Every Friday, Farcaster is filled with a relaxed atmosphere. People say “Happy Friday”, “touch grass” to each other, and even the cash cannon is particularly active on that day. You may not feel this vibe on social media, but you can definitely feel it in the office before the end of the workday on Friday.
I know that some people take a look at Farcaster and leave after saying “What’s the difference between this and Twitter.” Let me tell you, when you understand the relaxed atmosphere on Farcaster on Fridays, you will understand the difference between Farcaster and Twitter.
A city under construction
Farcaster is a city under construction, and everything here is currently centered around the builders.
The vast majority of Farcaster’s infrastructure is designed to serve the builders. Similar to Twitter’s post, the basic unit of Farcaster is a cast. However, unlike posts, casts on Farcaster can provide much more than just content due to frames and actions. Frames are more for the publishers of casts, allowing them to provide applications or services in the form of casts to others. Actions are more for the recipients of casts, allowing people to interact with the cast or even the caster.
Whether it’s frames, actions, or the soon-to-be-released programmable direct casts, these eye-catching infrastructures and basic designs on Farcaster are like Lego pieces handed to the builders, allowing them to develop products in a composable way on a decentralized social network.
The basic infrastructures of channel and Group Direct Casts mainly serve the content builders. Farcaster explores the rules of these two and enhances their capabilities, allowing builders to create content more effectively and comfortably.
Most of the honors and rewards on Farcaster go to the builders. The main currency issuance method on Farcaster is through rewards, such as the well-known $DEGEN. Builders contribute to the ecosystem and bring value to others, giving them a natural advantage in this issuance method.
The recent popular project BUILD directly rewards the builders. The token distribution method allows each person to nominate three builders to receive $BUILD each day. For example, I nominate builders I know, but most of the time, I nominate the builders corresponding to things I liked that day on Farcaster, even if I don’t know them. They receive rewards for their contributions to the ecosystem, not for who they are.
Most of the residents on Farcaster are builders. Here, there is almost no discussion of politics or gossip. People discuss how to effectively filter out the noise on social media while retaining valuable information. They talk about how to build a place suitable for discussion. Every day, a large number of new applications (including independent applications, clients, frames, actions, etc.) emerge, and everyone contributes to the building of these applications, whether as developers, testers, or promoters. People build, discuss how to build, and build tools and infrastructure for building.
If you come to Farcaster just expecting to see a mature city, you may be disappointed. Farcaster is currently a city full of scaffolding and busy builders. But if you come to Farcaster not just to sightsee, but to see if you can find opportunities in this city, you will not be disappointed. As long as you are willing, you can become a builder in this city. There are plenty of open spaces for you to choose from, tools for building, and friends to build with. You will receive honor and rewards for your construction efforts.
Everyone can be a builder
I want to discuss the theme of “everyone can be a builder” based on my own experience on Farcaster. When I first arrived, I created a channel called /opinion and started sharing my views here. However, almost no one was interested in these views, and I realized that this approach was wrong. I shouldn’t just stay in my own corner.
It is worth mentioning that Farcaster has a filtering algorithm. In most systems, new users are initially considered real users, and only later identified as bots if their behavior is suspicious. However, in Farcaster, new users are initially identified as NPC, and only later considered real users once their behavior resembles that of real users.
In many default settings of Warpcast (Farcaster’s largest client), content posted by NPC users or even users without a power badge is hidden or does not appear in the main feed. This means that when I was a new user, the content I posted was difficult for others to see, let alone if I only posted in my own channel.
I needed to reach out and connect with others, which is the essence of a social network. At first, I just said “gm” to others, and some responded while others did not. Soon, I discovered new products every day and provided feedback to developers, which finally made others “see” me. I was like a person wandering in a bustling city under construction, helping anyone who needed it. Although it may not have been significant, it made me start to integrate into the city. Although I didn’t build my own project, helping others build is also a form of construction.
