Replying to Avatar Svetski

Why Nostr is struggling…

There is too much of an overlap with X, not only in the feature sets among the primary applications, but more importantly, in the kind of audience that Nostr is catering to.

Sure..censorship resistance at the protocol level is a differentiator, but the to the average person, you may as well be talking gibberish. They don’t know wtf a protocol is in the first place - let alone why it matters for censorship resistance to happen at that level, or more importantly, WHY they should trust Nostr to deliver on that promise. “Bcoz nostr:npub1sg6plzptd64u62a878hep2kev88swjh3tw00gjsfl8f237lmu63q0uf63m said so” is not an argument.

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Bluesky is a case in point here.

It’s got a VERY similar feature set to X, claims to be open source / censorship resistant (similar narrative to Nostr), and is growing MUCH faster than Nostr, bc it has captured a key audience, ie; people with TDS and EDS (Elon Derangement Syndrome).

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/bluesky-signups-surge-uk-amid-musks-row-with-government-over-riots-2024-08-13/?

I’ve been on there a few times, and the content quality is enough to make you want to throw up….but at the very least, it’s working for that kind of content, and for the people who want it.

I don’t have a direct answer here..but I think it’s something to do with the over-emphasis on technicals.

nostr:npub1az9xj85cmxv8e9j9y80lvqp97crsqdu2fpu3srwthd99qfu9qsgstam8y8 mentioned increasing the emphasis on design the other day. I agree this is a move in the right direction. We’re taking a very design-focused approach with nostr:npub15xd2mmjnh3caykh77djsv73e0zkrp42jp5mwerx8f4m6su40wdvss7t3l3 (we’ll have ALOT more to show in the next 6wks).

That being said, it’s not enough.

IMO, Nostr is technically mature enough for us to go out there and talk about it to more people, and build a narrative BEYOND the 500 of us that are talking to each other on here.

People like nostr:npub1l2vyh47mk2p0qlsku7hg0vn29faehy9hy34ygaclpn66ukqp3afqutajft or nostr:npub1dergggklka99wwrs92yz8wdjs952h2ux2ha2ed598ngwu9w7a6fsh9xzpc can correct me if I am wrong here. Maybe there’s alot more to do technically.

But if I am right, I’d like to see more initiatives that are marketing oriented being supported by nostr:npub17xvf49kht23cddxgw92rvfktkd3vqvjgkgsdexh9847wl0927tqsrhc9as and nostr:npub10pensatlcfwktnvjjw2dtem38n6rvw8g6fv73h84cuacxn4c28eqyfn34f and other coalitions. Maybe we even need a council of Nostr businesses, who together pool some funds to help drive some marketing initiatives?

Whatever the case, we need to expand upon the Nostr narrative, make it more compelling and speak to more people about it.

At the very least, we have to conquer then Bitcoiners. If we can’t get the segment who are into freedom money onto the freedom of speech network, we’re DOA. That’s a first step.

I know nostr:npub1hz5alqscpp8yjrvgsdp2n4ygkl8slvstrgvmjca7e45w6644ew7sewtysa is working on a very cool initiative in relation to this. The Nostr Booth is IMO a great way to make Nostr more “real” for bitcoiners by having a physical presence at all the conferences.

I know nostr:npub1utx00neqgqln72j22kej3ux7803c2k986henvvha4thuwfkper4s7r50e8 + nostr:npub180cvv07tjdrrgpa0j7j7tmnyl2yr6yr7l8j4s3evf6u64th6gkwsyjh6w6 are doing some Podcast outreach. That’s super important too. nostr:npub16vrkgd28wq6n0h77lqgu8h4fdu0eapxgyj0zqq6ngfvjf2vs3nuq5mp2va and crew are putting on Nostriga. Amazing. nostr:npub16c0nh3dnadzqpm76uctf5hqhe2lny344zsmpm6feee9p5rdxaa9q586nvr / nostr:npub12vkcxr0luzwp8e673v29eqjhrr7p9vqq8asav85swaepclllj09sylpugg are doing great things with nostr:npub1spdnfacgsd7lk0nlqkq443tkq4jx9z6c6ksvaquuewmw7d3qltpslcq6j7, etc on the content side. I’ve got some things up my sleeve personally which I will begin to do once nostr:npub15xd2mmjnh3caykh77djsv73e0zkrp42jp5mwerx8f4m6su40wdvss7t3l3 is in a position to represent a NEW kind of Nostr-product..

