Roundtable 24: Will Damus be the next Web3 Twitter?

Participants:

Host

Nicole from NEST Protocol

Cohost

iPollo

Whale Coin Talk

Guest

Mike, ReadON Co-founder of ReadON

Shera, Bit.Store Aisa Community Lead of Bit Store

Vivian, Marketing Lead of Wormhole3

Michelle, COO of MAP Protocol

Conference recording

https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1BdGYygBbmBGX?s=20

Highlights of the Space

Nicole: Damus has been launched on App store in several countries, and it attracts a lot of attention in a short period of time. Damus describes itself as a social network controlled by users and does not rely on centralized companies. The application is built on Nostr, or “Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays,” a decentralized network that enables end-to-end private messaging. There are no servers within its network. Instead, the protocol uses decentralized relays to distribute messages. Thus, socialfi.

Session 1: Questions from Host

1. How can the experience of Web2 social software, like twitter, be successfully transferred to Web3 or SocialFi or Damus?

Mike: I am very excited to see the Damus, although it is still not a decentralized Twitter and it is very simple; it is a good signal that people, especially non-web3 users are joining web3 applications. It needs massive adoption.

Vivian: There’s a lot to learn from web3. Firstly, user experience, which is a major factor that the web2 applications are successful. Secondly should be how social applications monetize social data. Web2 applications have good subscription or ads or models, so web3 applications also need to have new ways to monetize content creation and engagement. Lastly is community building and user incentives for user engagement.

Michelle: I think it is quite difficult, to be honest. There’s a long way to go. It’s not about the time, it’s about the technologies. If we go back to history, when web1 to web2, we are experienced states the creator’s economy and this economy has massively changed people’s lives and helped the loss, even some people actually gaining a living using those social platforms. But there are definitely problems like ownerships and IP. Web3 should really focus on how to solve the web2 problems. And we do not need to start from scratch.

2. Can SocialFi be truly decentralized?

Michelle: I do believe so, not necessary socialfi. The Damus is doing great, although it is just the beginning. Damus shows that the web3 social can be a decentralized with simple design, you just have relays and you have client, and there’s not even a chain! And this should be the way we go forward.

Whale Coin Talk: We have seen many developments in this space, this is really a right direction. Not only the nice utilities, but also towards the web3 and decentralization. I am really excited for a bunch of socialfi apps for users. I am very optimistic of this.

Shera: It is possible because it is designed to avoid centralized control. People want user privacy and control their own data. But there are still challenges on realization, so it is possible but challenging.

Nicole: Is the recent explosion of Nostr a SocialFi, considering it has no token incentive?

Vivian: I think it is because they achieve decentralization. There is no reward for p2p network as well. But I do believe there are ways to combine social and finance which is what Nostr doing.

Whale Coin Talk: I know some people want to get monetary incentives but actually we don’t need it. The value of the application is the core.

Michelle: There is no need to beat Twitter, they can co-exist. For incentives, there are many Ponzi scheme projects involved.

Hana: I think it will evolve in one direction that we are not even expect about. People have a comfortable zone. In terms of economic, I do believe many projects, especially during the bull market, the only way was incentivizing their users as tokens or compensations. Many projects died because after the token they have no value. Incentives are important, but at the growth stage. The incentives do not have to be purely tokens, the value is more important.

3. What role can DAO or NFT play in Damus or socialfi?

Whale Coin Talk: NFTs are very straightforward. You can turn news or story into NFT, you can sell or resold it. People are going to start discovering and become more aware that everything they are putting out. We are going to see a lot of gamification of the space as well, it could just be badges of honor or so on, or financial incentives.

IPollo: Socialfi platforms could allow users to an NFT for creating or sharing high quality content and allow others to purchase or trade in the form of recognition or reward. This can increase the value of user generated content and create more dynamic and engaging user experience in. Additionally, an NFT can be used to create unique digital collections that can further increase user engagement and retention. What we need to think is to consider the technical and not economic implications of using NFT in socialfi and to design the integration in the way that aligns with the goals and the incentives of the platform.

Vivian: DAO could help in decentralization and transparent management of financial decision-making process and funds, which means that they can be used to create community-driven investment funds or crowdfunding platforms or other p2p lending platforms that align the value and goals with users on accountability, collaboration etc., which I think is the essence.

4. Can SocialFi’s opportunities trigger the next bull market?

Hana: I think there will be more development direction, for example, NFTs can be used for the cause of some climate issues or to incentivize the content with a large number of communities. The socialfi will definitely help the speed of growing of the community or web3.

Whale Coin Talk: Socialfi has the most potential and gaming as well because these are communities that are already heavily involved and heavily dedicated to what they are doing, so it should not be that difficult.

Session 2: Q&A

Chewquacka: Have you guys actually used Damus? What’s your experience?

Nicole: Some of my friends jumped in and expect to get airdrops, which is impossible because they do not have tokens. Others enter to see why this thing is hot, and their feedback is that the app is still not user-friendly.

Woody: A lot of people came here to have a test; they do not have many useful contents currently. Web3 social technology is only the very basic things, content and connections and the building is more important.

Vivian: The long public key is a long string, everyone is posting it, then you cannot identify which belongs to whom and who have you followed and who you haven’t.