Bethany Crystal
@bethanymarz
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Farcaster doesnât have a growth problem. It has an identity problem.
The users are already here: builders, artists, indie hackers, founders, and creators. Not future usersâpresent ones. Theyâre casting, tipping, building, shipping, connecting. The challenge isnât how to attract them. Itâs how to see them.
I wasnât onboarded. I wasnât converted. I found Farcaster through Discord. Inceptionally invited me to co-host /itookaphoto. I had a role. I made friends. I built. I earned. I stayed. Thatâs the story. And Iâm not unique. The platform didnât onboard me. The network did.
The network is the onboarding team. The network is the sales team. Every friend invite, channel discovery, and moment of recognition is where conversion happens. Farcaster doesnât need a better funnel. It needs to empower the people who are already doing the work of onboarding.
Thatâs Farcasterâs strengthâand its blind spot. The team still hasnât clearly said who this platform is for. If they had, more of us wouldâve heard it. âMake money, make friendsâ is directionally rightâbut spiritually flat.
If Merkle knew how to tell the world what Farcaster is with clarity, theyâd already be doing it. And if the message isnât for innovators and adventurous early adopters, who is it for?
People donât just use social networks. They identify with them. Farcaster is edgy. Crypto-native. Experimental. Weird. Itâs not mainstream, and thatâs the point. The people here are opting into a scene. A vibe. A frontier. And that posture attracts the right kinds of early users. This isnât Twitter, TikTok, or LinkedIn with a wallet. Itâs something new.
The myth is already being written. The team ships features. But the network is building the narrative. The most powerful rituals and culture didnât come from a product brief. They emerged. And theyâre spreading. Thatâs not roadmap work. Thatâs recognition work.
Meanwhile, channelsâarguably the most important surface for community, identity, and belongingâhave been given less direct attention from the core team. Theyâve largely been supported by external contributors and passionate builders like @cura. That may have made sense operationally, but strategically, itâs risky. Channels are how users onboard each other. How people discover relevance. How culture gets sticky. If you want retention, channels arenât optionalâtheyâre foundational.
And yes, monetization matters. Itâs a key draw. Itâs a functional job. But people donât stay for features. They stay for feeling.
Let me be seen.
Let me find my people.
Let me make friends.
Let me matter.
These are emotional jobs. Theyâre the difference between checking in and buying in.
Farcaster isnât sticky. Itâs selective. It takes effort. It takes intent. Thatâs what makes it workâfor now. But you canât scale selectivity without understanding whatâs already working for the people who are here.
There are over 1 million FIDs. But real engagement lives with fewer than 10,000. According to one Dune dashboard, roughly 7,000 usersâVIPs, influencers, stars, and active castersâdrive the majority of platform activity. Thatâs not a sample. Thatâs the source code.
These arenât casuals. Theyâre believers. Builders. Super early adopters. Innovators with skin in the game. Many paid for Pro memberships. They fund the culture. They shape the tone. They are the Farcaster experience. You donât grow by looking past them. You grow by starting with them.
But hereâs the miss: the people closest to the product donât always know what the product feels like to use. The community does. Yet the insightsâthe why behind the usage, the meaning behind the behaviorâoften stay siloed inside Merkle. And when that knowledge doesnât circulate, the network canât sell what it doesnât fully understand.
Imagine a company where the people closest to the customer never share insights with sales or marketing.
Would you expect them to succeed?
Of course not. Yet thatâs whatâs happening here.
Farcaster doesnât need a better story. It needs to tell the story the community is already living.
âž»
Stop chasing more.
Start recognizing whoâs already here.
Support them. Reflect them. Speak to them.
Farcaster is already working. It just doesnât know it yet.
đ If youâre building here, show yourself.
If youâre watching from the outside, the doorâs open.
But this isnât a mass-market product.
Itâs a movement in motion. 36 replies
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