Replying to Avatar ₿en Wehrman

This is the third or fourth time we've seen a MASSIVE wave of attention hitting the social media censorship problem worldwide—enough to catalyze MILLIONS to delete a major legacy app and download a new one—yet Nostr has received practically zero new users from the exodus.

I've been posting all over X trying to pull people to the freedom protocol, but it's become a waste of time when there's literally less than ten of us who are consistently sacrificing our time/energy trying to generate Nostr buzz on the legacy apps.

At what point do we direct serious resources away from building a million new Nostr apps everyday that nobody uses, and focus 1000% on marketing, so we can show the world the awesome shit we've been building here?

I don't have a strong handle on the inner workings taking place behind the scenes (especially when it comes to grant money and other funding mechanisms), so I'm asking honestly:

What are the main blockers we have right now that are preventing us from making a significant, organized marketing push aimed at bringing new users to Nostr? (Paying big creators to make videos about Nostr, reaching out to big podcasts to platform our best Nostr educators to a bigger audience, clients hiring commission-based outreach reps that pay based on bringing new users that sign up for Premium, etc.)

Is the problem 100% a lack of money within the ecosystem? I know there have been rumblings in the past about an OpenSats-type funding mechanism to help boost Educators and Content Creators, is that still in the works?

Is it a lack of strong business models among clients that would make new user acquisition a strong enough benefit to allocate resources toward hiring people to go out and hunt down new users to bring over?

Lack of purely marketing-focused entities that could act as a centralized hubs for organizing such campaigns?

If it is one of the above things, what steps do we need to make as a community to clear out the obstacles?

Or am I completely off base on all of this, being too impatient, or focusing on the wrong things when there are more important upstream problems that need to be fixed first?

I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts, because this recent UpScrolled saga has been a disappointing signal that we are failing at positioning ourself as the perfect solution (WHICH WE ARE) to the problem millions are facing worldwide. #AskNostr

nostr:nevent1qqs8vnwuuqrll7sqv6memeqhfdxury94xpslp5c85s9sqs4wj3vn5vqpzamhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuurjd9kkzmpwdejhgtczype9ac7tzwl4nfmnmnvfg9r2ug0p3wxul6k73rmsq59uw8va056zzqcyqqqqqqg0l8xc9

nostr:nevent1qqsqcyeg5zpvlgfk3xtyw2qmsu24pcvgn0qqhm8kuqrl37cuemjmp5gpzamhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuurjd9kkzmpwdejhgtczype9ac7tzwl4nfmnmnvfg9r2ug0p3wxul6k73rmsq59uw8va056zzqcyqqqqqqg25vg29

I think we need an incentive for normal every day people to use Nostr. Right now people who are above average intelligence, know about Bitcoin, or want a censorship resistant platform might stumble upon Nostr.

We need a way to show your average "normie" why they should use Nostr.

Right now the incentives tend to be more with the content creators, we need to show the user they have incentive as well.

Reply to this note

Please Login to reply.

Discussion

Why? Normies are horrible and make most things worse.

There are a ton of people here with very normie ideals that already drive the value of nostr down below the average fedi experience.

Why would we want this to be more like any normie space?

Good points... I guess that's a totally different mindset to have. I think the space is great and think what makes it great is the fact that there exists some barriers to entry to access.

I think what Ben was asking is how do we get mass adoption here on Nostr? For mass adoption, obviously we would need normies (they are a part of the "masses").

Personally, I am not a content creator (yet), but if I needed to monetize? Then I would want all the normies you could find =)

I think growth is normal and good and has a lot of benefits. Don't get me wrong. However. I think that there's a downside to having a lot of new people with different values all of a sudden. I think rather than THE masses we should be attempting to preach to the choir.

Tell people we suspect are somewhat unsatisfied with normal platforms or who have fears of looming censorship to be using nostr as a backup or whatever.

I'm definitely not against growth so I don't want to give that impression. I just think there are more likeminded people out there that ultimately would be a good or maybe even better group that might be even more willing to buy what you're selling over the average normie.

I don't want you to think I'm just trying to shit on your idea. That's not my point haha

Cuz its made for everyone...

It isn't though. People constantly talk about how "it's too hard for grandma" to get on here or involved with any btc shit.

It's such a lie to say that it's made for everyone.

It is

It doesn't make it more true if you say it more.

Its a decentralized protocol. Open for anyone to use it. If it wasnt the restriction would be made for bitcoin community only. You cant tell me on decentralized protocol what to do or where to lean... it doesnt make sense.

Close it for your bitcoiners only and enjoy the show. Then you can tell me that it was designed for bitcoin only...

My argument isn't that it's for "bitcoiners only"

My argument is that it's not for everyone. In the same way broccoli isn't for everyone. Or seafood isn't for everyone. Or painting isn't for everyone.

There are already built in barriers for entry which will inherently eliminate potential users like children or the elderly.

Thats true. But you are also offensive over the people that are here now. Which then means you just have a problem with who ever doesnt use it in bitcoin way. As you said... it already selected those who can use it by them not being able to access the protocol... so what do you have a problem with normies now that are using this protocol for their own stuff after already passing that elimination barrier? And why do you say that they are dropping the value? Thats not true... that is solely your opinion that I dont agree with ... they cant drop the value because there is no chart to follow. You do what you want... who likes it will follow who doesnt will not.

I'm not even that gung-ho about bitcoin honestly. At best it's just different money. At worst it's a complete scam. Not a big deal really.

The issues I have with some of the people here aren't about Bitcoin.

I care about culture over just about everything else. The idea of more normies increases pretty undesirable culture in my mind. And decreases uniqueness to this platform over any other platform.

At a certain point it just becomes Facebook with bitcoin and more annoying steps to get here. I don't think anyone really wants a carbon copy of Facebook culturally speaking.

Or Reddit. Or Twitter or any other place.

Right now as I see it this is an alternative to the fedi. Although the fedi might actually be better for culture purposes.

I'm trying to address your questions and I think I have the best I can but if I missed anything let me know.

Also I'm perfectly fine disagreeing. I'm not trying to convince you of anything. Just letting you know my position.