In the past month or so I’ve heard multiple stories from people who have almost been scammed or have been scammed via phone, email, text etc. The grifters are having a moment and it’s one we should be aware of when it comes to branding and marketing of Nostr. A key element of brand positioning and marketing is to understand the context in which a product is entering the market. For Nostr three contexts we need to keep in mind are: 1. Most people are frustrated with platform social media’s dopamine engagement approach and endless ads, which boils down to a lack of control. 2. We live in the golden age of grift. All of us know at least one person who has fallen for or almost fallen for a digital scam of some sort. 3. The scammers did not stick to phone, text, email and social. They took full advantage during the web3 heyday. It doesn’t matter that reading a text message is nearly as risky today as holding a crypto wallet. The narrative is that the scammers concentrate in crypto.

ABC News

Americans lost $5.6 billion in cryptocurrency scams in 2023: FBI

The impacts of these schemes are devastating.

The average person does not care enough to learn the difference between Bitcoin and other crypto. Unlike Farcaster Nostr does not require crypto/Bitcoin to participate. This is a feature. In addition we need to remember that the crypto scams are just piece of the overall grift / scam culture pervading digital spaces. Phone and email scams are more sophisticated and text scams are emerging as well as social media scams. When I reached out to a contact in the game streamer space earlier this year about the Creator Residency, she expressed skepticism because of the web3/blockchain association, noting “Web3/block chain are considered risks and/or ethically the Boogeyman in a lot of creator circles”. It’s too much for individuals to navigate all the spaces scams can come through on their own. In the US at least the phone companies are not using the tech they have to prevent the scams from getting through. Gmail is decent but not perfect. Meta just 🤷‍♂️. I spent the summer onboarding a lot of new people to Nostr. I talked about the user-led approach to social media the protocol provides: build your own feed, own your social graph, choose your own content moderation, post the formats of content you want to post. At the end I asked if they would be interested in experimenting with micropayments via the pennies of Bitcoin. Some were interested. Others initially were not and then came back to me later asking for help to set up a wallet. Nostr is amazing on its own. It solves many of the problems people have with platform social media. By taking a Nostr-first approach to marketing, onboarding, and branding we’re much more likely to broaden the set of people interested in the protocol and its corresponding apps and services. In turn growth will accelerate. And some of those folks will eventually want to learn more about zaps, satoshis and Bitcoin once they understand Nostr isn’t over run with scammers and grifters. For those trying to onboard others, I’m curious if you are seeing the pushback because of fears around crypto or if you avoid that topic altogether?

Wtf? We should get NOAA on here. https://wapo.st/3AXVSfb

Some inspiration for rethinking the social compute enabled experience: “How can we align our interests with what living organisms and systems naturally do? How can we yoke ourselves to what they’re doing so that our relationship is no longer exploitative, but rather one where we’re putting existing capabilities to productive ends? That might mean adapting how we work, how we think, and what we’re building. But I can guarantee that whatever comes out of that approach will be more fascinating, generative, and sustainable long-term than what we have now.” Particularly interested in new experiences that are non-exploitative. Living through Web 2.0 feels like surviving a slash and burn approach to co-existing with nature where there were some benefits but at such enormous costs.

From silicon to slime – Dark Properties

Huge thanks to @Global Sports Central for their 2024 Olympic Coverage and partnership with nos.social. In addition to seeing some incredible Olympic highlights and behind the scenes stories we gained valuable insights about dedicated content relays. We’re excited to see where this heads in the future! 🎉

Brought my mom and niece to a pick your flower farm this weekend and we had the best time! Picking flowers and then making bouquets at home! The best part: the flowers are lasting much longer than pre-bought bouquets!

