I joined Farcaster around the summer of 2023. I had recently quit X, then Twitter, as I often felt like I wasn’t getting any engagement and I didn’t like the toxic, fast-paced environment. I owned a Mastodon account at the time, and that felt even more lonely as hardly anyone used it. As someone new to the web3 space and who firmly believed in the technology’s potential to do good in the world, I wanted to find a place on the internet where I could converse with like minded people, people who had the same hopes and convictions as I did; people who were also frustrated by the current state of things and hoped for something better. After some poking around, I came across Farcaster, then an invite-only platform. I managed to somehow get an invite and I’ve been a member of the community ever since.

I’ll admit, Farcaster was never perfect; every platform has its flaws, but for the first time in what felt like forever, I finally found a place on the internet that I could properly call home. Farcaster for me was a small cozy corner where I could converse with those who had the same hopes, dreams, and frustrations as I did: artists, philosophers, writers, thinkers, tinkerers, and those who just wanted to have fun. It was a breath of fresh air compared to the toxic and divisive internet that I had grown so accustomed to. It was… nice.

The last time I was part of a community like this was back in the olden days when I hung out on old internet forums. Like most youth during the early 2010’s, I typically joined forum communities centered around specific interests of mine such as Lego's or video games. To me, these spaces felt cozy because they were sequestered from the rest of the web, untouched by the public squares of the time. They were places where everybody knew your name and you knew everyone else. It felt like a place the community could genuinely own together without any big platforms interfering. These type of corners eventually became less and less common as big tech companies created platforms that siphoned off the users and mind-share that these smaller spaces needed to thrive. These powerful players gradually took that ownership away from us and forced us to be serfs in a gated internet we no longer wanted to be a part of but didn’t have a choice.

That’s where I found myself before joining Farcaster. I was essentially a digital nomad in the dark and unfriendly forest of the internet, a traveler without any real homestead. I was looking for something to be a part of. Farcaster provided that for me. The first few months on the platform reminded me of the laid back atmosphere of the internet forums of my childhood. It felt much slower than Twitter but far more lively than Mastodon. I didn’t feel like I constantly had to post all the time just to remain relevant. As the community was more insular, I was able to make friends more easily. Discussions and conversations were more intimate and meaningful. It’s a place where I felt I belonged. If Twitter was the mighty Roman capital with its bustling crowds, then Farcaster was the little Gaulic village tucked away in the Carpathian woods. There weren’t a lot of us, still aren’t, but I honestly didn’t mind. It was a little village but it was my village, and I was proud to call it home.

A lot has changed on the network over the past 2-3 years, for better or worse. I think most of us can collectively agree that the direction Merkle was taking the platform wasn’t working out. It can also be argued that Base’s influence was more of a net negative than net positive. Farcaster was originally built as a place for valuable discussions and relationships. It was built with the long term in mind, and that’s what sets it apart from most other web3 socials. However, unrealistic growth standards set by Merkle’s investors and Coinbase’s strategic fumbles degraded that experience and harmed Farcaster’s ability to act as a cozy corner for many users. We’ve seen a good number of them either become inactive or leave the platform altogether because of this.

This past week on Farcaster has been… eventful to say the least. It’s apparent that Farcaster is currently going through something of an identity crisis as the old leadership steps away, and it’s easy to understand why: people are tired and frustrated with the status quo. They want Farcaster to be friendly and chill again. They want their cozy corners back. Most importantly, they want to actually own those cozy corners and not have it devolve into yet another walled garden. Regardless of where you stand on certain issues, I think we can all agree that it’s time to re-prioritize what drew users to Farcaster in the first place: community, culture, belonging, and most importantly, ownership. To accomplish this, we need to build real decentralization where no single entity can gatekeep who gets to build and what gets built. We also need economic structures that reward quality over speculation and favor long-term games over short-term ones. The most important aspects however are community and ownership. If we want the protocol to ultimately succeed, we need to return to these roots and build things that will reinforce and preserve them.

We are at a critical point in the Internet's history where these online spaces are needed now more than ever, and they will only become more important as incumbent platforms continue to exploit and control their users. Just recently, it was revealed that Discord will soon be implementing mandatory age verification, forcing millions of people to give up even more sensitive personal information. This also comes at a time where the Department of Homeland Security in the United States is demanding that social media platforms hand over user data so they can persecute anyone critical of Trump’s cruel and senseless war on immigrants. Soon, millions of users will be fleeing for other places on the internet to seek refuge, leaving behind the cozy corners they love. We as Casters have the opportunity of a lifetime to provide a digital homestead for these users that they can own for themselves, free from the surveillance and control of outside actors; We cannot afford to mess this up. We can not only give these people cozy corners to share with us, but cozy corners that belongs to no one but them. It can become a village that is truly decentralized and free.

If you want to help shape what these spaces look like and the future trajectory of the platform, I'm conducting user research to make sure we build around what actually matters to people, not what investors or platforms tell us should matter. My past research was mainly focused on building a platform specifically for DAOs, but for this study I want to focus on the more intrinsic reasons why people continue to stick around: I want to focus on what they are looking for in an online community, how they interact with others in those communities, and any tools or features that make it easier to maintain, moderate, and grow these digital cultures. As with my past research, I will be posting my findings publicly on my Paragraph. If you are interested in participating in this research please DM me and we can set up a time to meet. All participants will be credited for their contributions.

Let’s make Farcaster cozy again.

