What’s the difference between a zap and a tip?
Discussion
tip sounds fiat
A zap is a zapped tip
Nothing
Zap is more fun to say
Zaps are connected to specific events. Tips are connected to an overall general experience.
One is your wife, the other one is a side piece from Brazil. Many many side pieces. Wife is asking if you ever coming home… She’s filing for divorce papers.
Tips are usually forced and small, and don't scale in time and space. Value-for-value payments are voluntary and open-ended in amount and time, which makes them scale.
I'd argue we don't even know what zaps are yet, and zaps also won't be the end of it.
Read dergigi.com/busking and dergigi.com/vew for my long form thoughts on this, as well as value4value.info - and listen to Adam Curry. He's the most prescient on the topic I'd say.
It’s like an inverse invoice. You deliver the value and don’t except instant payment. You let the value be priced by others. Pure freedom from contracts. Probably only works for open source like things
Zaps are a game changer, as much as people want to send value when they receive value, people also want to show others that they have sent value, sending tips and then having to overtly announce you’ve sent value looks like your seeking attention. Even though people are, they don’t like it to seem that way, the automatic recording and visible nature of zaps sets it apart.
A zap has an exact definition described in a NIP as part of a larger communication protocol
Is it that the zaps are recorded publicly somehow, differently than a LNURL tip?
A zap is a Nostr note containing metadata that links to a paid lightning invoice. So yes, it’s recorded on Nostr.
tip + note = zap
Finally an explanation! Thank you!
That’s true right now, but as adoption of nostr grows the term “zap” has the potential to become far more synonymous with “tip” than the current technical definition implies.
Zap notes
Tip profiles
You don't need to lie and say it's just the zap baby
Zap is for something you like and love to support before receiving something back. A tip is after you already experienced some service and like to support the good service afterwords.
Zaps are transferring value for a specific note you find value. I would send a tip if someone was performing a task for me. Ie they designed a gif for my pfp. Etc.
The same as the difference between a present and a gift.
Tips may have set minimums by a central entity, zaps not so.
🤷🏻
Tips could be in secret and have nothing to do with the social network.
Zaps leave an unnecessary public record that also adds to social value because it shows enthusiasm and encourages other people to also zap.
tip = twitter
zap = nostr
The "T" and the "I".