Farcaster

I think it's really important to lean into the onchain interactions that are happening between users. 

Your working theory (as I understand it) to onboard new users is interesting content. I believe that onchain interactions are a rich source of highly interesting social content that is basically not being surfaced at all in the app today. 

Here's a specific example: I'm in a groupchat with @zinger that we're using to trade. The man is an animal. It's engaging to watch him enter and exit positions. That wallet is probably connected to his Farcaster account. 

Why can't I see that activity on his profile? It feels like a slam dunk and a huge differentiator to other social networks. 

Show me when someone sends ETH to someone else. 
Show me when someone mints someone. 
Show me when someone is up 10,000x on a meme coin. 
Show me when someone uses some new DeFi protocol or makes a loan. 

There are apps attempting this, but w/o Warpcast's reach or eng chops. Eat their lunch. 

It's all there in the open!

Some chatter on this, especially around the “eat their lunch” phrasing

My perspective as a user: 

Warpcast has a difficult role to play: as the largest product on the Farcaster protocol, their actions will drive the majority of new user growth

Along the way, there will be other apps that emerge to fill gaps in the Warpcast value prop. Scheduled casts, onchain actions, real time chat, etc

As those features are validated by users, the Warpcast team is then faced with a choice: integrate these features into the main app (thereby stimulating growth), or intentionally avoid building it to reduce competition with ecosystem partners 

The rub: if Farcaster doesn’t significantly grow, then all ecosystem apps will likely die anyway due to lack of sufficient users. 

My personal framework around this topic is less vibes driven and more realpolitik; as an app builder, you have to be prepared for your great feature idea to be copied as soon as it’s proven to be successful with users.

Building /bright-moments - minting onchain art IRL | /purple #15 | FID 129 #magikarp

Rome, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Italy

/ted | exploring the onchain frontier | surfing @ venice, ca | eating @ gjusta / gjelina

i've had a few conversations since this post that have convinced me SIWF is a bigger issue than i thought re: user growth independent of warpcast

> how most crypto ecosystems work 

but most crypto ecosystems don't work? or at least, not by traditional measures of success (dau)

i think my comment struck a nerve because the vibes or tone were off. which is fine; the point was to spark conversation about a topic that isn't really discussed

but the history of social ecosystems is not great for 3rd party devs. that's the whole FC value prop -- protocol features & data can't be rugged. but that doesn't extend to the app level, and the team has been clear about that. anything at the app level is fair game imo. builders are smart -- they just want to be told the truth and have clear expectations.

this reads as if there’s a binary option A or B, but that’s a fallacy.

there’s at least an option C, which is how most crypto ecosystems work — which is together.

if we’re going to encourage competition, then at least allow other apps to actually compete by enabling sign in with farcaster (instead of warpcast) and opening read/write direct cast APIs. otherwise it’s just a platform and not a protocol.

I wonder if there is a model where sherlocked apps get the idea ‘bought’ by Warpcast. Essentially Retro funding for effort - they have the treasury to do it. Fundamentally all alt apps need to have a different value prop that filling than holes in Warpcast that any reasonable user would expect. In the meantime as you say it’s holding back adoption.

I mainly write code and read books. Sometimes I take pictures. I wish I’d write.

https://zora.co/ruhum

Well, not quite

There is an important balance in ceding non-essential features to other products

Otherwise you risk burning the developer ecosystem and stunting funding if startups are reluctant to build for fear of being rolled over

It’s a balancing act

If Warpcast grows, Farcaster grows. That’s the gist of it. Anything else isn’t important.

Is "Realpolitik" also an English word or are you German?