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Plenty has been written about what Farcaster is already. You can find articles everywhere about it. This article is my onboarding guide to Farcaster culture, how to skip the learning curve and "Fast Rope Into Farcaster".
My account isn't massive, but I have managed to carve out a niche for myself as a gamooooooor and /tabletop aficionado on the network. I'll walk you through how to wrap your head around Farcaster for content and revealed preference and why getting your Active Power Badge matters.
Part 2 Unlocking Potential on Farcaster discusses some content I've found success with, what the heck $DEGEN is, and how to boost your reach leveraging frames and power user tools.
Tips and tricks for going farther and growing more as a content creator on Farcaster. Guess what? Everyone's a content creator.....
Farcaster is the "sufficiently decentralized" protocol used to send information and attest who sent it.
Think of it like email, sender + content
Warpcast is the primary client for interacting with the Farcaster Protocol, made by the same team.
It has additional features and gives users a way of interacting with Farcaster
Think of it like Gmail, email + spam prevention + calendar integration, etc
Email : Gmail
as
Farcaster : Warpcast
Users can post all kinds of data to the Farcaster network and have it attributed to their accounts through the "sufficiently decentralized" signature model Farcaster uses. Meaning there are multiple ways to save and present data.
But there are familiar views and mental models that we can use to orient ourselves on Farcaster. The Warpcast app combines some of the best features from other social networks: Twitter feed, Telegram chat groups, and subreddits for focused content.
The main feed on Warpcast is a Twitter-like interface. It has familiar ways to interact with other users through liking, commenting, and recasting/quote casting.
Telegram-like group chats can be created by manually adding users who follow you to the group or inviting them via link (with or without token-gating). Group chats have the most-used Telegram chat features like reply and react to keep multi-threaded conversation moving.
Create a group chat based on shared interests and grow it into a channel! It costs 2,500 Warps/year for a channel, which isn't that much if you crowdsource 100 warps from 25 people.
Finally, channels on Warpcast serve as places to focus content around a topic, allowing channel leads to have recurring interactions with channel followers (subreddit members) and an audience through relationships. @cameron has some great thoughts on channels:
The Birth of a New Content Medium?
Channels offer Creators a brand new content MEDIUM that doesn't really exist elsewhere.
A Twitter account follow CAN'T compete with a co-created feed of culture/jokes/memes between a personality and their community because Twitter's algo isn't concentrated enough to keep people clustered together for sustained community, a Telegram channel has zero distribution, but a subreddit requires waaaaay too much work and effort to keep fresh.
Channels neatly sidestep the concentration, distribution, AND upkeep problem.
... a quasi-permanent stream of [the creator's] content [is] always flowing directly to their fans too.
Channels are very powerful for focusing content and building an audience, but content posted to those channels does not appear in others' feeds without someone they follow interacting with the content.
So, getting the attention of large accounts to post/comment in your channel can bring influxes of new channel followers.
All activity boosts users in the Warpcast algorithm, and the familiar method of having an off-platform hype squad to pile onto content and boost in the feed still applies. Band together with other Farcasters to strengthen your power together, form a community together!
Farcaster has, at its core, a culture of earnest honesty and vulnerability stemming from the many /founders and YC folks that the Farcaster team cultivated in the early days.
Be a whole-hearted human always, vulnerability is cherished on Farcaster.
I hope you find your weird today nerds ❤️
As I shared in my previous article, "just push send" is a constant reminder for myself on social. Throw content out and let the audience reveal itself. Cast a lot in lots of places related to your interests and see what hits.
In case you missed it, last post that went out talked through how to keep a large web3 Discord server secure and safe for all. Here are the biggest t...
Farcaster (and life) runs on revealed preference, it can be very difficult to predict what people want, and they often lie to you and to themselves about what they would choose. Would you rather buy that book you've been meaning to read or have one more trip to Starbucks?
What people say (stated preference) often doesn't match what they actually choose to do (revealed preference). So, to discover an audience on Farcaster, cast a lot and let your audience reveal their preferences to you by how they react to your content.
Eugene Wei's fantastic article Status as a Service recontextualized social media for me. Social activity is your Work and your follower count is your Proof of Work.
There are multiple status games to play on Farcaster, you can be one of the funny /replyguys, a serious discussion person in /ted or /july, or even help curate the feed in /poop.
Two main acronyms to remember with Farcaster:
AVA - Add Value Always
Farcaster is about earnest human interactions, we should lean into that and find ways to add value to conversations and the spaces we inhabit
Make the feed better than you found it and be valueful 🧡
Check out /poop if you want to clean up the feed
Vulnerability is cherished on Farcaster
ABC - Always Be Casting
Throw your content to the wind and see: what sticks, what builds your audience with people, and how people reveal their preferences to you about your content
h/t to @sheldon for this gif
because Coffee is for Casters, mint the meme on Zora
Active badge is deprecated as of March 20, 2024 and is replaced by Power Badge. Click the link or cast below to read more details.
The active badge is going away. Spammy accounts are aggressively gaming the system to get the badge. Making the rules stricter just makes it harder for legitimate users. We’re past the point where a simple rule based system will work. We need something better.