But we need MOAR..

And…we also need to find another angle that is NOT about censorship resistance. That’s clearly not working against X.

I don’t know the EXACT narrative or spin, but it has to be more “running towards” than “running from”.

More white pill, less black pill.

Anyway.

I will probably turn this into an article. I’ve been thinking more and more about “writing in public” as we build Satlantis, and sharing more about how we’re thinking about growing a “network product” on top of a “network protocol”.

If you think this was valuable, please repoast so more people can see and get involved in the discussion.

It's not struggling. It's a time preference thing. The same argument has been talked about Bitcoin. "It's old tech" "It's too slow" "There's faster versions that do better things"

For me Nostr is doing a job and doing it well. This is the problem with transitioning from a consumerist economy to a sound money economy. The mindset is "now, now, now" and that doesn't build quality - it builds quantity. Which will eventually offer nothing productive, and break society.

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Typically my train of thought would be the same as Svetki’s but he is wrong here, agree. It’s a slow burn.

First of thanks nostr:npub1dtgg8yk3h23ldlm6jsy79tz723p4sun9mz62tqwxqe7c363szkzqm8up6m for his honesty and valid points.

I’m a regular user, no dev. From my point of view #nostr has improved much. More stable, nice apps like nostr:npub12vkcxr0luzwp8e673v29eqjhrr7p9vqq8asav85swaepclllj09sylpugg but:

A) as stated on stage in nostr:npub167n5w6cj2wseqtmk26zllc7n28uv9c4vw28k2kht206vnghe5a7stgzu3r I despise the black and white stance on X ( or any other social network). Svetski is on point that freedom and censorship resistance isn’t enough for the vast majority out there.

Freedom of choice is paramount. Promoting #nostr as the only legit social network because xyz is turning off many people AND WE DESPERATELY NEED THEM ➡️ B)

B) as a content creator about #travel #travelstr or #photography there are very view like minded individuals here. The network needs a broader audience and you don’t achieve it by talking “security” out your ass. No doubt it’s important but the most common password is 12345 and the average Joe doesn’t give a damn.

It is frustrating to see the same 6 accounts posting about my topics. There is not much inspiration or surprises.

C) IMHO the killer app is being paid by your audience w/o fees or intermediaries. Of course one will cater to the will of one’s audience to harvest sats ( no change here to Youtube or IG) but at least you are more free to choose your topics. But B) is crucial.

UI/Ux must improve, nsec handling also needs to cater Uncle Tommy and #nostr needs some influencers who move here and post exclusive content apart from Bitcoin, IT Security and Freedom.

No. You just didn’t read what I said.

The point of my post is that outside of the tiny bubble on here, nobody knows where to place nostr in their minds.

That is a communication problem, NOT a tech problem.

And blue sky, with inferior tech, is doing a 10x better job with comms, by catering to the weirdo’s (that shitshow is growing at 20x the pace)

Furthermore, you clearly don’t understand network effects.

Unlike bitcoin, Nostr doesn’t have direct economic incentives built in, so I the network is more fragile and susceptible to becoming a tiny echo chamber.

Nothing in my post suggested “we need it all now” - but that there needs to be more thinking done on comms. Right now 90% or more of the focus is on tech - and IMO, we’ve got good enough tech to begin putting resources and effort toward comms & marketing.

Does that help clarify?

Here's how a post usually goes on social media with a centralised algorithm.

- Have great 'hook', something controversial like 'why something doesn't work'.

- offer a better alternative, normally something the person posting has invested interest in for their own gain or to position themselves as an expert to build trust to leverage later on.

- Tag all the other people on that platform who have built up trust already and are actual experts - to reaffirm the posters 'expertise', leveraging their trust.

- At the end of the post ask everybody to 'like,share, and comment' to manipulate the algorithm 👀 for their own gain.

-When confronted by the idea they've posted about... become ultra defensive and use words like 'No, you're wrong' without considering the pros and cons of the response.