Oddbean new post about login | logout @mmasnick has a new essay about what is bringing people to decentralized social protocols. He calls them Elon Musk Events (EVM’s) which drive people to leave one platform and try alternatives. He wrote the essay, Protocols, Not Platforms which really pushed forward the idea of social media protocols as a viable alternative to centralized platforms. The latest one on adopting social media protocols is somewhat focused on Bluesky but it talks about Nostr and other protocols. The point is we need to keep exploring and trying things to figure out what are the killer features that decentralized can do which isn’t easy or possible with centralized systems. Nostr has so much experimenting going on that it’s hard to keep track of which is amazing. We need to do a better job at talking to new and potential people in order that they are invited in and see value in staying. https://www.techdirt.com/2024/10/29/some-slightly-biased-thoughts-on-the-state-of-decentralized-social-media/
Media is almost entirely overran by bluesky fanatics because they are good at marketing. The whole thing is comparable to bitcoin vs shitcoin - truly open source contributions vs. a vc funded venture. There’s little value in Elon events because they just get grumpy old people to leave one platform for another. Then you have a bunch of grumpy old people in one place. Such platform cannot survive long. Nostr doesn’t need to focus on Elon events because the space outside of twitter is much larger. New generations want to join interesting platforms and apps, not just another twitter alternative. In fact, I’d be surprised if this format lasts much longer. People are already aggregating around niche community hence the growth of Reddit and other niche platforms. The limited nuance broad topic text platforms are an echo of the past and do not necessarily represent the future. If nostr tries to compete on the properties we all appreciate it for, it’s not going to win. Only new and interesting use cases are going to drive significant growth (which is what I think you’ve hinted to as well). Just my 2 sats
also, bluesky is doing well because essentially, most people going there don't care about its decentralization premise in the contrary, they're nostalgic for the old centralized twitter app, and bluesky provides this experience (including the logo) despite the efforts and promises of some of the founders and developers, it's not really a step forward, but for user adoption success it doesn't need to be when bluesky has its own "Musk event" those users will just hop to the next centralized platform again, none the wiser
Agree, reddit is one of the best platforms for engaging properly on topics, and now is a time when people are seeking this more and more instead of reading quick fire current events like twitter etc. The trouble is that Reddit is one of the most heavily censored and monitored of all the social media networks. I'd like to see Nostr devs really focus on Reddit style forum use (subforuming) applications that also incorporate general shortform notes (and keep Identities separate but running in parallel). We don't have to have a single signon for every part of the network we use. I don't use my twitter signon for reddit.
Hey nostr:nprofile1qqs8d3c64cayj8canmky0jap0c3fekjpzwsthdhx4cthd4my8c5u47spz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43qz9rhwden5te0wfjkccte9ejxzmt4wvhxjmcpzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wvh8xmmrd9skchd02dz, I know this might be a bit "cringe" by Nostr standards, but I just want to say that I really appreciate the great content you're highlighting and sharing here on Nostr.