Laurens Hof on Nostr: Jack Dorsey on Nostr Jack Dorsey wrote a post about Nostr the other day that I think ...
Jack Dorsey on Nostr
Jack Dorsey wrote a post about Nostr the other day that I think is worth reading, and take stock how he thinks about social networks. Fediverse-accesible link here (side note: Nostr can connect to the fediverse via a bridge, so I follow Jack directly from my Mastodon account).
First to note is that Jack is fully focused on Nostr, not on Bluesky. He deleted his Bluesky account a while ago, even though he is still on the board of the Bluesky organisation. Reading this post makes it clear where his attention is though, and its not at Bluesky.
Reframing Twitter as an information network over a social network is interesting, and I can see why. It also indicates the impossible dilemma Mastodon is in: Eugen Rochko explicitly frames it as a Twitter competitor, but by making search opt-in, it can never come close to the information network that Twitter was.
Nostr is positioned as working towards a multi-app/use-case ecosystem. Nostr struggles with the same problem that the fediverse has here; both protocols allow for a large variety of different networks and products, but they are currently heavily dominated by microblogging. The challenge for both networks is how to grow beyond just microblogging, and providing other use-cases.
Jack also mentions the ‘completely open and wild API’ as a benefit for Nostr. It is here that the fediverse is ahead of both Bluesky and Nostr. An open API is great for a whole lot of purposes, but at the same time it violates people’s consent to actually use their data. Nostr positions itself as the wild west. This comes with advantages, such as development speed, but makes the community unsafer. In turn, this makes it all the harder for the Nostr community to expand beyond the bitcoin bubble.
Overall, the post illustrates what makes me excited about decentralised social networks, and that we finally have choices. I personally disagree with part of Jack’s vision how a social network should look like. I can contribute to the network that aligns with my values, while there is still space for people to have their own network with their own values.
#nostr
https://laurenshof.online/jack-dorsey-on-nostr/
Jack Dorsey wrote a post about Nostr the other day that I think is worth reading, and take stock how he thinks about social networks. Fediverse-accesible link here (side note: Nostr can connect to the fediverse via a bridge, so I follow Jack directly from my Mastodon account).
First to note is that Jack is fully focused on Nostr, not on Bluesky. He deleted his Bluesky account a while ago, even though he is still on the board of the Bluesky organisation. Reading this post makes it clear where his attention is though, and its not at Bluesky.
Reframing Twitter as an information network over a social network is interesting, and I can see why. It also indicates the impossible dilemma Mastodon is in: Eugen Rochko explicitly frames it as a Twitter competitor, but by making search opt-in, it can never come close to the information network that Twitter was.
Nostr is positioned as working towards a multi-app/use-case ecosystem. Nostr struggles with the same problem that the fediverse has here; both protocols allow for a large variety of different networks and products, but they are currently heavily dominated by microblogging. The challenge for both networks is how to grow beyond just microblogging, and providing other use-cases.
Jack also mentions the ‘completely open and wild API’ as a benefit for Nostr. It is here that the fediverse is ahead of both Bluesky and Nostr. An open API is great for a whole lot of purposes, but at the same time it violates people’s consent to actually use their data. Nostr positions itself as the wild west. This comes with advantages, such as development speed, but makes the community unsafer. In turn, this makes it all the harder for the Nostr community to expand beyond the bitcoin bubble.
Overall, the post illustrates what makes me excited about decentralised social networks, and that we finally have choices. I personally disagree with part of Jack’s vision how a social network should look like. I can contribute to the network that aligns with my values, while there is still space for people to have their own network with their own values.
#nostr
https://laurenshof.online/jack-dorsey-on-nostr/