Excited to share an interview we did with a couple of the Nos Creator Residents who stream on Nostr. Having worked on streaming software elsewhere I learned that technology has enabled streamers to single handedly do the work of 10. What used to require videographers, audio engineers, lighting specialists etc is now undertaken by the streamer. It’s quite incredible when you think about it. It’s also the reason Nostr has the potential to change the game for these creators. Both @Lou and @inpc are at different stages of their streaming journey but both were excited about the experience streaming on Nostr offers. Check out the interview and give them a follow!

Nostr: A friendlier place to stream - Nos: The Human Network

This feels accurate. Ironic the Democrats dont want to let democracy happen in the primaries. View quoted note →

Some morning nature audio.

Did you know Nos is sponsoring a Creator Residency this summer? Applications are rolling through the summer. Here’s a run down of what’s involved: - Optimize your profile and bio - Post at least 4-5 times per week - Posts can be original content or links to related content or reposts of other content What you receive from the residency: - Featured on the Nos Discover tab for 2 months - Cohort announcement from the Nos social account - Reposting / quote posting of content during the 2 months - 1-2 appearances in our email newsletter Do I need to be an expert or have a large following? - No, this is a great opportunity for emerging creators who want to expand their network on Nostr. What types creators should apply? - Artists, musicians and photographers because we all need more art and they need some zaps! - Hobbyists who are passionate about their craft. Love to garden? Fix old cars? Repair watches? Want to share your passion with others? Apply! - Knowledge creators / curators. We have some great curators in the program today including @npub1a2a8...3fnn who posts both original and curated content about all things women’s health and @Global Sports Central for the latest sports news from around the globe. - Game streamers / music streamers - I know there are some gamers on Nostr who would love to remain in network to learn from others. To learn more and apply, click the link below or share it with friends who are tired of the corporate algorithm game! https://nos.social/creator-residency

My favorite kind of growth - the kind that gives back.

#asknostr - What’s the equivalent you would recommend for Nostr? Is there a relay setup that you would recommend or something else? note19eefzthvpk7vnzg3arx75ahc30cuvgzs4pyduaq8snv2ka520edsexsar7

#asknostr If you are using smaller relays, we’d love to know: - how did you discover them? - are they with people you know IRL, topical, local or something else - what do you like about using a smaller relay? - what if anything would you change or improve about using a smaller relay?

The other morning I walked outside and found this bunny frozen in the entry way across the street. It was trying desperately to blend in.

Another photo from this week’s gorge hike.

Thanks @Shaun for pulling together a great panel on decentralization via Nostr in NYC! Great to hear about @Wavlake ‘s efforts to rewire the music experience and @YakiHonne ‘s commitment to decentralization. @boston wine for reminding us all that Nostr is genuinely a nice place to hang out. 🎉 View quoted note →

Mountain laurel is in bloom!

I want to live in a place with winter public pools! This is Iceland but many places in Northern Europe have year round swimming options.

kottke.org

Swimming Pool Stories

Icelandic filmmaker Jón Karl Helgason has made a film called Sundlaugasögur (Swimming Pool Stories) about the central role of the swimming pool i...

Kathe Kollwitz show is up at MOMA and it’s definitely worth a visit. She was one of the first women artists to succeed visually while also putting forward a woman’s point of view. Also one of the few sculpters who can render emotion well in 3D.

In many of the “what should Nostr do next” threads over the past few weeks some users have noted search isnt great across Nostr. This morning our team looked up the relays that support NIP50 - the search NIP and there are some but very few of the major ones folks connect to support search. We have built our relays on strfry which prioritizes speedy return of npubs rather than indexing. Curious if folks are relying on something other than NIP50 for search? Also curious what is or is not motivating implementation of NIP50 amongst relay managers?

If you haven’t heard @nos is launching both Journalism Accelerator and Creator Residency programs. This is an initiative inspired by conversations we’ve had with the Nostr community. If you know Creators or Journalists on other platforms please encourage them to apply. Nos is excited to launch this in partnership with @Damus , @primal , @Highlighter @YakiHonne & @Coracle . For more details check out: https://www.nos.social/journalism-accelerator Or https://www.nos.social/creator-residency