IOSG ｜ Why is A16Z willing to bet on the next generation of social network FARCASTER

Tl; DR

• Farcaster is a decentralized social platform that combines the identity creation, storage leasing and key maintenance on the chain, and linked data storage under the chain maintenance of the decentralized node network.This structure allows users to have their own data and identity to form decentralized social maps.

• Channel and frame are

  The key to user participation.The channel promotes concentrated community discussions by embedding the URL, and Frame has turned the broadcast into an interactive application to support NFT casting, voting and security transactions.These functions promote diversified and personalized content supply and improve user experience.

• Farcaster’s open social map and content algorithm provides unique opportunities for developing diverse clients.Potential customers include the application of AI, video and audio.This openness alleviates the risk of the platform, allows innovation, and is expected to create a “magic moment” for successful social applications.

• Farcaster’s ID registry can be used as the basic identity layer in Web3 to solve the problem of certification and responsibility.It provides a safe and verifiable identity, links to various web3 services to enhance trust and transparency, while managing ownership and responsibility in the decentralized environment.

• The main challenges include the potential issues of the 1: 1 social map from the existing platform, the elasticity in the bear market, the management robot and automatic account, and the mainstream adoption of the encrypted community.Solving these challenges is essential for the long -term success of Farcaster.

• Farcaster’s decentralization and open infrastructure paved the way for innovative applications and user -controlled social media LandScape.By focusing on strategic planning, community participation, and user centers, Farcaster can overcome its challenges, lead the wave of social media, and provide a safer, dynamic and user -driven platform.

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1. 1.What is Farcaster?

Web3 has a wave of new social applications, such as Friend.tech, FANTASY TOP and FarCaster.Although most of the applications for consumers, Farcaster has established a powerful infrastructure layer, paving the way for decentralized social maps, tracking users and its overall social data.

From a high -level perspective, FarCaster performs high priority operations on the chain, such as ID creation, storage and leasing and different applications of key maintenance.However, the storage itself is a linked solution under the link to the centralized node network “Farcaster Hub”.

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Source: https://docs.farcaster.xyz/learn/architecture/overView

This infrastructure design helps the decentralized social map of FarCaster to connect users and their social activities.This may be a major obstacle that allows reliable authentication operations and transactions to reduce risks of fraud and ensure responsibility.Users can link their Farcaster identity to various web3 services to enhance the trust and transparency of the entire decentralized network.In addition, by enabling the recovery mechanism and security identity, Farcaster provides a practical solution to solve one of the most long -lasting problems in blockchain technology: managing and prove ownership and responsibility in a decentralized environment.Key features such as Channel and Frame enhance user participation, while strong ecosystems support scalability and adoption.

Channel

Channel is a public space for the topic of community discussions, and the prototype is in Warpcast.It is similar to the label in Twitter, but provides a more personalized and independent space for the community to appear in the form of URL.

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Channel follows the theory of “Cozy Corner” in FarCaster and allows small communities in larger social maps.This is an important differentiation factor. Farcaster’s founder realized that this vision stood out the product in building a stronger social map.Although this concept is a feature of Warpcast, the plan is completely decentralized because Dan Romero recognizes its unique value proposition.By cultivating these small and concentrated communities, channels can enhance user participation and create a closer social experience.

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In Farcaster, Casts (similar to hair push) can link to any URL, not just other broadcasting CAST.This allows creating new developments based on the same URL.For example, all the broadcasts in the Degen channel are linked to the URL corresponding to the Degen token contract.

With this function, Farcaster can develop diversified content dynamics.The ability to embed the URL in CAST enables the dynamics containing various content types.This promotes the vision of FarCaster users, while the traditional social media platform is the company’s own user data to personalize user dynamics and content through algorithm.

Frame

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Source: https://docs.farcaster.xyz/learn/what-s-farcaster/frames

Frame turns any broadcast into an interactive application, creating an interactive and certification experience on FarCaster by setting standards.In fact, it is a broadcast with image and buttons, allowing interaction with different servers to make it an application in an application.Cases include sound claiming or casting NFT, voting and promoting tokens.In the week of its introduction, more than 400 applications released nearly 1,000 Frames, which directly promoted the growth of Farcaster and provided incentive measures such as airdrops.

