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First Draft Club

If you're feeling burnt out rn 💜.....

my /firstdraft

A weekly accountability program for sharing and writing. More info at
firstdraft.club /firstdraft

https://farcaster.xyz/0xtheweb3nerd/0x63468256

Engagement is a Two Way Street


I’ve seen a lot of chatter on the timeline that engagement has been weird for the past 2 weeks. 

We’ve either all gotten worse at casting, the hype of “pro” has worn off, or the team has been experimenting with the algorithm and we are staring to feel the effects. 

Maybe it’s a combo of all 3 and we need to take some action. 

1. Clean up who you follow
2. Change your Feed Setting to see All Replies for a week
3. Reply to every thoughtful comment & ignore low effort replies
4. Hack the recency bias in the algorithm
5. Turn on “Super Follow” (notifications) for your favorite casters or friends you want to see more
6. Change up how, when, and where you cast
7. Audit your own profile (handy Dune query below)

1. Clean up who you follow

You can’t make people follow you or engage with you, but you can save your engagement for those who engage back. If you are being truly thoughtful and authentic and someone never replies to you (and you don’t have a spam label so you know they can see you!) then stop wasting your time and move on. People are busy, notifications are buggy, spam labels are real. But if someone ignores you, move on. Even a like is enough. If they give you zero interaction back, try someone else. 

Here’s a quick tool to see who is still around. 
Don’t follow spammy people. Save friends who are mislabeled as spam. 
https://recaster.org/tool/follow-checker

2. Change your Feed Setting to see All Replies for a week


Farcaster is now letting you decide how many replies you want to see. I encourage everyone to change this setting to all for at least a week. Many casters have been in the shadows and you can help them be visible again.  Some accounts are inundated by AI automated accounts and won’t be able to use this setting, but most people should be able to try this for at least a week. Block automated accounts liberally. Give real casters a chance. 

https://farcaster.xyz/v/0x1e17bba1


3. Reply to every thoughtful comment. Ignore low effort replies. 

If you want engagement you have to give it too.  You don’t have to be a reply guy if it’s not your thing, but if people are taking the time to engage with your casts, take the time to reply back to authentic thoughtful comments.  If someone is in broadcast only mode and never engages back, reevaluate why you are replying to them in the first place. Is their content amazing? Does it make your Farcaster experience better? 


4. Hack the recency bias in the algorithm. 


The algorithm really loves whoever you last interacted with. So if you haven’t seen someone in a while or they haven’t seen you in a while, you’ve got to teach the algorithm what and more importantly WHO you want to see! If you let it decide for you, you won’t see the people you want to see the most. You’ve got to force and train it. 


5. Turn on “Super Follow” (notifications) for your favorite casters or friends you want to see more


Sometimes the algorithm doesn’t show you what you want to see and you have to force it. Turn on notifications for a few people for a week and interact with their casts more. This is a good hack to get the algorithm to show them to you more in the future, if it behaves. I’ve had to keep them on for a handful of people who don’t cast often. The algorithm really likes when you cast daily. 

6. Change up how, when, and where you cast

Videos don’t do that great here. Neither do photos or mint frames along. While we may want to share our content this way, the algorithm doesn’t love it. This is a text based social network and that has to be respected. Add more text around your content and try more experiments with text based casts. 

A great cast may not do well if most people aren’t online. Try casting at different times and experiment. 

Channels can be your place to find your tribe. There are thousands. Look for channels with very active hosts. They may have notifications on for their channels and be more excited when you choose to cast there. You can’t get a spam label interacting inside of channels so it’s more welcoming to new folks who are still trying to find their way. 



