Nostr is a new protocol for censorship-resistant speech and social sharing. It has great potential, but there are also many problems to overcome.
The emergence of a new technology may seem natural and without warning, but in reality, it is the culmination of decades of research and development by scientists in many different fields. Political idealists exalt new technologies as symbols of liberation and revolution, while established elites denigrate them. However, technicians are often attracted by its enormous potential and devote their free time to development experiments.
Eventually, new technologies have been adopted by all walks of life, bringing huge impacts to society. Looking back, many people wonder why the enormous potential of a new technology didn't become apparent as soon as it appeared.
What do I mean by new technology? It can be any technology that is sufficiently innovative and disruptive, such as cars, PCs, internet, mobile phones, Bitcoin... and Nostr.
Nostr stands for Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays, which refers to notes and other data transmitted through repeaters.
Nostr is a simple protocol for sharing a relatively small amount of data (such as text posts). It does not rely on any trusted central server, so it is resilient; It is based on cryptographic keys and signatures, so it is tamper-proof. It does not rely on peer-to-peer data gossiping broadcasts, so it has reliability.
Nostr is the first practice of censorship-resistant social media. While it's not fundamentally a social networking protocol (more on that later), building a social media network on top of it is pretty straightforward. But wait, nerds people might exclaim, what about the ActivityPub, ATProtocol, and Secure Scuttlebutt protocols that support Mastodon, BlueSky, and Scuttlebutt? Well, these protocols all create federal GOSSIP networks – in order to be a "first-level" sovereign (censorship-resistant) user of these networks, you really need to run your own servers. In my experience (years of experience selling plug-and-play Bitcoin nodes), requiring people to run servers greatly limits your overall market. Nostr is more lightweight because you can subscribe to various relay services without being tied to a server administrator.
Nostr is not:
· Blockchain
· Social networks
· Consensus Protocol
· Peer-to-peer networks
· Tradable crypto tokens
Key properties of Nostr
(1) Decentralization. Nostr is a decentralized protocol, which means it is not controlled by any central authority or company. Instead, a network is simply a collection of data repeaters (servers) that operate independently. This means that NOSTR as a whole is not vulnerable to scrutiny or manipulation by any single entity.
(2) Anonymity. Unlike many social media platforms, Nostr does not collect user data and sell it to third-party advertisers. No email address, phone number, or government identity can be associated with your NOSTR account. Just like Bitcoin, the system only verifies data validity through public keys and cryptographic signatures.
(3) Monetization. Nostr offers a unique monetization system for content creators. Unlike other social media platforms that rely on ad revenue to pay content creators, Nostr allows content creators to monetize content directly, receiving tips (aka "zaps") from their fans. Nostr infrastructure providers can also monetize the services they provide through Lightning Payments.
(4) Open source. Anyone can view, use, and modify the Nostr code. This makes the development of the protocol transparent and collaborative. Anyone can contribute to the development of NOSTR, and over time, the community can work together to improve the protocol. Nostr's design is flexible and highly adaptable, and can evolve to meet the needs of its users. This creates a sense of ownership for the agreement, leading to investment opportunities that are critical to its long-term success.
How does it work?
Nostr is basically a distributed note storage system where notes are simply a set of text, and these notes happen to have a public key and the signature associated with it as proof of authorship.
Nostr clients can subscribe to any number of repeaters (servers), which can then publish notes and query notes associated with other public keys (users). Servers are independent of each other and do not involve concepts such as synchronization/consensus.
At the most basic level, that's what NOSTR is all about. Of course, there are various implementation possibilities being developed.
Nostr solves the censorship slippery slope fallacy
Nostr addresses the governance and censorship inherent in centralized social networks by replacing capricious authorities and regulators with open markets. Almost every social media company that has gained mass adoption has experienced this thorny problem and eventually had to solve it subjectively, creating perverse incentives for those who run services, and while all social interactions are directed at private property, it can be said that these services are used as "town squares".
Centralized platforms are also subject to external pressure from the state. If you operate a company in a certain jurisdiction, you will find that you must comply with the laws of that jurisdiction. The agreement does not have this sense of jurisdiction.
All people have the right to speak, although no one is obliged to listen. Nostr provides a more reliable home for controversial statements. While repeaters can prevent users from publishing content to them, they cannot prevent anyone from publishing content to other repeaters. Since users are identified by public keys, they won't lose their identity and fan network if they're banned by a repeater.
On Nostr, you can be highly confident that you won't be banned for any reason.
Unique features
Nostr achieves something that no social network has ever achieved: the ability to put oneself in the shoes of others. Want to see what someone else's feed really looks like? Just set up a read-only account with their public key. If this feature is really interesting, the Nostr client can also add a "View Feed as..." This function can be as simple as a button on the user's profile screen.
Nostr also achieved freedom to secede from the Union. All other "free speech" platforms still have a centralized aspect. If the app you use has its own "terms of service," then you have no sovereignty over your social media. Mastodon users have struggled to discover this. Going back to the point I mentioned above about running a server requires too much of people... Few people can deal with the abuse inherent in the administrator of "public space".
Garbage-free feature
Nostr is simple and elegant, and there are many junk features that it does not have, such as:
· Make your feed noisy with paid ads.
· Algorithms that distort account ranges and disrupt your curation in unknown ways.
· Any restrictions on the length and type of content you post.
· Unpredictable rules about how embedded media is rendered.
· Warnings about posting negative remarks.
· Unencrypted Direct Messages that can be read by administrators.
· An axe hanging over your head: If you violate the increasingly complex and ever-changing terms of service, your account will be reviewed.
Nostr stands for freedom. But this freedom also currently lacks embellishment...
Challenges
Key management. Currently, most NOSTR users don't handle their private keys very securely, and they keep them on internet-connected devices, which will definitely end up with nothing. The ability to authorize and revoke keys is important both for personal security and to support ownership of company/team accounts. One advantage of using a centralized service with an API is the ability to grant third-party integration access. But with a private key-based protocol, it is necessary to grant an integrated "God Mode", which is (currently) undoable. NIP-26 supports revocation, but unfortunately it only supports derogation based on revocation at expiry and does not support open revocation derogation. Key invalidation via NIP-041 is an aspect I've been focusing on.
Extend. At the time of writing, NOSTR has fewer than 100,000 daily active users. When we see a growth blowout, people tend to put pressure on the infrastructure that drives repeaters, we find weak points, and then developers address them. For example, recently I saw nostr developers using CDN and image optimization software to reduce bandwidth usage. On the long road to mainstream adoption, scaling challenges are indispensable.
Authentication and account discovery. The imposter problem is not serious on NOSTR at the moment, but it is only a matter of time. I really like Nostr.Directory's key-based approach, which proves that your Nostr account is indeed yours by linking one Nostr account to other well-known accounts. I expect that Nostr clients will want to integrate with authentication and reputation services like Nostr.Directory and Hive.One, so that when someone sets up a new account, they can find someone to really follow.
summary
Nostr is a revolutionary protocol for social media because it provides a decentralized, monetizable, incentive-aligned, market-driven, and open-source platform for social interaction. Nostr has the potential to create a new era of social media where user sovereignty comes first and free market competition.
Thanks for reading, friends who like it can like and follow, we'll see you in the next issue!