I bet if you look at the metrics my casting is WAY up since the $5 USDC cast rewards. It’s not the $5 but honestly I never considered myself a top caster. 

I just straight up had no way to know. I have a lot of followers but many people have twice as many. I post about esoteric sh*t like Public Goods and Grants Programs. Not popular topics at parties. I post to FC because I enjoy it.

The $5 reward was just some validation that the network appreciates my posting and then subconsciously I started posted both more and higher quality casts.

The validation is powerful.  I was *very* surprised to get it the first day.  I got boosted the first day they were doing those, too, which was also a big shocker, and hugely validating for me.  And I *keep* getting the 5USDC, which continues to reinforce casting here.