Farcaster

What are you most frustrated about re: Farcaster?

If you could change one thing—what would it be and how would you do it?

july

Farcaster is incredible tech, probably the best social media protocol out there atm, and an incredible social experiment where many interesting people had and have the opportunity to connect. It’s full of builders, curious, the people that create new trends and move the world. It has its fair share of “Arab Spring” alike moments, in which strangers gathered for first time. Mavericks building new connections and new projects born.

But bsides that Farcaster struggles to onboard the average neighbor or friend. Ofc, the core community (OG users, nerds, builders) will always be excited to experiment, make transactions, and engage deeply. That creates a sense of invencibility.

But the reality is that most people don’t socialize in the same way we do. Assuming they do could hinder Farcaster’s user base growth. They’re in a completely different reality, for the good and the bad.

Breaking out of this echo chamber is needed for Farcaster long-term success. Doesn’t seem is gonna happen soon.

Not sure what is the solution, but I feel the current FC direction only appeals to a specific niche and creates a big bubble.

Most of my friends that joined FC bcs of me were not using it after a week, because they didn’t find interesting people (for their taste), even after asking them to follow channels. Im convinced that the direction of “earn and make friends” will also not appeal to most of the public.

I mentioned this here too:

Not sure what is the solution, but I feel the current FC direction only appeals to a specific niche and creates a big bubble.

Most of my friends that joined FC bcs of me were not using it after a week, because they didn’t find interesting people (for their taste), even after asking them to follow channels. Im convinced that the direction of “earn and make friends” will also not appeal to most of the public.

I mentioned this here too:
https://warpcast.com/ferran/0xca5e4735

@vocdoni, prev. Bitcoin Magazine | Purple #203 | Cohost: /diy /anthropology /vote /biohacking /cooperatives

How do you think Farcaster would be appealing to non-cryptonatives today?

Why would someone want to sign up from your point of view?

I asked some of my friends. This is what I remember:

- Super difficult to make friends, as they don’t find people interesting enough to follow, so they also don’t get followers.
- The channels they may love are quite abandoned or quiet. Lack of diversity in that sense.
- The content is not appealing to them. They don’t understand shit of what people say (too much presence of Web3, tech, dev slang and topics)

So my guess is having more content from people who are not “native” to Web3 and perhaps an easier onboarding process (my friends joined because I guided them on how to do it and paid for their account creation or sent them a Newscaster link, otherwise, they would never have done it). 

It’s a bit of a vicious cycle, but there may be niches or topics that can be leveraged for onboarding masses of “regular” people.

At their begining products like Revolut ran campaigns targeting niche groups, like university students, by giving away free cards and helping them split expenses (I was embassador for them by then), and it worked well. Maybe it’s a matter of finding similar niches.

Out of 10,000s of DAUs, your frens didn't find anyone interesting?

I hope your friends come back. They may have interesting things to talk about that aren't being discussed widely here. Someone may be hoping for them.

Honestly. I'm not interested in everything my frens cast, but I'm interested in them. It makes a difference in how I engage.