Every Friday, Farcaster is filled with a relaxed atmosphere. People greet each other with “Happy Friday” and “touch grass,” and even the cash cannon (a method for mass tipping) seems to be used more frequently on that day. It’s hard to sense this vibe on social media platforms on a Friday, but you can feel it in the office just before the end of the workday.
I know some people come to Farcaster, take a quick look, and leave saying, “How is it different from Twitter?” Let me tell you, when you understand the laid-back Friday vibe on Farcaster, you'll see the differences between them.
A City Under Construction
Farcaster is a city under construction, where everything is currently centered around its builders.
Most of Farcaster’s infrastructure is designed to serve its builders. Similar to Twitter’s posts, the basic unit on Farcaster is a cast; but unlike posts that only offer content output, Farcaster’s frames and actions enable casts to provide much more than just content. Frames are primarily oriented towards the publishers of casts, allowing them to offer applications or services to others through casts. Actions are geared more towards the receivers of casts, enabling them to interact with the cast or the caster. Whether it’s frames, actions, or the potentially upcoming programmable direct casts, these striking infrastructures on Farcaster are like legos handed to the builders, allowing them to develop products in a composable manner on a decentralized social network.
The infrastructures of channels and group direct casts are primarily designed for content creation. Farcaster is exploring the rules of these features and enhancing their capabilities, enabling builders to create content more effectively and comfortably.
Most of the honors and rewards on Farcaster go to the builders. Tipping is the predominant way of issuing currency on Farcaster, with the most well-known being $DEGEN. Builders, who contribute to the ecosystem and bring value to others, naturally have an advantage in this system. A recent popular project on Farcaster, BUILD, directly rewards builders. Its token distribution method allows each person to nominate three builders to receive $BUILD every day. I nominate builders I know, but most of the time, I nominate the builders responsible for the things I liked that day on Farcaster, even if I didn't know them before. They are rewarded for their contributions to the ecosystem, not for who they are.
Most of Farcaster’s residents are builders. Almost no one talks about politics or gossip. Instead, they discuss how to effectively filter out the noise on social media while preserving valuable information. They focus on building a conducive space for meaningful conversations. Every day, new applications emerge—ranging from apps to frames, actions, and more, everyone contributes to these developments in various roles: as developers, testers, or promoters. People are constantly building, discussing how to build, and creating tools and infrastructure for further construction.
If you come to Farcaster expecting a fully developed city, you might be disappointed. Farcaster is still a city full of scaffolding and bustling builders. However, if you’re here not just to sightsee but to find opportunities, you won’t be disappointed. You can easily become a builder in this city. There are vast open spaces for you to choose from, plenty of tools for construction, and friends to build with. You’ll earn honors and rewards for your contributions.
And you’ll feel a sense of ease on Fridays, knowing you can take a break after a busy week of work.
Anyone Can Become a Builder
I’d like to share my experience on Farcaster under the theme “Anyone Can Become a Builder.” When I first joined Farcaster, I immediately created a channel called “/opinion” and started sharing my views there. However, almost no one was interested in my opinions. I realized that this approach was wrong; I shouldn’t just stay in my own corner.
This brings up an important feature of Farcaster’s information filtering algorithm. In most systems, new users are presumed to be real users until their behaviors indicate otherwise. However, on Farcaster, new users are initially marked as NPCs. Only when their behaviors resemble that of real people are they considered genuine users. In many default settings of Warpcast (Farcaster's largest client), content from NPC users or those without a power badge is hidden or does not appear in the main feed. This means that as a new user, my casts were less likely to be seen by others, especially since I was only casting in my own channel.
I needed to reach out and connect with others—after all, isn’t that the essence of a social network? At first, I just greeted people with “gm. ”Some responded, some didn’t. Soon, I discovered new products being introduced daily. I started using these products and providing feedback to the developers, which finally made others “see” me. I felt like a person wandering around a city, offering help wherever it seemed needed. It might not have been significant, but it helped me start integrating into this city. Even though I wasn’t building my own project, I made contributions by helping others build.
