This! I like how you mention understanding paid options and paying. The devs can develop the ecosystem and infrastructure on Nostr but without users and adoption, it’s not going to work out long term. The average content creator wants an audience AND income. Nostr struggles with that right now. I haven’t seen nor heard of a monetization model other than zaps. In order to receive zaps, people have to give them to other people. And most people don’t even have Bitcoin. So what’s the incentive for a content creator to come over to Nostr? I’m sure the team at Nos Social has done plenty of excellent user research to know that it’s not about censorship resistant technology nor freedom tech. Yes some users care about privacy. But they want a sense of community, multiple apps that can do different things, ease of use, share their content, build an audience, and income. 

It might seem like a crazy idea but I think some of these content creators should be hired and given a salary. A company should hire content creators covering a *variety* of topics to work full time and post content only on the Nostr protocol using Nostr only clients. Pay them in Bitcoin. 

Other users can still come to Nostr to create content and build an audience. And they can receive zaps. 

Nonetheless, something has to be done to get the ball rolling. I don’t see anything wrong with hiring people and paying them for their work. And recommending their accounts to others during sign up. Plus, the content creators can use the Bitcoin they earn to zap other users. It’s a business model that benefits everyone. And it’s proof of work. And moving more people away from fiat into Bitcoin. 

Hire people who’ve bought into the idea of Nostr. Perhaps they already post on Nostr and they are creating content for free. They have somewhat of a following. Or they just have a strong desire to help make Nostr great. They’re interested in using multiple apps and showing how they’re interconnected. I’m sure the hiring committee can create a list of criteria. 

I think people would apply and you’ll get *exceptional* content from them. Nostr encourages p2p payments. So my idea isn’t far-fetched. This will also help put Bitcoin into more hands to give to others in the form of zaps. And to buy/sell things in Bitcoin. 

Another option is to give grants to content creators. But I honestly don’t think content creators would mind working if paid a reasonable salary. 

It’s just my little two cents. Create a poll. Do more user research to get additional feedback. 

P.S. If y’all decide to implement my suggestion, I’m available for hire. 😊