Welcome to my entry for the Farcaster Writing Hackathon ✍✨
The purpose of this hackathon is to help educate and raise awareness of Farcaster and the future of decentralized social media & blockchain.
As part of the hackathon, (or writeathon as I've been thinking of it), there were a few themes to pick from:
Why I love Farcaster
Reaching Non-Farcaster audiences
Farcaster Tutorials
The future of... (5, 10, 20, 50+ years from now)
Rather than limiting myself to just one theme, I thought, why not write them all? 👀
Recalibrating & Worldbuilding
First off, hello to the 54 subscribers who joined me since my last entry "Read Write Earn Own" 🧭 ✨
For those new here, Paragraph is the medium-form extension of my long-form Recalibrating newsletter currently on Substack & my website:
🧭 Recalibrating = align the self & find your path
🌎 Worldbuilding= practical Recalibrating & technical explanations
To help me build up my own world, please consider joining the /cal channel on Farcaster & sharing this frame/post with someone who may find it valuable.
Word of mouth is the best way to build a world with people who resonate with one another 🤝 ✨
Now, without further ado, let's dive in✨
My Journey Into Decentralized Social Media
I feel as though I have finally found my people 😌
I joined Farcaster in February, 2024 (just over 4 months ago). In that time, I've gained a larger audience (more followers) than all of the rest of my social media combined 🤯
Now, I'm not one to care about following size, I tend to write what I want to, share photos I feel like, make YouTube videos I wished existed in the world, and use social media more as a network of close friends than a brand building mechanism.
That said, by using Farcaster in a way that felt natural to me, I've managed to connect with more like-minded people than I have across the rest of the entire Internet.
What does "like-minded" mean to me?
People who care about the future of the Internet;
Those who care about making direct and meaningful connections with others;
People who care about making the world better, rather than just accepting the status quo;
Those who value intellectual property and digital asset generation, enabling the equitable building of a global creator economy.
In short, I care about connecting with others who care.
As an aside, I am an intellectual property lawyer and patent agent with a certification in blockchain law. I also studied engineering (mechanical, specializing in materials science). For me, having a proper place to express and connect with others that value IP as much as I do has been rare on the Internet, so I greatly value the connections I have made on Farcaster thus far ✨
Cutting Through the Noise
It's difficult to find those people who care the same way I do amidst the noise of social media. Ad-based web2 platforms have ulterior motives for showing content that gets large engagement, rather than showing me content that I actually value.
Algorithms have a perverse incentive to display negative news, as negative information garners 6x more engagement and travels far faster than positive news. They boost the signal of noise, which just produces even louder noise.
No wonder we're lost in the noise and find it difficult to find the signal in traditional social media.
I have personally found Farcaster (and by extension, Warpcast, which I'll get to in a moment) to boost the signals of what I actually care about, helping me find the ones who are sending the valuable signals into the void of the Internet.
Farcaster has helped me to find my people, distributed across the world 🫡
How Farcaster Boosts Signals
Farcaster has a few features that greatly boost the signal of casters in this ecosystem. I go into much more depth on these topics in my article Worldbuilding on Farcaster, so if you're looking for more technical explanations or deeper commentary, please check out that article.
Whether you're aware of the perks of Farcaster or not, it is valuable, in my opinion, to revisit them regularly.
Farcaster provides an ecosystem unlike anything we've seen before, and it can be easy to get desensitized to the value it provides compared to traditional social media. However, by reminding ourselves of this value (or learning more deeply about them for the first time, if you're new here), we can leverage these unique features to great effect, building our personal brands and solidifying networks built on signals we care about.
Why Farcaster is Built Different
Farcaster is the protocol network on which Warpcast and other clients operate on. If you want to learn more about protocols and clients, please read my article on Worldbuilding, also called RSS+, The Future of the Creator Economy. Tl;dr, protocols allow for the building of a decentralized network that operates independently from the platforms that build on them.
The easiest example is email. You can use your email address to send and receive emails from Apple Mail, Gmail, Outlook, and many other "clients". Email provides the protocol, platforms provide the service.
Farcaster operates the same way as email, but on a social network level.
Operating a social network on the protocol level means that you can select any number of platforms to read your social graph and display all of your social graph information (followers, following, posts (casts) and channels).
Imo, this is already better than the rest of web2 socials, and we're just getting into the features 👀
Nichelessness Built On Niches
A problem with traditional social media is that it's powered by algorithmic feeds that lump all of your posts in a single "self" that the algorithm interprets. What tends to happen is that people "niche-down", selecting a single topic & content type to post, day in and day out.
Unfortunately, humans are not "niche". We have far more than one interest. Algorithmically forcing ourselves to adhere to this single niche has damaging consequences for our expression of self and our mental health. Change is a natural and inevitable part of life, so why should we pretend that we only have one "niche" to care about on social media?
Farcaster enables "channels", which are most similar to subreddits, in web2 comparisons. Each channel is owned by one person who has the power to select moderators to help them run the channel.
