Warpcast

Not financial advice

It's worth pointing out that trending onchain notifications do surface things early—in some cases.

This morning we sent a notification around 8:15am PT about a new coin $GHIBLIFY created by @nounishprof.

We had a bunch of people complain that this notification was bad and/or meant the coin had peaked.

However, hours later, a prominent celebrity on Twitter bought the asset via Bankr. And the price increased.

What does this mean?

- First: not every notification will keep increasing in price afterwards. Many will gown down in price!

- It does mean that our algo is surfacing onchain activity that many other people on Farcaster are doing.

- Additionally, we now surface additional information about coins like the creator, the date created and the cast that created it (when available)

- We're going to continue iterating on these notifications—thresholds to send, what information to provide—because many people find them useful.

- If they bother you, you're free to turn them off

Personal take:
Warpcast seems to be moving further away from mass adoption with each passing day. 

Maybe they will succeed in attracting a slice of CT (a target already motivated by economic incentives) but at the same time this is a GtM strategy that will likely exclude 99% of people. 

Hard to believe the whole Merkle team sees people this narrowly, so I think there are big chances that this strategy is intentional, at least for the short to mid term. They are sacrificing “normie” adoption to ensure growth numbera with “degens”.

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

Working on Farcaster and Warpcast. Longer thoughts at https://dwr.email

I get the decision of focusing on cryptonatives and the crypto-curious, but I’m not really buying it. Doesn’t feel like a winning GTM to put all the eggs on that basket (unless your strategy is to just get this type of user)

Imo, that the protocol is decentralized or not isn’t that relevant.

My mom has no clue the internet or email are quite decentralized, and she still uses them every day. She doesn’t have to care about that. She uses them because the interfaces built on top are useful and make her life easier. That’s what matters.

We're trying to grow with cryptonatives and normies that are crypto curious.

Ultimately, we need to lean into what is differentiating (crypto). There's nothing inherently compelling about a decentralized social network for most people (beyond a small hardcore group of people).

🛝 • FID #5644 • urls.art • LA • orange dao • psg • nba

I’m no expert in social networks, and it’s definitely not easy, especially if you don’t have a clear product advantage vs. other social media.

That said, 
- Frames v2 (miniapps) feel like the kind of thing that could really move the needle on usage and retention. But if 99% of them revolve around gambling or money, we’re back to the same story

- Lean into the 80/20 moments that create big spikes. Think of what happened with Brazilians moving to Bluesky when Twitter was blocked

- Invest heavily in client diversity, that can do what Warpcast alone can’t. In that case, it makes total sense for Warpcast to stay crypto-native, while others go broader more like TikTok, or something entirely new

All my friends and family I got excited about Farcaster signed up… and then stopped using it and forgot about returning. Most didn’t feel at home. From day one they didn’t know what to do or who to follow. If Warpcast wants to reach those people eventually, they’re going to have to actually talk to them

I sorta agree with you, but also what would you prioritize in order to get mass adoption?

Yesterday I stumbled upon this (fairly old, but seemingly still valid) thread of Nikita:

https://x.com/nikitabier/status/1481118406749220868?s=46

It made me a little more patient with Farcaster as a newbie. 
I acknowledge that at this point I am the one trying to get into the crypto community and not the crypto community trying to get me to join. 

I see Farcaster as a busy hive that is building and testing how a decentralised social network can be most useful and create most momentum before „actively inviting“ the masses.

It would be cool tho if there was a place that made it easier to connect with other newbies and create little subcommunities of learners, because I am sure there are many people in my position.   

I am very happy there are normie channels now, it makes it easier than last time i tried to get into Farcaster a years ago 😄

After 10 years of building consumer social apps, I've decided to start exploring new areas. Building these products is an unforgiving grind—but I learned a lot along the way. 

For those embarking on this path, here's everything you need to know:

TIME FOR A THREAD 👇

Nikita Bier

Frontend Dev with a passion for mountains and clouds