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The theory behind Frame is that 80-85% of most social applications are similar, but the remaining 15-20% of the unique value enables different applications to dominate different markets.The Frame system allows Farcaster to integrate with more chain activities to further form a positive feedback cycle, which may increase the user base of FarCaster.At the same time, it positions FarCaster as a more intuitive product, extended the function of social media, and provides a richer consumer experience (such as a more integrated Facebook market or Tiktok store).

The most powerful feature of Frame is the seamless integration of FarCaster certification data and the Frame server.When the user interacts with the framework, the client transmits authentication data from FarCaster to the framework server.This process provides a verification certificate for the server interacts with the framework and confirms that the user has a wallet associated with its FarCaster account.

Because Farcaster and wallet data are open and transparent, the Frame server can use this information to create rich, verified and customized interactions.This has opened many possibilities, such as personalized content delivery, security transactions and customized user experience.For example, the server can certify users to participate in voting, ensure the legitimacy of the NFT statement, or promote secure tokens.The integration of this authentication and wallet verification has significantly enhanced the user experience through enabling credible and interactive applications in the FarCaster ecosystem.

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In the early days of Web2, the platform such as Twitter appeared various third -party clients to provide a variety of user experience.However, with the growth of these platforms, they often limit API access to protect their clients and prepare for IPOs.Construction of alternative clients for large Web2 platforms becomes unpopular because of high platform risks involved.

For Farcaster, this proposes a unique and unique opportunity in the client form. The client is essentially some applications of hosting infrastructure to display social maps in a more indigestible and interactive manner.In the Web3 paradigm, the most valuable assets of social platforms -its social map and content algorithm -open to everyone.This openness significantly reduces the risk of the platform and may marked the change of paradigm.

At present, the most used Farcaster client is Warpcast developed by the FarCaster team.However, this is just the beginning.The platform has not experienced the “magic moment” shown by many successful social applications.Magic moment is a unique combination of user experience and behavior, making the application stand out.For example, for the first time, I saw what my friends were doing on Facebook, found matching on Tinder, watched Tiktok videos, or purchased products at one click on Amazon.

The potential of diversified FarCaster client

• AI Focus on Client: A AI -driven Farcaster client can summarize social media activities, similar to ChatGPT, rather than letting users roll up for long -term dynamics.High -quality Farcaster channels can provide valuable data sources for AI training.Channel owners should be compensated when they are used for model training.

• Video Focusing Client: Given the success of the video center application in web2, a video focusing Farcaster client is a promising idea.This client can use Farcaster’s decentralization characteristics to provide unique video content and interaction.

• Audio focus client: Although there is no major social audio application, the Farcaster client with audio focus has potential.This can explore new social interaction methods through audio content, based on the success of applications like Clubhouse.

By exploring the possibility of these diverse clients, FarCaster can create a dynamic ecosystem, which can meet the needs and preferences of various user needs.This not only promotes user growth and participation, but also promotes innovation in the Farcaster community.

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2. The status quo of faraster

As a basic overview of Farcaster’s current ecosystem, we can pay attention to the following ecological force.

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Source: https://dune.com/pixelhack/farcaster

It is worth noting that Warpcast currently accounts for 90%of network activities, but other clients can provide various unique proposals on this infrastructure.In addition, most people use it as a pure web2 social media platform because users have not been trained and used everything they provided.Important growth signals will be an individual using the Farcaster native solution to make its user experience the most likely different functions (decentralized social maps, frameworks, etc.), which may take time, because the map itself is not mature or mature or mature in the early stage.powerful.

Data performance:

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Source: https://farcaster.network

According to Dan Romero, there is still a job to do in terms of expansion. Farcaster’s current architecture can be extended to 10 million active users.However, from a technical point of view, the infrastructure is flexible enough, and the team is full of confidence in further expansion of the necessary.

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We see the increase in the use of foundation. If we see the increase in the foundation, such as the $ Degen tokens to guide the network by incentive rewards and community participation.This itself can be regarded as a vertical field, and Farcaster is a secondary role in this field.With the more participation of the platform that consumers pay attention to such as seamless user experience on Base, the adoption of the FarCaster protocol may be seen.

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This is a very interesting data point in the range of Farcaster and social applications.About half of the users use it once a month, but the other half of the very active user community (the second highest is more than 250 CASTS) high reservations indicate that it is very good at providing high -value added to the niche community.

