Farcaster

Frames V1 were a turbo-charged extension of the like button, the cast button, or any other button on the newsfeed user interface. It gave us superpowers and redefined what it meant to scroll the feed and interact with social apps. Mini-apps are dope, but they take you out of the experience of being in a social app.

Probably sitting on a stool | Shower thinker | Collaborative Worldbuilding | Community Games

/farcastles /brians-rescue /fellthedragon

Frames were neat, but way too ephemeral, hard to build for most people and just had way less engagement.

Mini apps have way more usage and way more repeat usage by order of magnitude.

The longest tenured users on the network stopped using frames. They are still using mini apps.

I preferred the @paragraph v1 frame over the mini-app for reading. I got to their app to compose and their mini-app is a reader that when I get bored I can continue scrolling.

What's an example of something you think is compelling in a v1 frame that a mini app can't do well?

Assume most people find interacting with static images to be clunky (actual feedback from users, not devs)

I don't disagree but I think there's a lot of potential there to reinvent v1 frames. The ephemerality could be a feature not a bug. I think if it's used as a standalone app, sure, mini-app would be far more useful. But I think the success of Discord Embeds suggests there's some untapped potential on the table still for an ephemeral interaction layer to the newsfeed.