Unpopular opinion: Until regular users think of and spend/send sats in terms of their current purchasing power, zaps will not be a viable means for sustaining real economic activity on #nostr .
Discussion
Accurate opinion.
I do t think anyone believes 21 Sats will be life changing for them anytime soon…
Accurate, but I think getting regular users to understand purchasing power exchange will become easier as more tangible items become available for purchase. It's natural to tie that value to something you're already familiar with, y'know?
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.
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.
The thing is too, when you're fully on the Bitcoin standard and everything you spend feels like a Bitcoin pizza moment.. 21 sats is 21 sats. I dunno how to fix this.. usually I just never buy stuff unless it's absolutely necessary, so for me to tip posts, I hope the value comes across as more than a like, but also, not trying to tip anyone if I think they'll turn around and cash it out for a cent. More just hoping they'll hodl it or zap it around..
Anyway, I apologize for being so frugal, it's the only way I know.
That leaves zaps as primarily a social feature in nature then, doesn’t it? Not saying that’s inherently bad, but it seems to preclude anyone utilizing Nostr and bitcoin to create income or revenue, whether for personal or business reasons. Not everyone needs to spend sats, but anyone who earns them as revenue/income would need to unless they already have a fiat income to satisfy their day to day needs.
I think so yes, considering there are many here who value bitcoin as more than cash, any business I think would be hard pressed for quick profits. They must also adopt the mentality/long time preference of hodl and sell only when necessary to cover expenses. If they can get over the hump doing this, then it'll perpetuate the business, but if they sell all the time, then what's the difference might as well just accept PayPal.
I did say it was an unpopular opinion, no? 🤣 If PayPal is required to engage in business on Nostr, then Nostr is unnecessary.
Tout à fait d'accord comme tous ceux qui sont en alliance avec MasterCard Visa et se disent bitcoiners ils n'aiment que Fiat
I feel bad even saying anything. I want nothing more than to be able to purchase more things with Bitcoin.. purchasing memes tho, is not at the top of my list 😭😂 got any gasoline or potatoes?
This actually got me thinking, I *have paid for memes before here on nostr, they were relay memes and I like to use them once in a while for advertisements because I suck at marketing. Maybe zapvertising/marketing really is the wtg for content creators.. 🤔 it is what drives content creators outside nostr and is a powerful skill.
Peer to peer digital cash. Simple as that. If people dont use it that way its useless
It’s good to save money, and i think that’s where most bitcoiners probably place their focus because of Bitcoin’s historical rise in price relative to fiat. If someone expects that to be the trend forward, then it makes sense to save in bitcoin. There is a lost opportunity cost in spending something that you expect to significantly rise in value. But when transacting with others, the current purchasing power of the medium of exchange is more important than its future potential value. Unless we intend for everyone on Nostr to KYC themselves through fiat payment systems, then people need to normalize spending sats at their current value. I think you can do that without negating the importance of saving.
True but I think a lot of the point of sending all these small zaps is to stress test the environment ahead of mass user adoption
Yea there’s value in that. That’s actually how the zapathons began. Most wallet providers seem to be handling at least current usage well. I think beyond that most people think of zaps as primarily a social activity and use zaps essentially the same way they use “likes,” albeit with a little monetary value attached. That’s not a bad thing, and I’d rather exchange zaps than likes, but I think many people overestimate how meaningful a 21-sat zap is from an economic standpoint. It’s not even 1¢ in purchasing power. Infinitely better than a like, but pretty much useless in the way of a tip.