Replying to Avatar Lyn Alden

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.

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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.

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