After spending some time here, I gained a basic understanding of the Farcaster ecosystem. I began sharing what I found to be good, useful, or interesting new products, as well as my thoughts and discussions on compelling viewpoints. In this way, I not only helped other builders by making their products and ideas more visible but also built my own content.
I don't know what I’ll build here in the future, but without a doubt, I am already a builder. I’ve received generous $DEGEN tips and have been nominated as a builder to receive $BUILD. I’ve met many people and have been recognized by others—I’ve built my own social network.
This is my journey from an observer to a builder, even as a non-developer and infrequent content creator. This is not a mainstream path, but it was naturally formed based on my personal interests. You don’t have to follow my path. What you need to do is stay here and find something you enjoy that also connects you with others. For example, if you’re unsure of what to do but are a meme enthusiast, start by joining the “/memes” channel. You can share memes there, become a builder for that channel, meet friends, and establish your initial social network.
Onchain Social? No; Onchain Community? Yes!
One day, I found myself playing around on Farcaster until 9 or 10 PM. Feeling the need to relax, I grabbed a bottle of sparkling water from the fridge and opened a bag of chips. As I slumped on the couch munching on my chips, a giant question mark popped into my head: What am I doing? Why do I need to eat chips to relax in the middle of the night? I sat up from the couch and pondered this question. I realized that I wasn’t just playing on Farcaster; I was working for Farcaster.
For instance, collecting and organizing important information on Farcaster and sharing it with others is essentially the job of a media editor. Using new applications and providing feedback is the role of a product tester.
Once I realized this, the image of a city popped into my mind. I described Farcaster as a city at the beginning of this article, not as a metaphor I came up with, but as an image in my mind.
It’s a vast, dynamic city where everyone is contributing to its construction. The unique aspect is that no one is working under someone else’s orders. Instead, they find and complete tasks based on their own interests or skills. The construction of this city hasn’t fallen into chaos due to a lack of top-down management and coordination. Instead, it shows a level of flexibility, creativity, passion, and vitality that centralized systems can’t achieve. This city is rising quickly, built on the independent work of each individual.
Farcaster operates effectively in a decentralized and autonomous manner for several reasons. These may include:
1. Farcaster is built on decentralized technology.
2. The platform initially attracted a group of dedicated builders who believe in its potential and have fostered a positive community atmosphere.
3. The use of tips for currency distribution effectively motivates individual builders and boosts overall participation.
4. Channels facilitate topic discussions, content accumulation, and help people get to know each other, establishing their initial social networks. More importantly, individuals can form groups within channels to collaborate on specific projects.
5. Frames allow the integration of products directly into the content stream. Frames in the content stream bring together independent developers and disseminators to collaboratively complete product development and operation.
6. Almost everything on Farcaster is programmable, and user data on Farcaster is decentralized and shareable. These two factors together bring composability. Developers can not only collaboratively improve a single product but also combine different products to achieve new functionalities.
7. A social network that efficiently transmits information and products allows individuals to gather information and collaborate effectively.
By the way, we’ve always been trying to establish effective organizations on top of decentralization, and an organization or community implies collaboration. This means that after decentralization, the first issue we need to address is how to collaborate. And to facilitate collaboration, we must enable efficient information transmission.
Returning to the main topic. I want to sit down and write an article about Farcaster, not because of its registered users and daily active users, its investors, or its technical architecture, but because I realize it is an unprecedented city, or rather, an unprecedented form of social organization or operation. Farcaster is far more than just onchain social; it is a brand-new community built on top of decentralized social networks. People not only get information here but also get products and services, which are produced here. People live here, with their friends; people also work here, with their users and partners.
Remarks
There is a saying in Xunzi’s “Encouraging Learning” that goes, “不积跬步，无以至千里.” It means that without accumulating small distances, it is impossible to reach distant places. (不积跬步，无以至千里: without accumulating small steps, one cannot cover a thousand miles)
This article discusses the small steps of individuals in Farcaster: starting with something you like and can connect with others. It also discusses the thousand miles of Farcaster in my eyes: a brand-new community built on top of decentralized social networks. I hope the article helps you understand Farcaster. However, the most important thing is not to stand at a distance and study it but to dive in. If you encounter any doubts while exploring, just DC me (@AmelieHua).