What about intangible items like digital content? Right now I think most of the users on nostr view zaps as a primarily social feature with some monetary value attached. Better than likes, but still used in the a similar way.
Discussion
Sorry, I think I expressed myself poorly there. When you can see the price of a tangible, familiar item in sats, you can then more easily determine value for intangible things like content. So I may see a tshirt is 76k sats, translate it to $20 and think "ok, that article i just read is worth $1 so 3800 sats"
There's still the relativity of value that will always be an issue... and budget... and personal perceived value of the creator. Those things may be impossible to mitigate, but I think the general concept of content value will eventually level out a bit as tangible items build the pricing model.
For non-bitcoiners, that would give very helpful context. One thing I like about the Nostur client in that regard is that it shows zaps denominated in fiat along with the sats amount.
I think you're right.
I have to add... I agree they're used socially... which is good. If the conversation is enriching in some way, it should have some value... to me anyway.
I agree and from that perspective i value them infinitely more than likes. The social use case is strong and Nostr demonstrates it well, but I don’t think zaps are intended to be merely social. There is much talk about how Nostr plus Bitcoin creates a platform for businesses, artists, writers, etc to connect with and monetize content and sell products. The potential is there thanks to the technology, but I don’t think the users are there in terms of culture and mindset.
The mindset is definitely here, but the reach & opportunity are still limited. Time and participation will fix that
It’s sort of a chicken and egg situation. Time and participation will fix it, but participation won’t happen unless it’s appealing to potential participants. The appeal for social activity seems strong enough, at least for people willing to learn how to use it. Business appeal is still mostly hypothetical I think.