Is Decentralized Social Media Worth the Effort? | EP 28
Sep 6, 2023
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Dan Romero, Founder of Farcaster and Warpcast, discusses decentralized social media. Topics include being deplatformed, rival clients, technical implementation of Farcaster, choosing OP mainnet, incentivized usage, and getting users to switch from Twitter.
Farcaster aims to create a decentralized social experience where developers have more innovation opportunities and users have more control over their content and audience.
Farcaster enables users to associate multiple Ethereum addresses with their identity, providing a more secure and flexible way to prove ownership.
Farcaster and Lens approach the decentralized social landscape with different strategies, with Farcaster focusing on building a full-stack solution and Lens adopting a more decentralized approach.
Dan emphasized the importance of organic growth and user feedback in building a community, highlighting the value of focusing on users with fewer than 10,000 followers on Twitter for a more authentic community and meaningful engagement.
Deep dives
Farcaster's Differentiation in the Decentralized Social Space
Farcaster is a decentralized social platform that differentiates itself from other players in the space through its focus on building an authentic community. The platform has seen record data active users and recently migrated to the optimism mainnet. The founder, Dan Romero, discusses the decision to migrate and the benefits of being part of the Ethereum ecosystem. Farcaster aims to provide developers with the freedom to innovate and users with a more direct relationship with their audience, addressing issues of centralized control and deplatforming.
The Importance of Decentralized Social Media
Dan Romero highlights the importance of decentralized social networks in providing freedom and control for both developers and users. By building on Ethereum and leveraging blockchain technology, Farcaster aims to create a decentralized social experience where developers have more innovation opportunities and users have more control over their content and audience. The goal is to move away from the centralized control seen in existing social media platforms and empower individuals to have a direct relationship with their audience without fear of being deplatformed.
The Technical Implementation of Farcaster's Identity and Authentication
Farcaster's strategy involves using Ethereum for identity and authentication, with the aim of simplifying the onboarding process for users. By leveraging blockchain technology, Farcaster enables users to associate multiple Ethereum addresses with their identity, providing a more secure and flexible way to prove ownership. The platform also allows users to upgrade their usernames and associate them with ENS, making it easier for users to switch names and control their online presence. Farcaster's focus on user-centric identity aims to provide a more decentralized and user-controlled social experience.
Comparing Farcaster and Lens in the Decentralized Social Landscape
Farcaster and Lens approach the decentralized social landscape with different strategies. Farcaster focuses on building a full-stack solution, aiming to create a quality daily active user base and develop its own distinct culture. The platform prioritizes simplicity and a close-knit community. On the other hand, Lens adopts a more decentralized approach, allowing the market to decide the set of clients and apps for its protocol. It utilizes more on-chain elements and emphasizes on-chain composability. Both approaches have their pros and cons, and it remains to be seen how the decentralized social space evolves over time.
Importance of organic growth and user feedback
Dan emphasized the importance of organic growth and user feedback in building a community. He revealed that the first 400 users of Farcaster were manually onboarded, but many of them churned. Through this experience, he learned the value of focusing on users who have fewer than 10,000 followers on Twitter. This approach ensures a more authentic community and allows for meaningful engagement.
The potential of dedicated client apps and channels
Dan discussed the potential for dedicated client apps and channels within the Farcaster ecosystem. He highlighted the success of channels, which are topic-based communities similar to subreddits. Channels have reengaged users and added a new element of differentiation to Farcaster. Dan also mentioned the possibility of dedicated client apps being built for specific channels, allowing for a more tailored and immersive user experience.
The future scalability and monetization plans of Farcaster
Dan provided insights into the scalability and monetization plans of Farcaster. He explained that the current hub model is scalable and can support up to 10 million users on a single server. As the user base grows, the option of sharding could be considered. Additionally, Farcaster currently charges a $5 fee per year for users to store their data in the hub, but he mentioned the potential for lowering the price in the future. Dan also expressed interest in exploring different monetization models, such as stake-based payment or ownership, to reduce spam and ensure sustainability.
Imran and Qiao sit down with Dan Romero, the founder of Farcaster and Warpcast, for a deep dive into the world of decentralized social media.
No BS crypto insight for founders.
Timestamps
(00:00) Intro (00:38) Welcome to Good Game (03:33) Imran's experience with Friend.tech so far (04:46) Start of the interview with Dan (05:15) Quick background on Dan (05:34) What is decentralized social media and why is it important? (07:21) An example of being deplatformed (13:28) Who decides if a user is going to get banned by the rest of the network? (19:28) Is there any client that can rival Warpcast today? (20:31) The technical implementation of Farcaster (32:48) Why move to OP stack? (37:12) Why choose OP mainnet instead of launching your own chain? (40:45) Qiao: What do you think of Friend.tech? (45:20) How about Lens? (49:18) Comparing Farcaster and Lens from a user's POV (55:03) Imran: How do you view incentivized usage? (58:51) Imran: Where do you see Warpcast/Farcast go to get the average normie to switch from Twitter to Warpcast? (01:03:28) How do we think about Twitter-like scale? (01:08:42) Dan's advice for founders (01:10:00) Dan's #1 lesson he learned from building Farcaster (01:11:53) Imran and Qiao's learnings (01:15:02) Qiao interviewed Farcaster users (01:32:02) The move to OP stack
Dan Romero Twitter: https://twitter.com/dwr
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3N675w3 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3snLsxU Website: https://goodgamepod.xyz Twitter: https://twitter.com/goodgamepodxyz
Web3 Founders: Apply to Alliance: https://alliance.xyz/ Alliance Twitter: https://twitter.com/alliancedao
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed herein are personal to the speaker(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other person or entity. Discussions and answers to questions are intended as generalized, non-personalized information. Nothing herein should be construed or relied upon as investment, legal, tax, or other advice.
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