If you post about anything outside the circle jerk of #bitcoin bullishnesson #nostr, it's like screaming into the void. This needs to change and I have no idea how it's gonna happen. 99.9% of people I have had try #nostr to try to meet others and talk about their hobbies whether its cooking, homeschooling, sailing, gaming, woodcrafting, etc. (and yes I made sure they knew to use hashtags for things), quit within 60 days. If Nostr is just meant to be a bitcoin circlejerk, fine, but I sure wish it wasn't.
Discussion
While I do agree the current user base is overwhelming Bitcoiners (I am one myself), this is really on those people.
If you don't follow any Bitcoiners, you do not get it in your feed. I've created alternate npubs to test this and followed users of certain hashtags and had a pretty clean feed save for users that have varied interests.
So the issue are more they 1) didn't follow people with like interests; 2) didn't post content so those people could interact and; 3) didn't interact with said content.
They are used to the algorithm doing the work for them. I will say, however, finding content can be difficult and the UX on some clients attempting to find said content is frustrating.
Bitcoiners could have easily ripped cord and went back to Twatter. The reason why Bitcoiners have stuck around is because they will put in the work. That whole Proof of Work thing is pretty important until devs mature their works and make it lazy accessible.
Yeah. I'm ride or die and will prob keep posting gaming and non bitcoin stuff for foreseeable future, but those who I introduce to nostr under the guise of "You can get a few pennies worth of bitcoin when people enjoy your content!" get extremely disappointed. Maybe I set expectations too high and it's my fault.
That's definitely fair. Unless they comingle with a Bitcoiner, they are unlikely to get zapped I would think. So they would need to Venn diagram with both Bitcoin and the respective topic.
What would go a long way, and they do this on streaming music services, is have topic subject matter experts that serve as curators of follow lists to get people up and running into a topic.
I agree with some parts of this note.
Nostr is in its infancy and, like Bitcoin, it’s going to take some time for adoption to occur. This protocol is currently very niche with Bitcoin a huge part of it. I think current and new users need to manage their expectations. You won’t go viral here (at least not yet). You may very well scream into the void for the foreseeable future. But to not build your content on here would be a mistake. You may wait years before you harvest the seeds you plant on Nostr. But I do think the wait will be worth it.
I do think the Bitcoin content of “number go up” or “printer go brrr” is boring. The Bitcoin community needs to showcase more of how Bitcoin fits into their lives and how they spend a portion of their sats. I would find that content so much more interesting.