE.

The building of Coherence šŸ’“šŸ§¬

It will win at publishing truth that is verboten to speak on Twitter. There’s a large swath of land that twitter ceded to keep its masters appeased.

I made a lurker account after I got locked out. You should too.

Wait, you have non-nostr friends?? Yeah, that’s cool. I mean, I’m not insecure about that at all.

What is a Zap?

I don't believe that you only wanted your Twitter back bc "muh friends" but everything else you said is spot on.

Twitter doesn’t work for plebs. It really doesn’t. That can’t be ignored. Nostr works for plebs. Just normal folks firing up an npub who put in a little work will get engagement and a response from the platform. They don’t have to fight an algorithm that demands they either become an inflooencer or have no voice.

šŸ’Æ maybe twice I ever found value in an interaction there. Even finding the people I know irl, its just them replying to people who won't ever read it. The plebian Twitter experience is best when you don't know anyone & keep your mouth shut šŸ˜…

My exact experience. Engagement only exists if you’re looking to play the algo game and market yourself within its parameters. At which point it’s garbage engagement.

The very conversation we’re having here right now is impossible there.

Look at us, being exemplary šŸ˜…

Winning āš”ļø

Twitter silences plebs. It's like screaming into an empty void. A waste of time. Worse than nothing.