Dan Romero
@dwr
What makes a good feature for a protocol-level subscription? 1. Features are enforced across clients — Snapchain, onchain contracts, protocol fname and DC servers, etc. 2. Any app-level feature will create incentive for other clients to offer as a top of funnel "our client gives you this for FREE!". This is consumer surplus. 3. Ultimately, protocol-based social networks should generate a lot of consumer surplus in terms of what's available in the standard UX for most clients. 4. Conversely, it's tricky to add features that are 1) valuable 2) can be enforced at the protocol-level. 5. An additional wrinkle is even clients can fudge protocol-level features (e.g. we support 900 character casts + a link for long casts and render them fully in our client; we link to a slideshow mini app but render the images in our client). This is why the protocol having a "official" client that is protocol-aligned and has high relative market share in the long run is good for the protocol.
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vrypan |--o--|
@vrypan.eth
Serious objections to #5. Parallels with browser history, http, html show that external content is fine, locking users with ActiveX components didn't work, no official protocol browser needed.
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Dan Romero
@dwr
Ah yes, browsers famous for not being controlled by a small oligopoly of mega corporations.
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vrypan |--o--|
@vrypan.eth
"The browser". Once you have browsers in plural, it's ok.
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Dan Romero
@dwr
Coinbase Wallet has 10x the users we do and is launching as a full Farcaster client?
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vrypan |--o--|
@vrypan.eth
Explorer had 100x the users of Netscape.
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Dan Romero
@dwr
OK, feels like we are talking past each other. The internet / web protocol path dependency is not a good comparison to 2025 version of Farcaster with at-scale web2 competitors.
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