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e96e076e21494dafd0dd541a02d0fc5e645b31a843761d283720db8688f97353
Bitcoin, FOSS, guns, speech

THE CASE FOR #NOSTR (& #ONLYZAPS)

Nobody asked, but here’s my 2 sats on the evolution of online interactions:

There once was a time when the “like” (👍) was the be-all and end-all in terms of measuring content effectiveness.

In the early days of social media, "likes" played a significant role in determining a post's popularity and reach. This was particularly true on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, where users could easily show their approval of a post by clicking the "like" button.

Likes were seen as ~thee~ measure of social validation. They also played a role in determining which content was promoted on a user's newsfeed or discover page, as posts with more likes were given priority 📈

However, in recent years, many social media platforms have started to de-emphasize likes as a measure of success. Some have even experimented with hiding like counts altogether in an effort to reduce the pressure on users to seek validation through likes and to promote more authentic engagement.

The goalposts of metrics are changing.

Vanity out. Value in.

Traditional web2 platforms like Instagram and TikTok began treating content that had a high save to like ratio more favorably in terms of the algorithm 📱

And you know what’s better than a save (which is essentially a glorified bookmark)?

A #zap

This is the future of social media.

Even those on trad web2 social are catching on.

We’re no longer just interacting for the sake of interacting.

The possibility for more intentional responses encourages more intentional creation. And more intentional creation contributes to a value exchange that fosters a self-sustaining ecosystem ♻️

Here’s the desired hierarchy specific to #Nostr:

#Zap - This is worth its weight in sats

#Repost - I need others to see it

#Comment - I need to share my opinion about it

#Like - This resonates

Do you see how little the 🤙 compares to the other interactions in terms of existence?

Now, not every piece of content we make is necessarily created for the sake of attracting a lot of engagement or for making a lot of money. And to an extent, likes may always matter to one degree or another because they help indicate how much said content resonates with one's audience 👥

But it’s interesting to see the role value plays and what value means when both creators and consumers can engage on social media in ways that have not been possible previously.

I’m excited to continue to explore this relationship on Nostr and I’m grateful for everyone who’s here now on the journey.

What kind of value are you hoping to bring to and receive from Nostr?

#socialmedia #content #plebchain #monetization #tiktok #twitter #instagram #facebook #creators #consumers #bitcoin

I think first we should pay people for their time and attention.

In order for people to be more comfortable with the idea of giving up hard earned sats for a meme they genuinely enjoyed or a well constructed post such as this one, people must see their own time and attention as valuable in order to probably value other peoples time and effort.

A simple example would be to allow advertisers to directly advertise to target users, but instead of paying the platform with users to show ads for them, the advertiser has control over who is shown their ads and the money they would normal pay to the platform is instead paid out to the target users via zaps.

Users who engage with ads would be more likely to receive future ads, and ads would be more targeted to things you’re actually interested in.

This could extend beyond normal advertising and be used by influencers or just normal people who want to boost a particular post.

I think a system like this, along with the ability to zap content you think is worthy makes for a space that would have less free-riders and encourage a circular economy where everyone’s time is valued accordingly.

Sometimes I wonder if we really are just super early, or if the elites really do get it too and are just silent about stacking sats.

They might be just pushing FUD and propaganda in an effort to keep as many people from buying in before they can stack up.

It’s only a mass transfer of wealth if all the people use it and the elites are last to the party. Otherwise it’s just the evolution of wealth.

So Nostr would still remain an uncensored platform right? Like in the same way Bitcoin is still uncensored even if theoretically a custodial wallet could block a users transaction?

If a Client censors a user, would that censored information still be visible from another Client?

I went on a bit of a following spree. Trying to get back into Nostr, I searched #bitcoin and followed as many real seeming people I could 😁

Would love to connect with more bitcoiners!

Any tips on filtering Chinese bots from the global feed? Feels like I can’t discover people or topics anymore. Feels like just speaking into the void now.

Agreed. I’m not sure how we do so without people running their own nodes. Even then, channel management is not something most people will be willing to do and without proper channel management your ability to send and receive payments to your node is vastly diminished.

Do any clients support pinning a post to your profile?