Nostr

Gotcha. I haven't really coordinated much on projects. I've done some user testing but it was somewhat limited since there is a cost. If you dig through my note history you'll probably find a ton on UX / findings etc...

If I can summarize:

1. Keys are not as big of an issue as most non-technical people around here think. But, to a few, they are mysterious. But most people don't make much of it and just start using the clients.

2. Most people have a hard time finding things of interest (this is mostly a content issue and not so much a client. Search is a bit crappy in most clients because it requires a centralized feed or a large cache of notes, and even that only goes so far (this is a nostr issue in general, not so much client). For example, it's pretty hard to find old notes across relays unless you have a service specifically that indexes everything.

3. In general our content sucks. This is my observation compared to other social media apps. For example, in TikTok you can come at it with absolutely no preferences and get hooked in a matter of minutes. Their algo optimizes for you and you get things in front of your eyes that are super interesting and addicting very quickly. You'll find yourself swiping for hours without realizing it. Nostr has nowhere near this amount or quality of content due to sheer lack of users. It has nothing to do with discovery or anything else.. just no content. And what few things we do get, people tend to not care.

4. Getting people to nostr is super difficult because you have to be passionate about nostr's properties. First, you have to learn what those are. Then if you manage to stick around, you have to force yourself to get detoxified without the algo. This ultimately conflicts with other social media usage that is super addictive so you tend to drop out of nostr (this is what most active users end up doing who do not quit other social media) -- only the business-focused can remain on both, especially if they are nostr activists, but otherwise there's little incentive to stay here.

5. People complain about onboarding, but after digging around for quite a while and seeing the full picture, the problem is not technical, but once again content. Without content you cannot create feeds people might be interested in so in the end it has nothing to do with technicals. You can add a great onboarding to pick interests, hashtags etc.. but ultimately without good content people leave.

6. People have a hard time breaking of their normie socials chains. They have followers there and it's hard to let that go. You really have to have a reason to leave.

7. It is my observation that many clients do either too little or too much. Mixing functions that should not be mixed, or doing so little that there's no differentiation from any other social media, but much worse experience due to lack of content.

Ultimately, people come for either other people, content, or for their friends. A bunch of us followed nostr:npub1sg6plzptd64u62a878hep2kev88swjh3tw00gjsfl8f237lmu63q0uf63m here. Some followed other big names like Snowden. But, the prominent individuals usually don't have much incentive to hang out here. You need momentum to get a bunch of them coming at once. For some odd reason all of the momentum was with Bluesky and not nostr. I think a lot of it just has to do with the name of the protocol -- and I'll probably get shit for it but I stand by it. Bluesky is also a company with organized marketing, planning etc.. nostr barely coordinates anything, rightfully so since its not a company.

8. Many complain about the usability of things, but they haven't actually tried the updated versions and are complaining about an experience they once had which is no longer the case, but they are too lazy to try again - don't blame them.

9. For some, their first negative experience turns them away forever, and that can easily happen due to the tinker nature of nostr. You realy have to stick around, let it grow on you and appreciate it for what it is. This is our version of "proof of work" and many are unwilling to do it.

10. Nostr oldtimers (and devs) tend to not test their clients often as a new user. So, sometimes there are glaring issues which go unfixed for years. I've pointed them out at times, but usually falls on deaf ears. Some of this is due to content, other due to personal preferences, values etc... everyone has their specific ways of doing things. I recommended that people test their clients as a new user would at least once every month.

11. We have a new user discovery problem. They usually have a crappy feed to start with (again due to lack of good content), and if they somehow manage to not quit quickly, they end up shouting into the void. No one knows they exist unless they did an intro post with intro hashtag (and even that gets ignored at times), so they end up dropping off after some time. This is a difficult problem to solve because most social mediia solve it with addictive content and people stick around long enough to follow accounts they like and start interacting with people in comments. follow them etc. But on nostr, people don't stick around long as there's not much dopamine spiking content 24/7.

There are other things to say.. and I"ve said them many times over long form posts, over notes, privately to devs.. you name it. It's a process. We are improving all the time. People make cool things. I think it all boils down to serving a niche of people and slowly moving communities here, starting with adjacent value sharing ones. Lastly, building novel applications and interesting ways of interacting with things may also help. Annnnnd not to forget marketing. Practically no one does any marketing on here besides talking at conferences which I think is not a great way to attract anyone.

So yeah, content, marketing, branding, improving basic UX, improving UX with content, novel applications, getting the word out. Those are things to work on.

shredder 2mo ago

nostr:npub1zl3g38a6qypp6py2z07shggg45cu8qex992xpss7d8zrl28mu52s4cjajh nostr:npub1ldsmj0vxfe8sawnkdwu92medcqnzar5c2qfw9xazs5yd65sx0kvqghzsk3