So what is this Nostr thing?
In light of the ridiculous arrest of the telegram founder, a bunch of people have been sharing their nPubs and saying "come find me on Nostr".
We've seen similar things many times before..but this time it IS different.
Here's why & what it is.
1. Protocol, not platform
What makes Nostr unique, is not that its another social media platform like TruthSocial or whatever.
It's a protocol, similar to how the internet is a stack of protocols (or communication mediums).
When people say find me on Nostr, they're not referencing a particular app or product. You can actually find my account/profile via ANY app that is Nostr-enabled.
When I say find me on twitter, you can't search for me on Instagram or Substack. It’s a different account.
Which leads me to...
2. Your account / ID, not theirs
Your X, Substack, IG and Google accounts are not yours. Your identity with each of them lives on THEIR platforms. It's the same with anything online. From your Uber account, to your bank account, to Netflix and even your online shop.
This is not inherently bad or evil - it's just convenient. The trouble is, if the platform goes down, or gets hacked, or decides to ban you, you lose everything (or your details end up on the dark web).
With Nostr, your identity is a key-pair, much like Bitcoin. You have a public key (that's the nPub) which is like a username that anyone can use to find you, on ANY nostr-enabled app.
Here's mine: npub1dtgg8yk3h23ldlm6jsy79tz723p4sun9mz62tqwxqe7c363szkzqm8up6m
And your private key (this is like your password). Whoever holds the private key OWNS that identity or profile. So it's important to keep that safe, if that identity matters to you (kind of like you keep your passport safe).
This is VERY useful in that no matter what happens to any Nostr app, your identity remains persistent.
This includes YOU, your profile, your followers, who you follow, all of it.
When people say "email is the only list you own" - well, now Nostr is the social graph you own.
In fact, Nostr is the ownership/control of email, PLUS the distribution of social. A powerful combination.
Which leads to...
3. A Universe of Applications
People erroneously think "Nostr is a twitter clone" - but that's not the case. You can certainly build twitter-like apps on top and there are some great ones on Nostr like Damus and Primal.
But the real power is in the PORTABILITY of your identity. Instead of logging into every else's platforms, you "unlock" access to a Nostr app, with YOUR key, and you experience the app in a way relevant to YOU.
For example, travel / nomading / geo-arbitrage is a growing space. How do you meet people, where do you go, what do you do around the world? Who do you speak to, who are the trusted service providers, etc. This entire space could do with its own dedicated social network, which is what the team and I are building at Satlantis.
There are many more examples too.
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What does this ultimately mean?
Many things, but I'll try to summarise here 1.
Harder to shut down
Because Nostr is a protocol, there's no CEO to arrest or neck to choke. This doesn't mean it's perfect, but it's much much BETTER.
More control
You have full control of your identity. You can select who sees what, what you share with which platform, etc. of course, with more control, also comes more responsibility. If you lose your key, adios to your account.
But we're adults right? We want more freedom? Well.... responsibility is the ONLY way there.
Optionality
I'm not saying go and "flee" from Substack or anywhere else. By all means keep using, growing, and building the narrative. But don't sleep on Nostr. It's only going to keep growing, and getting better. It's safer, more robust, will have WAY better options in the coming years, and in 5 years from now you'll wish you had started sooner.
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Drawbacks
Privacy
Privacy is really hard. Nostr doesn't just "solve privacy for you". Although it's much easier to be private on Nostr if that's your MO.
Speed & reliability
Look. It's early days. The apps are all new. Nostr apps are 10x better than they were 18mths ago. In 18mths they'll be 10x better again.
Early complexity
Owning your key is a bit of a novel concept, but it's honestly not that hard. You'll figure it out
Too much Bitcoin content
Yeah. There's alot of Bitcoin talk. But that's just the early adopters. Come start OTHER conversations. Christianity, Masculinity, Money, Frogs, RW Dissidents, History, Culture, Family, Homemaking.
All of it. It's there for the taking.
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So anyway. This got long.
The best place to start right now is the Primal App. Soon you'll be able to use Satlantis too. But there’s loads of options. Go experiment.
You can go find me on there. Just search "Svetski" or copy & paste my npub into any of the apps search and add me / DM me & I’ll follow you back and help you get your account kicked off (I’ve grown to 20k followers in the past 6mths).
npub1dtgg8yk3h23ldlm6jsy79tz723p4sun9mz62tqwxqe7c363szkzqm8up6m
