Dan Romero on Farcaster

Dan Romero pfp

Virtually all of the people on Farcaster with large audiences: 1. Don't have large audiences elsewhere (Farcaster is their first time with a large audience) 2. Didn't know me or Varun and didn't know each other. The "Farcaster OG scene" is net new creation of Farcaster. 3. Were early and stuck around when everyone made fun of Farcaster (and people still do) 4. Continued to cast interesting stuff, casted in channels when we suggested people cast in channels 5. Warpcast onboarding asks all users for their interests 6. Based on the interests, we pair the account with an initial set of follows 7. There are 200+ accounts on the list, weighted toward accounts that get the most engagement / drive retention, but a large group of people benefit 8. On our list to improve, but the reality is outside of "I should be on the list!" haven't seen any concrete proposals to improve

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androidsixteen pfp

@androidsixteen.eth

On #8, it's hard to propose a concrete proposal when the auto-follow list and process for determining it are opaque If there was more info on how it worked, I think people might be able to suggest modifications. Otherwise, you either get polarization for or against the black box

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Stephan pfp

a small note on the auto follow list ux - i've seen people be caught off guard a bit that they are already following 60 users perhaps you can add a note on the interests screen that these interests will be used to follow some accounts on your bahalf to set expectations? or maybe even preview a list of accounts that will be followed before proceeding tbh i would probably get rid of the auto follow list and just auto-follow relevant channels instead

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ernest 💡 pfp

do people expect to be new on a platform, post a couple of times a week, and "blow up"? lol

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Vinay Débrou ⚙️ pfp

Vinay Débrou ⚙️

@vinaydebrou.eth

To be clear, I do NOT want to be on this list. If you read my grievance clearly, I am actually against the very idea of having such a arbitrary list for this core experience. Unless you want warpcast to be like a groupchat/discord server of 1000 people. This approach is a disaster at the scale beyond 1000 users. The core consumer experience turns insular.

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gordie slater pfp

@proxystudio.eth

questions unrelated to "why am I not on the list?" - How long will the autofollow list exist? - Does Warpcast track how anyone on the list monetizes their 'free' audiences? - Do we have a sense of the $ value for a founder to be included on the list vs. a founder who is not on the list? Is being on the list a benefit for building on FC? - How do you measure which accounts drive retention? Do you regularly compare accounts on & off the list to see who is driving engagement & retention? - Are public attempts to surface autofollows in public data using /neynar + /dune accurate? Your points are valid, I get why AF exists. But I've seen you & others make these general points before: it hasn't changed the fact that lots of people *feel* differently about Farcaster & autofollows. Might be worthwhile considering this disconnect a bit more @chasesommer and I worked on this: https://dune.com/chasesommer/farcaster-auto-follow?Number+of+Accounts_n89e9b=200&autofollow_timediff_n29ba9=5

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annoushka pfp

I should be on the list though

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frederick pfp

here's a dune with the farcaster auto-follow list https://dune.com/chasesommer/farcaster-auto-follow

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Ivy pfp

starter packs just saying

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df pfp

Re 8. Here are some suggestions that will drive faster feedback loops and likely behavioural change A) if you haven't casted N times in the last week, you don't get auto followers B) Weight it based on (power badge weighted) engagement rate in last week - maybe to 50% C) Expand beyond 200 casters to include algorithmically any caster with a power badge

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Venkatesh Rao ☀️ pfp

Venkatesh Rao ☀️

While I wouldn’t call it a circle jerk (all social media is circle jerks all the way down) there is definitely a monoculture vibe I find myself posting on substack notes for some breadth

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cyrus pfp

I don't remember as it's eons ago now, but were auto-follows a thing when this app was still called farcaster?

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JR ↑ pfp

Lots of new OGs, seeing Twitter OGs recreate their audiences now too. I watched a friend over the shoulder during the onboarding process the other day. One annoyance was a bad UX flow (gifted invite didn't open in app, ). Picking different interests worked well, auto-follow seems okayish - better than starting from page blank. I do think a private channel would be great to onboard 5 friends at once. Then you can shitpost, re-post from other channels and help them get into the app without akward public watching.

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dycp pfp

why do people hate farcaster like this

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↑ j4ck 🥶 icebreaker.xyz ↑ pfp

↑ j4ck 🥶 icebreaker.xyz ↑

rekt myself w number 4

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Thomas pfp

@aviationdoctor.eth

I very much recognize myself in 1–4. Never really used Twitter, don’t live in SF or NYC, am not a founder nor a dev, I don’t hang out with Dan nor Varun. Just got in early-ish and stuck around, casting consistently about what I like. It’s worked out well and I’m grateful for it

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Mac Budkowski pfp

re 3., people don't remember what we had to put up with

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Elie pfp

Important feedback. I'm one of those beneficiaries. And I'd be happy to keep getting followers. But I would listen carefully to this pain point. I imagine churn is one of the biggest challenges you face, and figuring out solutions would to it for these disgruntled users would go a long way. I actually don't think you want users telling you the solution. You want to hear the problem, and you and your team figure out the solution to it. Some potential solutions. Some of which you may be doing already: 1. Boost new user posts more than usual. I think TikTok does this. 2. Put more weight on quality of post rather than followers. I think Twitter took this too far recentlyy which harmed the quality of content I'm seeing there. But it's good to be able to get out of reach outside of your network if your content is good. A meritocracy rather than based on how many followers you have. 3. New follower channel? There used to be this bot that would post when someone new joined. Maybe still exists in some format.

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Gambino pfp

@greatgambino.eth

I’m a perfect example of this lol I’ve NEVER used twitter. I have like 200 followers on instagram just from people IRL. Farcaster is by far the most active I’ve been on any platform and by far my largest audience in anything.

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tricil pfp

9. Received a very cool NFT from you that we totally didn't paperhand

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