022 - how to get noticed

Did you know you can mint highlights from articles on paragraphs? Mint sections you like and remix them in your own posts.

Last week Wake complained about being tagged on a post about a product he didn't build or support. OP's intention were either straightforward grifting 101 (i.e., create the impression that Wake supports the product or contributed to it) or, if we wanna give OP the benefit of the doubt, naïve and looking for support from an influential member on Farcaster.

That's not how community support works. Community leaders don't own their members anything. That's entitlement. Heck, community members don't own the builders and leaders anything. It's not a transactional tit-for-tat relationship, but should be one resembling a gift economy. You give and you'll receive. The receiving might not be instantaneous, but in most cases that will not kill you. Grow up.

(read in a whiny voice) But, but, but kbc I need Wake to support my project or I'll never make it!

If this is your attitude, pack up your bags. You should be able to make it, with the support of Wake or not. Of course, it be 1000x easier if he'll support you. But if your project is crap, you'll not make it in the long-term no matter who is behind you.

(read in a slightly less whiny voice) But, but, but kbc, I want that Wake supports my project!

Hold your horses, we're getting there. You entered the 2nd phase. You realized that life would be easier with an influencer on your side. Two choices: Pay them or get noticed. Let's assume paying them is not an option. You are left with getting noticed. We reached the age-old dilemma of how to get exposure and not die from it.

I know, it's hard to get noticed on Farcaster. A lot of casts never make it, hidden for ever. You could blame the algorithm, but complaining isn't a solution.

First some basics

  1. Do you know about priority mode? It's a Warpcast setting and on by default. With this setting, people see only casts from their followers and casts recommended by the app. As it's on by default and most people never check the settings for any apps they are using, it's safe to assume that 90% of Warpcast's users have priority mode on.

  2. If moderation is on, channels have two feeds: main and recent. The casts appearing in the main channel are curated by the moderator. Which can be a bot. It's getting a bit tricky here. Channels became decentralized yesterday (Thursday 23rd) and channel hosts are still experimenting with the right curation mechanism.

  3. Most people only use the main home feed. Still trying to get hard data on it, but that's what the alpha in the DC is. Guess I'm not "most people" as I venture way beyond the main feed and explore other streams...

Your strategy: Channel digging

For the past 6 months or so the message has been: cast in channels to be seen. By now we're well trained. Remember if you cast in a channel, the cast will be visible to everyone who visits the channel and it appears in your followers main feed if they are following the same channel. At least that's how it works on Warpcast. Every client has their own rules.

Actions you can take to be seen by more followers

Nudge your followers to follow the same channel than you. Or easier: Follow the same channel than your followers. But don't follow stuff that isn't relevant to you. Your feed will turn into a wasteland.

How? On Warpcast, go to a user's profile and select channels. No such thing on Supercast, Herocast or Nook. An alternative is to use Airstack's user profiles and check out the channel tab.

Actions you can take to get more followers

tldr: post in channels with less than 1k

Everyone wants more followers. At least that's the stated assumption. More followers = more reputation. You look like you are important or influential. The consequence of this is follow-4-follow groups, paid engagement, and auto-like bots. This is a short-sighted approach that will get you short-term results not a solid foundation.

What you wanna do is the frustrating thing: Loads of little actions that don't seem to be paying off in the moment. That means cast, cast, and cast.

Forget huge channels (> 10k followers). Most likely they are moderated. In most cases that means if the moderator doesn't like your cast, it will be buried in the recent feed. If the moderator doesn't follow you you have less chances to be seen and therefore, less chances that your post is liked.

Keep in mind, that huge channels often have a team of moderators grouped behind the faceless avatar of a bot. People have a live outside of Farcaster and moderating channels does not (yet) pay your bills.

but kbc in what channels should I post?

idk, what topics do you find interesting in? That's what we normally do. Cast about topics we like, or that are relevant. If ultra light through hikes are your thing, you get better responses if you post in ultra light instead of traveling (did you know that wrapping duct tape around a pen is a common trick to reduce your weight and be ready for the unexpected?)

But there is a twist. Remember the cast that kicked off this article? You wanna get noticed by someone. To appear in that person's home feed either they have to follow you (which they don't hence your dilemma) or you post in channels they are active in. The strategy to get noticed isn't that much different than what you did to get noticed by your high school crush: Hang out in places they hang out and befriend their best friend.

Concretely this means:

Step 1: Check channels your target is active in. If interests overlap and the channel is small enough to have a chance to get noticed, follow that channel and post in it. If the topic isn't interesting to you, I advice to not cast in it. Your posts will be of low quality and leave a bad impression. Result: You miss your goal because your target will not follow you.

Step 2: Check your target's followers. See if there's someone with whom you vibe, and follow the same strategy than laid out in step 1.

Don't forgot, cast quality.


Got questions? DC me or post them in my alfa.frens channel LINK. Here are two more invite codes: gfJ4bo Ocv3qP

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