7. Audit your own profile

You can use this Dune query to see how you cast. Put in your own FID and run it. Then compare it to some other casters that you admire and you think are doing well.  Comparison is the thief of joy, but benchmarking is the only way to truly figure out how you are doing in Farcasterland. 


https://www.dune.com/jkavithamahesh/farcasterprofile

and here comes the “sunday thoughts” (actually ideas from the plane this time)
_____________

you probably don’t realize just how much you’re missing out on!

i explain you the idea. 

when we talk about a “missed life,” we usually think of something in the past that we recognize. 
for example, “i picked the wrong major and missed out on my dream career” or “i was too scared to commit and now i could’ve had a family”

it feels like a fork in the road you overlooked, and now it’s gone forever. and maybe it is.

but here’s the real kicker: you’re still missing out on things you don’t even know exist.

take that job you passed on or left behind. mb you could met someone there who would’ve changed your life. mb you’d get an offer to pivot into a completely different field - something you can’t even picture for yourself right now. that path could be the one where you found true fulfillment.

this is worth remembering every time you face another crossroads.  
missing one opportunity doesn’t just cost you that single moment. it could mean losing a whole chain of possibilities that follow.

but don’t spiral into guilt or despair, thinking it’s too late!

on one hand, this reminds us not to sleep on those forks in the road.  

but here’s the silver lining: there will be more forks. plenty more. and each one has the potential to lead you down a totally different path.

yes, you missed “that” chance, but you haven’t missed your entire life. 
you can still stop saying no to your own desires and start living with a little more courage. 

your next big turn is waiting. you just have to take it.

https://farcaster.xyz/ramina13/0xaa595287

** Play To Learn & Earn ** (my /firstdraft )

How it started: 
When I first talked to @tldr about /bracket & @bracky my response was: 'I like to watch the games and not be distracted, this feels like you have to trade while the game is gong on.'

How it's going:
Last week I had 287 casts & 287 replies from @bracky during the US Open. 🤷‍♂️ 

How it started: 
For the NFL playoffs, I got the '$7 airdop,' it may have been 400K $bracky ??? 

How it's going: 
Now I have 43 million $bracky and have day-traded during March Madness, The Masters, & US Open -- & buy & hold for NFL & NBA

What happened?

$bracky became something that was fun (play), that I could learn a lot about prediction markets, ai agents, & a use case in web3 (learn), & make money (earn)-not even sure what 43m $bracky is worth--probably a few hundred $$ 

@tldr is building in public & very open about how things work (and when they don't), and I've learned a lot from a handful of answers he took the time to respond with. 

I'm not in the class of @degen-chad > 100 m $bracky or @deriniti getting close to 100M?? and I'm sure there are others way above me--dox your totals!!! Let's get a top 10 going. 

It's pretty remarkable to watch @bracky develop--I don't know how @tldr & @passafiume.eth do it--seems like wizardry to me, but I'm glad they are building. 

From @bertwurst.eth 's comedy show with @bracky to him identifying the 'longer-haired Hojgaard' in the Masters, it's been fun & interesting....and profitable.

I'm an advocate of 'Play to Learn & Earn' & /bracket was my first intro

I highly recommend it--especially if you enjoy sports, but even if you don't...it's easy to pickup and get help.

Congrats to all who wrote a /firstdraft this past week!

First Draft Club members who wrote received $5 back: https://basescan.org/tx/0xaa846ca20b15908a3e1f1fadc7ac4443ef33c0180203d57af2609579791e344b
Check out the thread for each member's /firstdraft👇

Had this in drafts for a while - was pretty happy with it.  There's something just magical about creating something with another person.

https://farcaster.xyz/music2work2/0x84f94941

The Spam Algo is on a rampage. Within the last week many have noticed their followers being purged everyday.  The disconnect between the public data set and reality is huge.  I've personally lost 9,142 people who within the last 10 days have lost their "good" spam label and have no idea because they have no way to check. You think engagements weird? It is...because when they loose their good label, you no longer see their engagement, or them. 
https://paragraph.com/@pichi/25percent-of-my-good-followers-are-gone

it was a good and bad weekend at the same time. 

a lot of bright memories and disappointed talks. 

so, before going to bed and starting new week some “sunday thoughts” as usual 

gn frens

https://farcaster.xyz/ramina13/0x5e277269

working on a draft for my "What is Abstract" article.