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The higher DAU/MAU ratio also indicates that the retention rate of Farcaster is increasing, and the number of users daily is close to the number of monthly users.This prominent and almost directly contributed to the income growth of the FarCaster team.

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Within a few months, a large number of people pay service fees such as storage leasing.This part is because more and more users build applications on FarCaster.Because maintaining a Farcaster account is needed for $ 3 each year, this is a preventive measure to prevent spam and robots. In the next year, how many people will actually keep the product and think that its quality is high enough to pay for it insteadFree platforms like Twitter or Instagram will be very interesting.

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3. Three Waves Application Theory

When our navigation social media is constantly developing, it is now a good time to decompose single -piece stacks established by platforms such as Meta, X (former Twitter), WeChat, and Weibo.Farcaster provides a unique opportunity to rebuild these layers on decentralized open networks.Entrepreneurs and startups can take advantage of this opportunity to have every layer of this emerging ecosystem, and use Farcaster’s open canvas for innovation and creation.

The first wave: build infrastructure

The first wave is to establish a strong infrastructure.This basic stage is essential for developers to quickly and efficiently build applications on FarCaster.

tool:Development tools need to be simplified to simplify the application process.Who will create Farcaster’s “Heroku” to provide resources and support for developers, so that they can seamlessly start the application?

API:The effectiveness of Farcaster’s official API is another key component.Is it enough to be friendly and powerful to support diverse applications?If not, who will develop the FarCaster’s “Twilio” to simplify API integration and expansion function?

data:Just like EtherScan’s necessary tools for navigation Ethereum, Farcaster needs strong data tools with the need for development.These tools will reorganize and make Farcaster data more accessible, supporting various use cases with maturity of the ecosystem.

Second wave: Promote network growth through applications

At the same time, the second wave involves promoting network growth through innovative applications.This growth can be divided into user growth and income growth. Both are essential to the expansion of Farcaster.

User growth:Viral applications or eye -catching Farcaster client applications can significantly increase the number of users.By creating a fascinating user experience, these applications will attract more people to join the FarCaster network and cultivate a vibrant community.

Increase increase:Using web3’s financial and asset -based applications can enhance income flow.These applications will enable FarCaster users to generate income and provide currency incentives for interactive interaction with the platform.Increasing income of the FarCaster protocol can fund more paid users to obtain, forming a positive growth and investment feedback cycle.

The third wave: Participate in the Internet -Careful Growth Guide

Although the application of infrastructure and growth -oriented is very important, at this stage, it is necessary to take care of the application designed to simply drive participation.These applications usually depend on the existing user base and may be difficult to grow independently.Application of prematurely involved in driving may lead to growth stagnation, if they cannot maintain growth through users.

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4. 4..Second theory: Learn from the past

A valuable method using Farcaster’s potential is to study the challenge of web2 social applications due to the limitation or pressure of major platforms.Many of these applications are prohibited, acquired or forced to transform, although they have innovative functions and user participation strategies, which pose a major threat to large platforms.In a more open Web3 environment, these ideas may be booming without concentrated control.

Example of Twitter Ecosystem:

• Meerkat: The original successful live application, until Twitter restricted its access to social maps, hindering its growth.

• Klout: Applications known for measuring social media influence, facing restrictions due to changes in API access, and eventually closed.

• Favstar: Provide a popular service to track your favorite tweets and transfers, until Twitter’s API changes make it useless.

Example of Facebook/Meta Ecosystem:

• TBH: An anonymous social media application for teenagers was closed after being acquired by Facebook.

• POKE: Facebook’s own application, similar to Snapchat, is finally suspended.

Opportunities in the web3 paradigm

In the decentralization and open environment of Web3, similar ideas and innovations can find new students.Farcaster’s infrastructure allows the creation and integration of diversified applications without having to worry about restricted API policies or centralized control.This openness can trigger the revival of innovative social applications and cultivate a rich ecosystem, of which:

• User -driven innovation:Developers can experiment and build on Farcaster freely to create a unique application that cater to the niche audience or novel use cases.

• Decentralization ownership:By having their own data and interaction, users can enjoy more control and privacy, which is becoming more and more important in the digital age.

• Resist concentrated control:Without the central authority to submit restrictions, applications on Farcaster can evolve more naturally according to user needs and feedback.

