there are many reasons. curious about new technology, cancelled or shadow banned on another platform, they have friends that are here, etc. ask people like nostr:npub1yye4qu6qrgcsejghnl36wl5kvecsel0kxr0ass8ewtqc8gjykxkssdhmd0 or nostr:npub1r8wdfruydenz84fxfespcswuhcvyatx6umtd5xguexup49u500xskf50hn why they came. i'd guess people like nostr:npub13qrrw2h4z52m7jh0spefrwtysl4psfkfv6j4j672se5hkhvtyw7qu0almy possibly came for the zaps though. zaps may not be the initial reason for everyone, but apps like primal make it easy for the noobs to start playing with it. cash app is probably adding lightning addresses soon which should also help noobs get started with zaps.
Discussion
Yes, but zaps are not the reason normies will come to nostr. That's my point. They can't be essential. We should focus on other stuff.
I don’t understand the logistics of: If it is not the reason people come it can’t be essential.
It can be still essential and but people can grasp it after they come here. It doesn’t need to be if A is true B is not true kind of simple. Bitcoin has many features decentralized, censorship resistant, limited supply, self custody..etc. If (let’s say) most of the people come for “limited supply” it doesn’t mean “self custody” is not essential.
Essential means absolutely necessary. If nostr needs zaps to be successful in a world where 1% of people use Bitcoin and even less lightning, then nostr will not hit mass adoption until AFTER Bitcoin does.
Nostr should be the gateway to Bitcoin, not the other way around. Again, we should focus on the "other stuff" in nostr.
My point is nostr is much bigger than just zaps and Bitcoin. A new paradigm for communication. Web sockets are essential. Relays are essential. Other stuff is essential. Zaps are but one other thing. Bitcoin is essential for a future society, and this essential for everything, not just nostr. I just think it's important to realize, zaps are not going to in board anyone but bitcoiners. I want to onboard as many people as possible.
That’s true NOSTR is capable of much more than what it is now. Zaps are good addition and add extra functionality to it and Bitcoin. I see them in a symbiotic relationship which I love them both.
Since I was invoked I’ll toss in my 2 sats 😉 y’all are both right. Most people will not gain enough zaps to make an income equivalent yet (like you can on TikTok) so trying to sell people on Nostr based on zaps alone is futile. HOWEVER people are really interested in being able to easily exchange value for value on social media, and it’s attractive to people that Nostr has zero barriers to entry to get monetized (unlike on TikTok where you have to have a thousand followers to start a shop and 10k followers to get paid per thousand views).
So yes, zaps are nifty and fun and certainly part of the overall Nostr value-add, and no, they aren’t the main reason people stay here. People stay here for the freedom and the community.
The two things in my mind that we need to work on to continue to attract users is: searchability and shareability. When content is easy to find and easy to share, it can go mega viral. Wherever there is viral potential, people will go there. That’s how TikTok became a billion user platform.
Agreed, but worth noting that it’s not possible for some people to earn anything on platforms like TikTok and YouTube cause they don’t have a bank account. Anyone in the world can get paid for their content here.
As for sharing content outside of Nostr, I’d recommend more people share content using njump links. Njump displays a nice preview of the link on other platforms. Also it informs visitors what Nostr is, displays content quickly since the content is statically generated and cached, and provides a bunch of options for opening the content in a Nostr client.
https://njump.me/nevent1qqsqsvh4q2vrmydhcgvwcelpzgzkl05k0m8yv9y22gffsfk25uf5msgzyqvae4y0s3hxvg74ye8xq8zpmjlpsn4vmtnddksernymsx5hj3au64etj6v https://njump.me/nevent1qqsqsvh4q2vrmydhcgvwcelpzgzkl05k0m8yv9y22gffsfk25uf5msgzyqvae4y0s3hxvg74ye8xq8zpmjlpsn4vmtnddksernymsx5hj3au64etj6v
AD-money inflow cannot compete with fixed subscriber based model
The zaps were cool but I really didn’t care about that when I arrived. The zaps eventually became fun after I understood what was happening.
I came to nostr for freedom and a censorship resistant place to speak. Over the course of watching corporate tech platforms for a few years it became clear to me that I’d never be truly free there. I’ve never had anything crazy that I wanted to say but if I needed to call out government malfeasance, I wanted to have the ability to do that without worrying about getting banned.
Just about every single problem that I saw with meta, TikTok, twitter etc isn’t a problem at all on nostr. It can’t even have those problems. It will have it’s own problems but at least everyone can speak freely and come up with solutions to the problems together. 💜
The power of nostr is that anything and everything you build here can't be stripped away from you at a moments notice because someone else actually controls your account. Once people understand this, why would they bother building reputation anywhere else.
I did come for the zaps but that’s only because that’s how I was introduced to NOStr, at a lightning summit. The zaps truly are a “game changer” for musicians but I know I have been very lucky here. We definitely need more normies, that can become Nostr music fans so all musicians can have the same experience I have had. Once artists understand zaps - they totally get it. But moving listeners to Nostr and @fountain and @wavlake is the next BIG step. I also can understand why ⚡️ may not have the same meaning for everyone as it does for me. It’s hard to say what I would have thought without bringing my music here. I do know that in 5 years of doing music this is the first time I feel “seen and heard” and that piece has nothing to do with zaps and everything to do with human connection. I’ve been on all the traditional social platforms, since I was 16 and I find them all mind numbing and soul sucking. I’m so happy to be here and I choose to open a Nostr App, over a traditional social app, every single day. 💜🧡
Thanks Ainsley you're the best
nostr:npub15c3rmcmcafw645z4w7u8e8q8akjpk9cmqfr95mnyl86r2m6xqfdsluh6re You are the BEST too! 🧡