Ashtar on Farcaster

Dan Romero pfp

"If you offer X, Y, Z features, you'll be able to convince people frustrated with [insert social platform] to move to Farcaster." 1. In most cases on the internet, audience and community are downstream of the platform they are formed on. There are exceptions. 2. Migration is an individual act. Individuals try new things and successfully migrate. Very few communities successfully migrate. Usually, they fracture or fade. 3. Path dependency is real! Just because another network used a tactic at a point in time doesn't mean it's universal. In fact, most of the time it's not replicable since it was successful in capturing a given cohort that there's no one left to target like that. 4. Most consumers are creatures of habit. They get used to a set of tools, networks, experiences and they stick to them, even if stuff gets way worse. 5. Finally, and most importantly, do not underestimate the power of network effects. Companies that have them are valuable for that reason.

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Ashtar pfp

I think 4 is especially relevant. People are mostly creatures of habit. There is extreme inertia in getting them to do something that is even slightly different from what they are used to even if it may be better. From their standpoint the cognitive load of learning a new way to do things is huge compared to doing something they already know. This creates a dilemma in the sense that if you just give them what they already have then there is no reason to change. If you give them something too different even if it is immensely better the “pain” of switching may be too great for many to do it. Combine that with the fact that it is very likely most new competitors to established platforms will fail (and so the time invested may be lost anyway) and you have a very difficult situation to overcome.

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