Effectively, channels enable a nicheless expression of self, since we can select all of our many niches and share each niche into its appropriate channel. Not only does this curation help with our mental health and self-expression, we're also pre-curating content for people who are in that channel in the first place. People go to channels because they're interested in the content there.
Instead of relying on algorithms to sort our expression for us, forcing us into one channel, we now have a wide array of channels to spread ourselves across, connecting with other like-minded people who appreciate that niche, no matter how niche it is.
Sustainable Creation
As we're casting our nicheless self into its most-welcoming niches, we implement what I refer to as sustainable creation, or natural self-expression.
This natural expression tends to feel less "forced" than traditional social media, which opens the door for us to look to the next stage of the creator economy: monetization.
As we build our personal brands and audiences on social media, connecting naturally with those who have the same values as us, we can also find people who are interested in supporting us on our journeys.
In other words, Farcaster enables the building of not only fans, but also True Fans. Kevin Kelly refers to the concept of 1000 True Fans, which are people who will buy the creative output from people in the Creator Economy.
True Fans support Creators when they need it, enabling them to continue creating value and sharing it with the ecosystem. In return, True Fans receive content/art/something they value enough to purchase.
I talk a lot more about this in Worldbuilding, so feel to visit that article if you'd like to learn more about this ecosystem.
Now, you'll notice I've gone this long without referencing blockchain, web3, or crypto. All of the benefits I've talked about so far do not require blockchain at all (aside from creating an account on Farcaster, but that all happens without the new user noticing).
However, as we get into monetization, the crypto-integration into Farcaster becomes a lot more powerful.
As of 2 hours ago (probably 4 hours by the time you read this) Warpcast has integrated direct payments.
You can now send people crypto (USDC Base is the default) directly to people on Farcaster. True Fans can spontaneously support creators they believe in, people can split cheques more easily IRL, the possibilities are endless.
Previously, financial transfers on Warpcast occurred through actions or Frames.
Frames you say? What are they?
ReFraming Social Media
Frames are what brought me into the Farcaster Ecosystem, which I talk more about in this Introduction to Recalibrationg on Farcaster entry here.
Frames enable people to share external content on Farcaster in an interactive way. For example, if I share this paragraph article on Farcaster, there will be an option to read the article in-line, subscribe directly, or visit the link.
In my opinion, Frames are still vastly underrated and are a superpower for creators and builders. Rather than reproducing my writing/art/commentary/blogs, etc. across each social platform, I can actually build in one place (my website/newsletter) and distribute that content via frames to Farcaster and the clients built on it.
I talk more about cross-posting burnout in this article, but I must say it's been such a relief knowing that my content won't be nerfed (algorithmically reduced) on Farcaster if I include outbound links.
You can build where you want to build and distribute your efforts in a way that enables people to engage with the content in the way you want them to engage (subscribe, tip, read, buy, etc.).
It's hard to emphasize how powerful frames are compared to other social media, many of which don't allow links, or who prevent links from being seen in the algorithmic feed.
Also, if you're a developer and want to launch an app, you don't need to get people to go to your website (what a hassle). Instead, you can share a custom frame of your website that enables people to test the app out, giving valuable feedback and marketing knowledge.
For example, I just did this with Flowcast, the web3 publishing platform I built that enables people to mint note-by-note into a knowledge graph (or digital garden). People can read these notes in-frame and can explore my entire digital garden from a single frame.
Feel free to reach out if you're interested in learning more about Flowcast, or read the FAQ here.
Summary of Features
Whether you are familiar with the features of Farcaster or not, I hope the above list gave you a good overview of the power of leveraging decentralized social media to boost the creator economy and enable sustainable creation. I go much deeper on these topics in Worldbuilding, so give that a read if you're interested in any of these topics.
Now that we've taken a look at where Farcaster is at now and how it's developed over the last few months since I joined, it's time for my favourite part: looking to the future 👀
Note that I will talk about a much broader range of technology here. Please keep in mind that Farcaster as a decentralized social media that enables blockchain and direct networking will fit into every aspect of this future; especially the creator economy elements.
The Future...
The future is fickle, we all know this. Things we think will come to pass never happen, things that we never expected happen faster than we can blink.
That said, there are some key trends I have been noticing over the last 3 years. Identifying these trends are what led to me quitting my job as an IP lawyer/patent agent, so needless to say, I think they are extremely important. I touch on some of these issues in the video explaining why I quit law to pursue being a full-time creator 👇
Now, I want to take a quote from Chris Dixon (who may have taken it from elsewhere, not sure) "being early in tech is the same as being wrong".
In other words, the timing of what I am predicting here may be off by 5, 10, 20, or 50+ years, but I do believe that these shifts in technology and the world will happen at some point (in an optimistic future at least).
On a related note, I just attended the Collision Conference in Toronto last week (as a featured start up with Flowcast). This conference is designed to help look to the future of technology for the next ~5-10 years, so I have quite a good finger on the pulse of where technology is currently at and where people see it going.
Let's take a look 👀
5-10 Years
In the next 5 years, we see a shift from physically interfacing with computers and the Internet to audible and visual interfacing. Audible interfacing occurs by speaking to our custom and personal artificial intelligence (AI) counterparts. Visual interfacing occurs by "clicking" with our eyes.
