I've been researching how to decentralize social media for years.

#nostr is the first approach I thought, "wow, this can work!" and I'm getting more bullish by the day

Here are a few reasons:

#1 reason: #nostr is dead simple

* Everyone runs a client
* Users have a private & pub key
* Users post by signing a message and sending it to multiple relays
* Relays provide the convenience of a centralized service
* There are multiple relays, so getting banned isn't a problem

#2 reason: #nostr allows the use of external identifiers

Mastodon's fatal flaw is that handles are tied to instances; you get banned by an instance and lose your identifier; it's just a worse Twitter.

You can use, e.g., your domain name in #nostr

#3 reason: relays run SQL databases (think: fast & cheap!)

That means that social media platforms built on top of #nostr will be as fast and cheap to maintain as centralized platforms are today.

#4 reason: traction without funding

#nostr didn't raise any money; there is no company or a token. @fiatjaf just put up a short doc on GitHub and started coding

github.com/nostr-protocol/nostr

#5 reason: there is an organic and thriving community

It started with a telegram group @fiatjaf created. No marketing budget and no community managers.

There are +1k people in the group, and prob ~200 are regularly active.

t.me/nostr_protocol

#6 reason: existing platforms can integrate #nostr

Twitter could integrate #nostr without changing the UX. You might not even notice!

@Minds has been around for years, and it took them weeks to integrate #nostr

#7 reason: it already works

#8 reason: #nostr doesn't use blockchain

#nostr doesn't need blockchain to work. There are many Bitcoiners in the #nostr community, but you can use #nostr without ever needing to use Bitcoin.

#9 reason: you can build a business on #nostr

Client & relay operators can make money, e.g.:

* Charge fees in BTC or any other cryptocurrency
* Run ads
* Sell handles
etc.