GM utxo, I get where you're coming from. Still, IMO, growth in non-addictive social media will often look like this. Big new user waves whenever X, Meta and co inevitably do the next big nasty anti-user move, followed by a lot of churn and users "relapsing". In a way, quitting proprietary social media is like trying to quit smoking. Sure, algorithms can act as nicotine patches to help with the detox, but ultimately, they won’t keep most users around unless we make it as addictive, or more so, than the proprietary platforms.
There are already other social media apps trying to become the next hipster vaping alternative to Philip Morris / British American Tobacco. And yes, they are "winning" in terms of user retention and network effects. Still, in my book, Nostr is winning by default precisely because it isn't trying to do that.
To be a bit less philosophical: I don’t think the lack of algorithms is the only thing driving users away from Nostr. IMO, we really need to promote a culture of overindexing on sharing/boosting posts + interacting with smaller accounts + catch up functionality on clients.
Just to link both conversations together:
Anthony Accioly
I'm with you on this one. I mean, I'm very happy for folks to play with DVMs, algorithmic relays, etc. All great experiments. But I really don't want it imposed on me. (If any client starts enforcing algorithmic feeds, I'll stop using it, and if it becomes the dominant way of doing things on Nostr, I'm out.)
I also don’t get why every problem on Nostr is dismissed as a "discoverability" problem that requires an algorithmic solution. Classic XY problem...
Folks here can hate on the Fediverse content and architecture as much as they want (I myself dislike the fact that identity and content ownership are bound to specific instances. This is why I'm bullish on Nostr), but I’ve been making ActivityPub work with linear feeds, lists, and hashtags for ages. And yes, I can find basically all the content I want there: from niche tech stuff to content specifically for Brazilian expats living in small British/Irish towns. It honestly doesn't get much nichier than that. I'm doing this using a small personal instance that isn't even pulling a fraction of Mastodon’s content in a pool of active users much larger than Nostr. Still, the niche content gets to my feeds.
What we're lacking here on Nostr is a culture of boosting/resharing, content lists, and hashtags, so that content "lives" longer and spreads without needing endorsement from a Nostr influencer account.
That, and a good onboarding experience so that the combination of spam bots, manosphere/homophobic/anti-immigration/hardline MAGA content, or even generally well-intended but overly enthusiastic Maxis and Nostr devs (guilty) don’t drive users away in the first 10 minutes before they even get a chance to check out catstr, artstr, gaming, travelling, music, retrotech, or whatever else they enjoy.
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