Thread

The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle, but I think modern social networks like Instagram and TikTok were primarily designed to capture and direct your attention — to make you focus on what those in control want you to see. TikTok, in particular, represents the next generation of algorithm-driven content distribution, and it’s often used as a tool to promote certain political narratives. Governments spend massive amounts on TikTok advertising during elections — at least, that’s the case in my home country. What I’m getting at is this: TikTok operates within powerful investment and influence networks. So where does Nostr fit into this picture? Do we even want a platform that captures user attention in the same way? And if we do, how should we approach it?

Nostr fits into the picture by not promoting algorithmic feeds and only showing what your followers post, thereby removing the toxic sludge of attention-grabbing content solely for the purpose of data harvesting, which is used to fund operations by sending it to third parties. We can simply opt out by choosing #nostr Who's to say that #Rumble won't operate the same way Big Tech currently functions? Is it decentralized? No. Is it open source? As far as I know, only its content moderation tools are open source, but that's about it (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). Is it censorship-resistant? They claim to be, as designed. However, since they have a CEO and board of directors, they have to answer to somebody. So, it's only a matter of time before it won't be as censorship-resistant as they claim, especially under governmental pressure. So, where does Nostr fit into this? It fits by serving as a decentralized, open-sourced, and censorship-resistant protocol that doesn't serve any single entity, unlike a centralized platform like Rumble

If you remove the content propagation based on smart algorithms then you have to provide to the users something else in return otherwise they will not be motivated to use your app. Instagram back in the days showed only posts from followers, then they saw that this strategy is not engaging users to use the app properly and some “good” content doesn’t arrive to you simply because you don’t follow someone. Then they invented this smart feed based on things you like. I don’t think smart algorithms are generally bad, it depends how you use them. I don’t want my feed to be full of memes to spike my dopamine level and take all my attention because I simply like them, but maybe I would like some services or content that I specifically search for to be more accessible. Another point I wanted to make is that TikTok by my opinion was created by a government to promote different political views and get huge money from it, wins the one with more money. It was created with a specific goal, and clear business model. It’s a big business but Nostr has to find its own way how to play in this game if wanted. I don’t know about #Rumble, it’s first time I hear about them, if you want you can share more about it