The Warpcast Power Badge is a marker of influence on Farcaster. This purple badge, displayed next to your name, signifies that you are a power user, ...
Connecting an address isn't just for Active Power Badge, you can mint NFTs directly from the Farcaster feed via frames to the primary connected address. Or claim airdrops and use the new transaction frames, social identity 🤝 crypto wallets.
Another cool thing is that you can use an ENS name as your handle on Farcaster if your connected Ethereum address is registered as the primary address via ENS! e.g. ispeaknerd.eth
The security conscious can use a workaround of creating a subdomain from their main ENS like social.ispeaknerd.eth to use for social presence. If nothing else, you should set the ETH Address to point to the address you want to use, likely a hot wallet for convenience, but use a hardware wallet for the Owner to keep your ENS name secure.
Owner: The owner of the ENS name - the wallet that hold the ENS name NFT.
Manager: The manager of records - the wallet allowed to make changes to its records (but not transfer the name)
ETH Address: The wallet address the ENS name points to - where funds sent to a name are received.
Full details on the ENS support docs.
If you enjoyed this,
Please subscribe 💜
Give me a shout on Farcaster
Come join all the Nerds in my channel
Share this post with someone who will enjoy it!
Collect this post as an NFT.
Unlocking Potential on Farcaster wohoo this is amazing journey with Warpcast community nice writtern article bro
thanks fam, appreciate it
Thanks for collecting these two articles @katwolfie.eth 🙏 What was particularly valueful for you? What made them worth collecting? https://paragraph.xyz/@ispeaknerd.eth/passport-control-for-onchain-and-social-identities https://paragraph.xyz/@ispeaknerd.eth/acculturate-to-accelerate-on-farcaster
I added them here! I’m going to try making a frame that’s not so clunky. I want the links to go directly to the articles. Maybe add buttons that link to the author’s pages too. https://gallery.so/katwolfie/galleries/2grAHuCQEy1EjDrcXeAK8NuqKmm
Have been really impressed with @fun’s weekly progress with Farcaster Studio. If you’re looking to learn more about your account, check it out. https://farcasterstudio.com
thank you dan!!! much appreciated 🥹🫂
@fun i've written some articles that would be good reading for anyone taking you up on that offer! 1. https://paragraph.xyz/@ispeaknerd.eth/acculturate-to-accelerate-on-farcaster 2. https://paragraph.xyz/@ispeaknerd.eth/unlocking-potential-on-farcaster 3. https://paragraph.xyz/@ispeaknerd.eth/fk-around-and-find-out
and i link it from my articles but @cameron's "Fastrope into Farcaster" is still golden https://warpcast.com/danicaswanson/0xbacd31bd
Just trying it out for the first time now, seems pretty useful at first glance! Cool app @fun
thank you aaron!! love your photos
<3 <3 <3
Oh nice /daily-art-mint is in here too - I had no idea!
dood has been grinding cheers @fun
thank you alec!
we all use neynar but everyone follows how you use it. major props
Indeed one of the best hypersub integrations out there, you don’t even know you’re using hypersub, it’s that good!
Interesting. I lost my power badge last week when I was becoming more active on the timeline the weeks before. 🤷♂️
Thank you for sharing ♥️✨ I need to try it out
very impressive! just signed in!
You recommend me to give access to add casts, like, edit profile etc!!?????
it doesnt ask for permission to cast or edit profile :) read only permissions right now
when ppl say u cast too much
I've come to realize that I'd have a lot more to cast about if I stopped limiting myself to only serious posts At the same time, I'm not sure if people want to read my random, sometimes deranged thoughts, and even if they do, whether I want that to be my Farcaster legacy What do you think? Would it be worth it?
>sometimes deranged thoughts the success of /cameron and /wufs should be your answer there > my fc legacy way too serious fam, all casts forgotten at end of a year anyway (until someone builds/records an actual fullnode archival tool lmk if you know of one) read this again fam (click image to open to relevant section) https://paragraph.xyz/@ispeaknerd.eth/acculturate-to-accelerate-on-farcaster?referrer=0x3eEFAa9d6e2ab7972C1001D41C82BB4881389257#h-revealed-preference
Thanks for the advice
As much as you can but be listening to the feedback from your network Check the section on revealed preference specifically https://paragraph.xyz/@ispeaknerd.eth/acculturate-to-accelerate-on-farcaster
Can confirm Human follows correlation with cast numbers 💯 Get in the arena https://paragraph.xyz/@ispeaknerd.eth/acculturate-to-accelerate-on-farcaster
im curious y'all (if your fav isn't a choice angrily tell me in a comment) https://www.weponder.io/surveys/1224
great question but literally don't know what the options mean
worker placement -- blocking opponents' action options markets -- self explanatory card drafting -- choosing cards to add to your deck of randomness push your luck -- choose when to get off the ride
actually i guess they are kinda ordered by least --> most chance involved lol
Love card games like hearthstone (card drafts) My all-time favorite is settlers of catan though (markets) so had to go with that
Went with card drafts, because deck building... markets are a close second though, because deck building.
oh man, sad we missed you during Dominion week then! had a lot of deck building and thinning happening week before /farcon!