I joined Farcaster around the summer of 2023. I had recently quit X, then Twitter, as I often felt like I wasn’t getting any engagement and I didn’t like the toxic, fast-paced environment. I owned a Mastodon account at the time, and that felt even more lonely as hardly anyone used it. As someone new to the web3 space and who firmly believed in the technology’s potential to do good in the world, I wanted to find a place on the internet where I could converse with like minded people, people who had the same hopes and convictions as I did; people who were also frustrated by the current state of things and hoped for something better. After some poking around, I came across Farcaster, then an invite-only platform. I managed to somehow get an invite and I’ve been a member of the community ever since.

I’ll admit, Farcaster was never perfect; every platform has its flaws, but for the first time in what felt like forever, I finally found a place on the internet that I could properly call home. Farcaster for me was a small cozy corner where I could converse with those who had the same hopes, dreams, and frustrations as I did: artists, philosophers, writers, thinkers, tinkerers, and those who just wanted to have fun. It was a breath of fresh air compared to the toxic and divisive internet that I had grown so accustomed to. It was… nice.

The last time I was part of a community like this was back in the olden days when I hung out on old internet forums. Like most youth during the early 2010’s, I typically joined forum communities centered around specific interests of mine such as Lego's or video games. To me, these spaces felt cozy because they were sequestered from the rest of the web, untouched by the public squares of the time. They were places where everybody knew your name and you knew everyone else. It felt like a place the community could genuinely own together without any big platforms interfering. These type of corners eventually became less and less common as big tech companies created platforms that siphoned off the users and mind-share that these smaller spaces needed to thrive. These powerful players gradually took that ownership away from us and forced us to be serfs in a gated internet we no longer wanted to be a part of but didn’t have a choice.

That’s where I found myself before joining Farcaster. I was essentially a digital nomad in the dark and unfriendly forest of the internet, a traveler without any real homestead. I was looking for something to be a part of. Farcaster provided that for me. The first few months on the platform reminded me of the laid back atmosphere of the internet forums of my childhood. It felt much slower than Twitter but far more lively than Mastodon. I didn’t feel like I constantly had to post all the time just to remain relevant. As the community was more insular, I was able to make friends more easily. Discussions and conversations were more intimate and meaningful. It’s a place where I felt I belonged. If Twitter was the mighty Roman capital with its bustling crowds, then Farcaster was the little Gaulic village tucked away in the Carpathian woods. There weren’t a lot of us, still aren’t, but I honestly didn’t mind. It was a little village but it was my village, and I was proud to call it home.

A lot has changed on the network over the past 2-3 years, for better or worse. I think most of us can collectively agree that the direction Merkle was taking the platform wasn’t working out. It can also be argued that Base’s influence was more of a net negative than net positive. Farcaster was originally built as a place for valuable discussions and relationships. It was built with the long term in mind, and that’s what sets it apart from most other web3 socials. However, unrealistic growth standards set by Merkle’s investors and Coinbase’s strategic fumbles degraded that experience and harmed Farcaster’s ability to act as a cozy corner for many users. We’ve seen a good number of them either become inactive or leave the platform altogether because of this.

This past week on Farcaster has been… eventful to say the least. It’s apparent that Farcaster is currently going through something of an identity crisis as the old leadership steps away, and it’s easy to understand why: people are tired and frustrated with the status quo. They want Farcaster to be friendly and chill again. They want their cozy corners back. Most importantly, they want to actually own those cozy corners and not have it devolve into yet another walled garden. Regardless of where you stand on certain issues, I think we can all agree that it’s time to re-prioritize what drew users to Farcaster in the first place: community, culture, belonging, and most importantly, ownership. To accomplish this, we need to build real decentralization where no single entity can gatekeep who gets to build and what gets built. We also need economic structures that reward quality over speculation and favor long-term games over short-term ones. The most important aspects however are community and ownership. If we want the protocol to ultimately succeed, we need to return to these roots and build things that will reinforce and preserve them.

We are at a critical point in the Internet's history where these online spaces are needed now more than ever, and they will only become more important as incumbent platforms continue to exploit and control their users. Just recently, it was revealed that Discord will soon be implementing mandatory age verification, forcing millions of people to give up even more sensitive personal information. This also comes at a time where the Department of Homeland Security in the United States is demanding that social media platforms hand over user data so they can persecute anyone critical of Trump’s cruel and senseless war on immigrants. Soon, millions of users will be fleeing for other places on the internet to seek refuge, leaving behind the cozy corners they love. We as Casters have the opportunity of a lifetime to provide a digital homestead for these users that they can own for themselves, free from the surveillance and control of outside actors; We cannot afford to mess this up. We can not only give these people cozy corners to share with us, but cozy corners that belongs to no one but them. It can become a village that is truly decentralized and free.

If you want to help shape what these spaces look like and the future trajectory of the platform, I'm conducting user research to make sure we build around what actually matters to people, not what investors or platforms tell us should matter. My past research was mainly focused on building a platform specifically for DAOs, but for this study I want to focus on the more intrinsic reasons why people continue to stick around: I want to focus on what they are looking for in an online community, how they interact with others in those communities, and any tools or features that make it easier to maintain, moderate, and grow these digital cultures. As with my past research, I will be posting my findings publicly on my Paragraph. If you are interested in participating in this research please DM me and we can set up a time to meet. All participants will be credited for their contributions.

Let’s make Farcaster cozy again.