Yep, we have no marketing team, so the public image is a bit of a tragedy of the commons. At the same time, all it takes is one really good app to kick start the network effect. DiVine has a chance at this maybe. Primal is the best brand in the space, but I don't actually think they can do it since the product is predicated on the broadcast social media case. Flotilla I think can work this way if I can execute on it, since users can migrate in small groups without being bothered by an existing culture.
Discussion
Bluesky didn't have any marketing either, as far as I know. It's really about network effects. I experienced that 40k→40M growth myself, and I really think it really helps there were zero cultural obligations.
There was genuinely diverse population regarding hobbies and expertise even when it was a similar size to Nostr, so new people didn't feel ashamed if they had unpopular interests. Here it looks like Bitcoin monoculture vs a few random other people.
The irony is that Nostr itself is agnostic - the protocol doesn't care about Bitcoin or politics. But the cultural monoculture contradicts the infrastructure's neutrality, and that's what drives people away.
Bluesky's marketing department was Elon Musk. But your observations about nostr are true. At the same time, I'm not that worried about it, so long as 1. the best tech wins and 2. I can build a sustainable business on the protocol while staying decentralized. On the other other hand I recognize that "build it and they will come" is delusional. It all just depends on what the goals for the protocol are, and those vary widely.
I think best tech wins on an open, unregulated market - not when most of your potential customers are institutionalized like in current democracies. If people are conditioned to rely on institutions and can't even recognize alternatives, then technical superiority is irrelevant.