I'm mostly good at wanting to play games. Not very good at having/making time to play games 😬 But yeah, Dominion is one of my all-time favorites. Gets so degenerate.
Survey has ended after 48 hours and received 61 votes.
I wish I could pick multiple but lately it's been worker placements
They're my fav too
As an omni-gamer, I like my mechanics mixed, but feel like push your luck is an easy style to teach.
yeah def easiest to teach, Quacks of Quedlinburg was popular at /farcon once we got thru the rules + symbology @db @alixkun @colton
My go to push your luck style of games that I play with non-gamers is Incan Gold or Deep Sea Adventure.
A mix, tied to markets!
ofc markets trumps for you 😂😂 what's the runner up?
Making a list of the best blog posts and videos about Farcaster. Please reply with your suggestions for degen tips. <3
@raven50mm has been creating a lot of educational Farcaster videos!
New to Farcaster/Warpcast? Check out “Acculturate to Accelerate on Farcaster” by @ispeaknerd.eth on Paragraph (or inline at the frame below 👇) You don’t have to collect it to benefit from this article but it’s great practice, supports a creator, and it’s free—so I recommend it!
thanks for reading, minting, and sharing fam! You're a real one 690 $DEGEN what was so valueful about it for you?
The brevity--it was thorough but concise--answered Qs w/o too much detail. I can tell you spent a lot of time on it to make it really readable. Also, I love the aesthetic choices, but as a newsletter writer myself, while they solidify your brand, I don't think they add any "value" & I know they take a lot of my time.
ty, clarity + brevity is my goal 💯 > I love the aesthetic choices... I don't think they add any "value" can you give me some examples about what you mean pls?
Interesting article, the collect thing didn’t work for me. For an “infinity” number it says sold out and go to secondary. Interesting. Just like yesterday in a server I could type but I was an invalid member. Perhaps it’s me.
Happened for me too. It worked when I used metamask browser—copy the url from whatever browser you’re using and paste it here
thanks for helping out 250 $DEGEN
RE: Discoverability on Warpcast Is there any value to posting something to my channel and re-casting it to a channel where it is more specifically relevant? Like when I minted this on Zora, I cast it “no channel” and was thinking of re-casting it to the @Zora channel to be seen by more people. Yes? No?
I would suggest posting once and posting in the channel that is relevant
Thank you!
Channel casts only get seen by ppl following that channel, recast into others can be good but original cast in relevant location best
So if you have a personal channel, focus on it after growing your personal following bc you can direct their attention to it You're screaming into the void otherwise
Unrelated, but I was trying to tag my colleague @alexpopovic in your request for brutal feedback on /tabletop and I’m hoping he’ll see it here. We’re both big content/web3 people but newly active on Farcaster—so thanks very much for your help. If there’s anything we can do to support you, let me know!
congrats 2222 $DEGEN https://warpcast.com/alexpopovic/0xd8970aae
Thank you and @alexpopovic and @ispeaknerd.eth for extending the goodness that touches my world. Nothing’s better online than to see my platform be a place of blessing for others.
Thanks much appreciated!
Check out my blog on FC onboarding https://paragraph.xyz/@ispeaknerd.eth/acculturate-to-accelerate-on-farcaster?referrer=0x1234567890
Super helpful, thank you very much. I don’t have 10k Degen so I don’t have an allowance and I’m reading conflicting accounts—can I use the function to tip you/others with degen I’ve purchased? Or only after I’ve been granted the allowance to start using points?
No, tipping comes from off chain allowance Keep casting, grinding engagement, get 10k in your connected wallet and keep checking degen.tips
I imagine going direct to channel and engaging with others there would get best results
Gm ☕ What's your fav thing about FC? (Besides degen)
The friends I made along the way
Actual people engaging with me. Literally nothing will beat that. The sole reason I'm here.
/nouns
Why are you hyped on nouns?
many things but - best bet at a new public goods funding model that can scale - best attempt at onchain governance (and the dao with most integrity) - incredible, addative art - consistenty attracts very high agency, interesting people
really, just channels are goated
Reddit for crypto!
feeling like i got to reset my social graph. after being on web2 social platforms for 10+ years, i feel like i've changed, but that i couldn't necessarily change those accounts/followings as comfortably (not sure how else to put it)
The energy of creation and exploration in the air. It's really exciting to be part of something so new and vibrant.
It's always comes down to vibes ✨ 🤌
That it’s more natural. As I can see I, all the people here it’s trying to help
Channels that let me find communities built around specific interests I have
hell yeah! I actually wrote about it in this article, click pic to go to relevant header https://paragraph.xyz/@ispeaknerd.eth/acculturate-to-accelerate-on-farcaster?referrer=0x3eEFAa9d6e2ab7972C1001D41C82BB4881389257#h-warpcast-channels-are-subreddits
The fact that it's small enough that there aren't enough toxic assholes and bots armies
the smol channels for sure, wander into /degen and tell me there aren't bot armies 😂
I guess that's true yeah, but they are more contained in certain spaces. 🤣