This method not only restores the innovative spirit of past social applications, but also ensures a more tough and user -centric social ecosystem.Entrepreneurs have the opportunity to re -examine and re -conceive these thoughts that have been promising to better allow users to re -control the customization.

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5. Challenge facing

Although Farcaster has the potential of light, several challenges must be resolved to ensure its long -term success and adoption.

1. Reserve opinion on import 1: 1 social map

A challenge of Farcaster is to introduce the potential problem of 1: 1 social map from the existing platform.Although integrating existing social maps can simplify the transition of new users, it may not be able to promote the same community dynamics of local development.The imported social map may not be able to transform into the decentralized environment of Farcaster, which may lead to disconnected user experience.The community’s acceptance of the social application of the customized application experience and providing status games for new celebrities is high, which may also be the driving factor used by users.Having a strong picture of a key opinion leader and important role may weaken this experience, which is found in social media in social media.However, as it is proven by products such as Instagram Reels, Tiktok, and YouTube SHORTS, many influencers in the same platform can recover their contents on different platforms, which may provide unique opportunities for these influentials to use FarCaster’s graphs.

2. The subscription of social products before the bear market

History shows that many web3 social products are struggling during the bear market.The downturn in the encrypted market often leads to decreased user participation and investment, which will seriously affect the growth and sustainability of platforms like FarCaster.In order to establish the toughness of market fluctuations, FarCaster needs to ensure that its value advocates beyond the encrypted community and attracts a broader audience.Diversifying its user base and creating fascinating, non -market -dependent functions will be the key to market fluctuations.

3. Social media platform exists in robots

The existence of robots and automatic accounts is a common problem on social media platforms, and Farcaster is no exception.Robots can distort user participation indicators, spread error information and publicity, and create an environment that is not friendly to real users -similar to Sybil attacks.The implementation of powerful robotic testing and prevention measures is very good for maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.By prioritizing user verification and development algorithm/mechanism to identify and reduce robotic activities (lucky, many applications on Farcaster such as Phaver or Desmos are trying to solve this problem), FarCaster can create a safer and real social space, and at the same timeKeep the vision of the unique identity layer designed by FarCaster.

Future Mass Adoption

Breaking through the encrypted community is self -respected, and Mass Adoptio is one of the biggest obstacles facing FarCaster.Although the platform has obtained traction among encrypted enthusiasts, attracting more extensive public users will need to overcome several obstacles, including education, ease of use, and perceived value.Simplify the entry process, provide user -friendly interface, and emphasize that Farcaster’s unique advantage over the traditional social media platform will be a key strategy.In addition, promoting the decentralization of Farcaster and the characteristics of users can attract users who pay attention to privacy and data ownership.All of this is closely related to Farcaster’s marketing strategy, and the widely -educated audience has increased the unique value of Farcaster’s increase in the Leaki community outside the encryption community.

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6. Conclusion

Farcaster is essentially a social infrastructure layer that allows the community to review users. Users can also review the community and use their core functions: authentication, maps, dynamics, and frameworks.All of this is due to the unique design of the agreement and allowing developers and entrepreneurs to use the platform social map to play their creative functions.Farcaster’s maximum value proposition mainly comes from the identity layer it uses, as well as the ability of users to own data, not a large company -this is confirmed in the narrative of large social companies due to data abuse.

Although there are challenges such as integrated social maps, market fluctuations, robot management, and mainstream adoption of the implementation of encryption space, these obstacles are not overwhelming.Through strategic planning and innovation, Farcaster can overcome these obstacles and pave the way for decentralized social networks.

Powerful infrastructure, combined with the openness and transparency of Web3, provides fertile soil for innovative applications and user experience, which is impossible in the Web2 paradigm.By using the unique advantages of the FarCaster protocol, developers can create diversified and fascinating applications, promote user growth and participation, and cultivate a vibrant and tough ecosystem.

Looking forward to the future, Farcaster is committed to decentralization, user autonomy and innovative functions, and is positioned as the potential leader of the next wave of social media platforms.This journey needs to be continuously improved, community participation, and always paying attention to user needs.Landscape, which is safer to build a more secure, user -controlled and dynamic social media, is worthy of hard work.Farcaster is not only building a platform; it is laying the foundation for new social interaction methods in the digital age.