Farcaster

1/6 I was reading this new paper on how 300K academics migrated from X to Bluesky, and I wanted to share some reflections because it shows quite clearly how social networks actually grow.

What I’m about to say isn’t new. I’ve often been critical of Farcaster’s current growth strategy, and that’s because it’s not grounded in how networks or virality really work.

Instead, it feels that FC is based on well-funded wishful thinking: abstract ideas wrapped in the language of innovation, blending Read/Write/Own concepts with old-school Silicon Valley consumer app logic… without fully committing to either. At the end of the day it leans heavily on FOMO and incentives to drive (low-quality) growth.
(Farcaster Pro subscriptions stalling as soon as users -or bots- hit the 10k NFT reward cap is a perfect example of this.)

And yes, experimentation is great. Some of the best ideas emerge from it. But we also have a long-established understanding of how humans (as social and emotional animals) behave.