These counterparts, or "co-pilots" access all of our data locally and filter information for us to help reduce the information overload we've all been experiencing since the advent of social media. Anything you find tedious in the digital world has been made more efficient by AI, freeing up time for what you care about.
Blockchain is integrated into far more services than people could have predicted five years ago, introducing vast improvements to digital operating & financial efficiencies across the globe.
Since blockchain is integrated into the Internet as a proper "web3" layer, we have effectively introduced global payment rails for digital content, while boosting the value and protection of IP that failed in web2.
You can transact with anyone, anywhere in the world, merely by speaking with your AI and leveraging your crypto signature to verify your desire to conduct that series of actions online and onchain.
The Creator Economy is booming more than ever now that creators have easy access to IP protection via blockchain encapsulation and AI assisting with curation and discovery of True Fans.
Farcaster has an established presence of several hundred million creators and several thousand clients that enable creators to find their True Fans and True Community.
In terms of AI, the generalized training models have capped out on their improvements due to their consumption of the entire Internet. Instead, custom AI models trained on proprietary data become FAR more valuable, with closed access to the IP they are trained on.
In other words, the horizontal LLMs we have seen develop now continue stretching horizontally, but do not build vertically. The verticals come from leveraging the natural language processing of the LLMs to retrieve and augment private information held in proprietary datasets.
Everyone has their own custom AI model that develops the more it is fed with high value information you put into it. Some creators are able to leverage these models by charging access to them, producing a distinct asset from the underlying training material.
10-20 Years
Blockchain is integrated into the entire Internet and is the default form of registering content online. Each digital asset that is created (writing, photos, videos, AI models, knowledge generally) is traced via a global intellectual property system that properly attributes all creations, traces AI vs human generated content, and allows any use of the digital asset to be charged appropriately, with the proceeds flowing back to the original creator.
Creators building on blockchain in the early 2020s have a vast array of digital assets with their digital signatures that have accumulated to large proprietary datasets. With global transactionability the norm, the Internet is fuelled by micro-transactions that boost the Creator Economy to new heights.
Most of "traditional" work has been reduced to actions that are actually required by humans, freeing up a vast amount of time for individuals, something they haven't seen since the dawn of humanity.
All digital communication occurs through an AI interface that acts as middle-ware between us and the Internet. We no longer use "computers", instead leveraging voice and eye clicks to control our digital actions via XR (mixed reality) glasses.
People deriving value solely from their jobs (external validation) increasingly go through crises of meaning, feeling lost with the amount of free time they have.
People who have spent the last 10-20 years building up a suite of hobbies that they intrinsically value continue to build effortlessly in the creator economy, connecting with humans who value human creations.
Farcaster continues enabling the connection between humans to help people find their fans and friends.
20-50 Years
"Knowlege Work" is a concept that has mostly faded to the past, with most "value" being derived from AI systems that enable society to function while the humans do things that humans do: read, grow plants, write books, take photos, make art, travel.
Universal basic income (UBI) issues have been solved by global payment rails that enable the AI value that is accrued to flow equitably & globally.
People who want more than their share of the UBI will continue "working", generating value as they see it, finding others who share that value (True Fans). Art continues to thrive as humanity goes through an incredible renaissance, fuelled by the abundance of time and positive mental health people can now afford from to the reduction in financial stresses.
People who continue to provide uniquely human value to others will continue to monetize their passions/values in a way that gives a higher quality of living than would merely be provided by UBI.
The blockchain based assets that have been planted over the last 50 years continue to accrue micro-payments throughout the Internet as the intellectual property associated with them continue to provide proper attribution, providing true passive income for those who had the foresight to build in blockchain decades ago.
... and I didn't even touch on quantum computing 👀 Let's save quantum for another day, shall we?
Conclusion
I know, a lot of the above seems far-fetched and is, admittedly, an optimistic outlook and timeline.
Regardless of how long it takes, a few things are likely to happen in the next decade:
Proprietary Data becomes far more valuable for training custom AI models;
Blockchain payment rails and intellectual property rails help trace content online to accrue value where it should;
The creator economy continues to grow as people invest in people, rather than companies;
AI continues to blow past people's expectations on what is possible in technology;
Our interface with the Internet will continue to move away from a desk and keyboard.
If you'd like to learn more about any of the above topics, I have 50 articles I have written as part of my Recalibrating Newsletter, an exploration of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in the digital era with with an eye to the future of AI, blockchain, and the creator economy.
I am also building out my digital garden (micro-blogs) on Flowcast, the app I launched last week. You can read more about Flowcast and its purpose/goals here. If you try it out, consider using your ENS, as it will automatically populate the author trait.
I hope that this overview helps give you a glimpse on why I value Farcaster as a connection-making system for bringing people together in the modern Creator Economy, built on a community and technology that enables proper digital asset creation, IP attribution, and monetization.
If you want to learn more about me and my journey, I recommend starting from the beginning with What Recalibrating Means to Me 🧭 ✨