After spending some time here, I gained a basic understanding of the Farcaster ecosystem. I started sharing new products that I found good, useful, or interesting, and also shared and discussed viewpoints that I found to be good. When I did these things, I may have helped other builders, making their products and viewpoints more known to others, while also building my own content.
I don’t know what I will build here in the future, but I am undoubtedly a builder. I received good rewards in $DEGEN and was nominated by others as a builder to receive $BUILD. I have met many people and have been recognized by others. I have built my own social network.
This is my journey from being a bystander to a builder, as someone who is not a developer or a high-frequency content creator. This journey is not mainstream, but is based on personal interests. You don’t need to do the same.
What you need to do is stay here and start doing something you like and can connect with others. For example, if you don’t know what you can do but you are a meme enthusiast, start by joining the /memes channel. Share memes, become a builder in this channel, make friends, and build your initial social network here.
On-chain social? No, it’s on-chain society
One day, I was playing Farcaster on my computer until 9 or 10 PM, feeling the need to relax, so I went to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of soda, and then opened a bag of chips. As I sat on the couch eating chips, a huge question mark appeared in my mind: what was I doing? Why did I need to eat chips to relax late at night? I sat up, contemplating this question. I realized that I wasn’t just playing Farcaster, I was working for Farcaster.
For example, collecting and organizing important information on Farcaster and delivering it to others is a form of media editing. Using new applications and providing feedback is a form of product testing.
When I realized this, an image of a city appeared in my mind. I used the metaphor of a city to describe Farcaster at the beginning of the article, and that wasn’t just a metaphor I found, it was an image that appeared in my mind.
A huge, bustling city under construction, where everyone is contributing to building it. The unique thing is that everyone is not being directed by others to do things, but based on their own interests or skills, they find things for themselves and start doing them. The construction of this city has not fallen into chaos due to the lack of centralized management or scheduling, but rather has shown flexibility, creativity, passion, and vitality that cannot be achieved under centralization. This city is rapidly rising, based on the independent work of each individual.
Farcaster is able to operate well in a decentralized and autonomous manner, perhaps due to:
1. It is built on decentralized technology;
2. It initially brought together a group of committed builders and has a good community atmosphere;
3. The distribution of currency through rewards not only effectively incentivizes individual builders, but also encourages everyone to participate;
4. Channels not only facilitate topic discussions and content retention, but also help people get to know each other, build their initial social networks here, and importantly, individuals can form groups here to collaborate on construction;
5. Frames add WYSIWYG products to the content stream, developers use frames to develop products, and products are spread through the social network. Frames in the content stream combine independent developers and independent promoters to collectively develop and operate products;
6. Almost everything on Farcaster is programmable, and user data on Farcaster is decentralized and shareable, making it possible for Lego-style development. This development not only involves jointly improving a product, but also combining different products to achieve new functionality;
7. A healthy and efficient social network that enables people to obtain information and collaborate.
It’s worth mentioning that we have always been trying to build effective organizations on decentralization, and organizations or societies mean collaboration. This means that the first problem we need to solve after decentralization is the problem of collaboration, and collaboration requires solving the problem of effective information transmission.
Back on topic. I want to sit down and write about Farcaster not because of its user base and daily active data, not because of the lineup of investors, and not because of its technical architecture. It is because I realize that it is an unprecedented city, or rather, an unprecedented form of social organization or mode of operation. Farcaster is far more than just on-chain social, it is a new society built on a decentralized social network.
People are not just getting information here, they are also getting products and services that are created here. People live here, they have their friends here; people also work here, they have their users and partners here.
Conclusion
There is a saying in “Xunzi’s Advice on Learning”, “Without accumulation of steps, one cannot reach a thousand miles.” This article discusses the individual steps in Farcaster: start doing something you like and can connect with others. It also discusses the thousand miles of Farcaster in my eyes: a new society built on a decentralized social network. I hope this article will help you understand Farcaster. However, the most important thing is not to study it from a distance, but to immerse yourself in it.
