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presupposing everyone joins from bitcointwitter

is a silly idea

I don't think clients should assume everyone or most people are joining from bitcointwitter, although that does seem to be the case, it further cements the silo.

I think they do this perhaps unintentionally, perhaps slightly intentionally to retain those users. You see this assumption in user recommendations at onboarding and sidebars of highlighted notes. It screams "hello, bitcointwitter expat, look we have that Natalie Brunel here, and Carla, look Jimmy Song is here... everyone you love is here!" Which imo is totally alienating to anyone outside of this very specific bubble (and even some inside that bubble who are on bitcointwitter but have follows outside of that bubble too).

https://image.nostr.build/5d3af6ea8dc9473a1180c597f69aa90ae5409ca495c69d7e8bad13e6bc100213.jpg

You also see this in responses to the problem people raise of not finding content. The tired response of 'just follow more people' you see in #introductions too. This might be fine if you're coming from bitcointwitter (maybe you want to see a dozen more posts per second of people saying 'stack sats and stay humble' and an ai image of a robot holding a bitcoin, I don't know). But this doesn't help someone looking for other topics. Twitter is bigger than bitcointwitter. People interested in topiary can find that content on twitter, or Herefordshire folklore, an expert in eel migration, or a cultural commentator, or their favourite ayahuasca enema philosopher etc etc. They can find that on wider twitter. No amount of following numbers will help that on nostr. It's not here.... yet. Perhaps recommendations of topic hashtags to follow at the onboarding stage, or RSS feed accounts... or just acknowledging it's not here. I think it's fine to acknowledge this to somehow retain at least a semblance of this not just being a bitcoin telegram group for bitcointourettes.

https://image.nostr.build/53edfb0524086d3a8f5bf8dffe60de177f7436b6eb18c0fed97cffd7e025d228.jpg

Replies (9)

I always love when a “big innfllooers” joins and everyone is all OMG BLIeex3 you finally made it here please take my zaps. Then they disappear until the next #podconf when they see the nostr tent again.
this feels so relatable. i'm trying to bring different content here, but there's no real audience here for it yet. i'm basically speaking into the wind, which is okay i guess but disheartening at times. everyone here seems friendly but it's difficult to find *steady* content besides nostr and bitcoin. there are some gems out there, but you really have to dig.
This is a common objection and I covered it here. I don't think this reaponse is very useful. Just like the 'fillow more people' response. You're assuming the problem is with just not finding the content and interactions, but that it exists? I disagree.
7fqx's avatar 7fqx
presupposing everyone joins from bitcointwitter
is a silly idea
Read article →
There weren’t a lot of shopping malls on the frontier. That’s what being a settler/explorer is all about.
It's a major problem, not really been solved. Retention is low and the only reliable place to recruit from is bitcointwitter. No one outside of bitcointwitter wants bitcointwitter as a social media (even some of bitcointwitter want more variety, which they find on wider twitter, not here).
7fqx's avatar 7fqx
presupposing everyone joins from bitcointwitter
is a silly idea
Read article →
For me it's the mechanisms here that have cemented to a certain extent the taste makers, incentivised appealing to these accounts for visibility to a certain extent - in their replies and boosts. The recommended users, the 'trending' lists etc. Regurgitating or even just copying bitcointwitter talking points and 'memes' is somewhat (unintentionally?) rewarded. Obviously, you can just post whatever you like and not play along, you may find your experience is more like posting into a void, or an unread (micro)blog. Someone with a niche interest might post, they may get some interaction. I don't think people are ignoring or discouraging this, but they'll probably find they're not finding a vibrant community around many/any other topics, not getting a vibrant conversation on other topics, and feel somewhat compelled to return to the safe bets of bitcoin 'memes' and slogans, being reply guys to large follower accounts. I think an alternative trending algo which takes into account follower numbers as a percentage for likes. Eg a 50k follower account with 70 likes should'nt be 'trending', but a 400 follower account with 20 likes could be... Something like this as a factor thrown into the mix. As well as a proper forum/topic -follow clients, rather than the twitter clone clients, could help this situation. Maybe.
7fqx's avatar 7fqx
presupposing everyone joins from bitcointwitter
is a silly idea
Read article →