my /⁠firstdraft

https://farcaster.xyz/0xtheweb3nerd/0xc144ffb8

This def feels like something I will iterate on, I really like how /firstdraft gets me out of the mindset that something needs to be perfect to publish 

https://paragraph.com/@0xc578958dd1880cf00bffbb7feb9c28cbbbcad3bf/fafo-aerodrome-edition

** Reminded Of The Grind ** (my /firstdraft )

I love seeing this cast of @ponder reaching the top mini app usage this week

But something else stood out in @ba 's cast: 'it's been a long grind'

Maybe I shouldn't be surprised, but I was a little

To me, @ponder feels like people loved it from day 1, has a great community, & is steadily growing. Smooth sailing, right?

I forgot what it takes to get there & ben's cast reminded me. I had a conversation at FarCon w/ @cojo.eth & some of the @ponder team about their strategy & saw first hand how serious & committed they are to building Ponder

I'm glad to get this reminder today. It came from Ponder, but I'm sure it's true of many of the builders here--we probably take a bit for granted

It feels like this may also be true for @phil  as it seems like @ampsfun has been smooth climb. It looks like @jake & @qrcoindotfun is up and to the right. @tldr w/ bracky; @colin w/ @paragraph & many others

Today, I'm reminded of the grind & passing that reminder along to you.

I forget that I'm writing all the time when I'm making playlists with people - this is from an IDLES list which will be published next week.  I particularly liked this track write up - from back at the beginning of January but feels just as resonant now

The Press Corpse – Anti-Flag

https://farcaster.xyz/music2work2/0x03f109bf

Congrats to all who wrote a /firstdraft this past week!

First Draft Club members who wrote received $5 back: https://basescan.org/tx/0x25244b5b71f92233186813f9dcacd02509275e5fb4e788bf56a5813a774098ec
Check out the thread for each member's /firstdraft👇

all weekend i was touching grass.
it was a lot of time for myself. the time that we usually don't have.

so there were no "sunday thoughts". but today morning i started with thoughts about summer (though is winter coming in Rio).

too lyrical mood today.

https://farcaster.xyz/ramina13/0xcaaa10a1

my /firstdraft 

https://x.com/0xWilliamA/status/1929912209666089281?t=JmF6FUfP9x2svDQfUq8blQ&s=19

P.S. I really like the product and highly recommend checking them out.

https://farcaster.xyz/0xtheweb3nerd/0x0acc87e6

** How I Know FC Is A Real Community ** (my /firstdraft )

I've been thinking about how much I know about people here & how much floods into my brain when I see a pfp or a cast.

I read @juliettemeon.eth 's cast about a horrific personal story & how she sees FC as a safe place where she shares it for the first time in hopes of letting it go. 

I think about how: 

-I can't see @treegirl without thinking about toby's tooth
-I feel pride when @jessyjeanne 's video is a win or @afrochicks succeeds on her next venture
-I feel satisfaction when @burrrrrberry shares her parents' 50th Anny story
-I root hard for @chriscocreated 's release to be loved
-I look forward to an @arjantupan walk & talk or an inspiring cast
-I get concerned when @hankmoody shares a new season where he'll have to travel & not be home as much
-I know more about @bertwurst.eth than any dog in the world!

And that's just front of mind this morning as casts pop up. I guess @ashwinikumar.eth would say I'm an empath. 

Am I alone? Do you sense this here?

https://paragraph.com/@sean07.eth/social-farcaster-mini-apps

https://farcaster.xyz/sean07.eth/0xf78d4cd6

Congrats to all who wrote a /firstdraft this past week!

First Draft Club members who wrote received $5 back: https://basescan.org/tx/0xccee9353ad9cb303868bc2387f4977e4f202e6d7ccb481b307d4a241221d10e7

Check out the thread for each member's /firstdraft👇

Def more a blog entry this week, but got my writing in

https://paragraph.com/@0xc578958dd1880cf00bffbb7feb9c28cbbbcad3bf/the-trial-run-that-worked