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Back in 2022, when Twitter was sold to Elon Musk, I tweeted this:
Twitter is too important to be owned and controlled by a single person. The opposite should be happening. Twitter should be decentralized as a protocol that powers an ecosystem of communication products and services.
So began my exodus from Twitter, which culminated in a complete departure in May 2024, when I wrote this post.
I've tried all of the decentralized social protocols, Lens, Bluesky, and Farcaster and have been most active on Farcaster, where USV is an investor.
Earlier today, Vitalik Buterin wrote this post using a decentralized social app called Firefly that sends its posts to Lens, Bluesky, Farcaster and Twitter. Vitalik started off his post with this observation:
If we want a better society, we need better mass communication tools. We need mass communication tools that surface the best information and arguments and help people find points of agreement. We need mass communication tools that serve the user's long-term interest, not maximize short-term engagement. There is no simple trick that solves these problems. But there is one important place to start: more competition. Decentralization is the way to enable that: a shared data layer, with anyone being able to build their own client on top.
I could not agree more. I believe in social protocols like Lens, Bluesky, and Farcaster.
Both the Lens protocol and the Farcaster protocol have changed stewards this week.
Back in 2022, when Twitter was sold to Elon Musk, I tweeted this:
Twitter is too important to be owned and controlled by a single person. The opposite should be happening. Twitter should be decentralized as a protocol that powers an ecosystem of communication products and services.
So began my exodus from Twitter, which culminated in a complete departure in May 2024, when I wrote this post.
I've tried all of the decentralized social protocols, Lens, Bluesky, and Farcaster and have been most active on Farcaster, where USV is an investor.
Earlier today, Vitalik Buterin wrote this post using a decentralized social app called Firefly that sends its posts to Lens, Bluesky, Farcaster and Twitter. Vitalik started off his post with this observation:
If we want a better society, we need better mass communication tools. We need mass communication tools that surface the best information and arguments and help people find points of agreement. We need mass communication tools that serve the user's long-term interest, not maximize short-term engagement. There is no simple trick that solves these problems. But there is one important place to start: more competition. Decentralization is the way to enable that: a shared data layer, with anyone being able to build their own client on top.
I could not agree more. I believe in social protocols like Lens, Bluesky, and Farcaster.
Both the Lens protocol and the Farcaster protocol have changed stewards this week.
And today, the Farcaster founders announced that they are handing over stewardship of the Farcaster protocol (and app) to the Neynar team.
Some will look at these events and say that decentralized social has failed. However, I see it differently. Protocols don't die so easily. They are resilient. And as Vitalik said in his post:
decentralized social should be run by people who deeply believe in the "social" part, and are motivated first and foremost by solving the problems of social.
I don't know the Mask team but I do know the Neynar team. USV is an investor in Neynar, and we have worked with Rish and Manan for over a year now.
They are the kinds of people that Vitalik was talking about when he wrote that.
If you want to post to X and also decentralized social protocols at the same time, try using the Firefly app like Vitalik does.
And today, the Farcaster founders announced that they are handing over stewardship of the Farcaster protocol (and app) to the Neynar team.
Some will look at these events and say that decentralized social has failed. However, I see it differently. Protocols don't die so easily. They are resilient. And as Vitalik said in his post:
decentralized social should be run by people who deeply believe in the "social" part, and are motivated first and foremost by solving the problems of social.
I don't know the Mask team but I do know the Neynar team. USV is an investor in Neynar, and we have worked with Rish and Manan for over a year now.
They are the kinds of people that Vitalik was talking about when he wrote that.
If you want to post to X and also decentralized social protocols at the same time, try using the Firefly app like Vitalik does.
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14 comments
Hi Casters. I wrote about decentralized social today in the wake of two protocol handovers and an excellent post on this topic by @vitalik.eth https://avc.xyz/decentralized-social
Congratulations! Interesting news!
I click on your post, but nothing loads FYI.
Try this link https://avc.xyz/
@sopha-curator do your thing
I guess Vitalik onboarded more people to Firefly today than anyone could. Also, I didn’t know Neynar team was really interested in social, always had them for dev geeks, so thank you 🙏 for context
decentralized social has a bright future
The mini app isn’t working for me either, gets stuck on a black screen If others are having trouble too, try opening browser and go to AVC dot xyz
Glad Neynar has you in their corner
As investor in both Firefly and Neynar, couldn’t be more bullish in the leadership of these protocols - whoever taps into ads correctly will win the market
what do you think could be the best approach to tap into ads?
I hope whoever wins does it with something closer to how people actually build affinity. Ads exist because brands can't really participate. - They interrupt because they can't join conversations at scale. - They target because there's no shared context and everyone sees a different feed. - They repeat because they can't create memory through participation, so frequency replaces presence. Decentralized social changes this. Brands can act directly inside the same feed as everything else people care about. That's what I'm exploring with @giftr. Brands can send a gift, reward a community, recognize a contribution, or show up in moments that reflect their values. A gift creates the feeling and outcomes ads only promise. It informs through discovery, persuades through trust, and reminds because you keep it. That’s how awareness and loyalty are built. Through intent and action, not by buying impressions.
Big W energy → IRL delivery
Hey