Farcaster is a new force disrupting the social media landscape

Recently, many encryption projects have tried to build decentralized social media platforms, but most of them have difficulty attracting users due to the monopoly of traditional giants. The once popular Friend.tech has now seen its daily activity shrink by 97%; however, Farcaster, which was founded in 2020 by former Coinbase engineer Dan Romero and received US$30 million in financing led by a16z in 2022, has bucked the trend. According to data from Dune Analytics, its Daily active users have grown more than 10 times since entering 2024, and even Ethereum founder Vitalik has published multiple exclusive articles on Farcaster.

So what are the characteristics of Farcaster, which is highly favored by Vitalik and a16z? This week’s CryptoSnap Dr.DODO will introduce you to Web3 Social The king-level project Farcaster.

What is Farcaster?  

Farcaster is a decentralized social network protocol that aims to provide users with a more open, free and secure social experience. Breaking away from the limitations of centralized server social application giants such as Facebook, Twitter or Weibo, etc., through innovative blockchain technology, the pattern of traditional social media has been reshaped.

In the Farcaster ecosystem, users have their own decentralized identity (FID), can freely migrate data between various social applications, and truly control their own Social assets. At the same time, Farcaster adopts privacy protection technologies such as distributed data storage architecture and end-to-end encryption to maximize the security and privacy of user data.

Farcaster technical level

At the technical level, Farcaster passes A series of innovative solutions have built a solid infrastructure for decentralized social networks.

Farcaster social network covers three levels: identity layer, data layer and application layer:

1. Identity layer: Based on Ethereum, it determines the operating permissions on the network, with identity and authentication as the core.

2. Data layer: stores information authorized by the identity layer and ensures its availability.

3. Application layer: consumes information from the data layer and provides services to users.

At the identity layer, Farcaster introduces user name and Farcaster ID ( FID). FID is a unique digital identifier bound to an Ethereum address and cannot be tampered with. Users can choose to register a username and bind it to FID for convenience. However, the username is managed by a separate contract and may be recycled, while FID is permanent. FID can also be used for identity recovery. The user can preset another address as a recovery certificate. This address can be the user's other wallet, the address of a trusted friend, or even a third-party escrow agency.

Benefiting from FID on the data layer, when the user receives a message, he or she can verify the binding relationship between the signature address and the FID on the chain to confirm the source of the message. . In order to avoid private key management problems, Farcaster introduces the concept of signers. Signer keys are generated off-chain by users. They only need to register their public keys on the chain, and the private keys can be used for signatures.

As for data storage, Farcaster is different from centralized applications that use servers to store data. Instead, it allows users to back up each other's data and store it in a node called Hub. middle. To curb spam, Farcaster charges users an annual rental fee for data storage. On the one hand, this is the main source of revenue for the protocol. On the other hand, it can encourage users to delete low-value data to improve network quality. As for the application layer, Farcaster is different from Twitter, Facebook, etc. It is not a direct social application but a lower-level social protocol. Anyone can build a front-end application based on Farcaster. They only need to follow the rules of the protocol. Protocol changes are passed through FIP (Farcaster Improvement proposals) are completed and implemented after approval and acceptance by developers, applications and users. There is no mandatory voting mechanism or veto power.

Farcaster application level

As mentioned above, Farcaster It is not a single social application but a protocol. There are currently many front-end applications based on Farcaster. Among them, Warpcast based on the Twitter front-end style is the most used one and is also used by Vitalik, the founder of Ethereum mentioned above. Let’s continue. We introduce the existing Farcaster ecological applications in a column:

1. Warpcast:

1. Farcaster is the social application with the largest number of users in the ecosystem

2. < p style="text-align: left;">The interface style and operating experience are similar to Twitter

3. Supports a variety of rich media content Publishing and interaction

2. Searchcaster:

1. Farcaster-based search engine service

2. Users can retrieve content through keywords, tags, etc.

3. Supports multi-dimensional information on users, topics, applications, etc. Search

3. Yup:

1. Social aggregation

2. Allow Users cross-post content to Twitter and Lens

4. Jam:

1. The first dApp to introduce the concept of "Friends Token" to Lens and Farcaster

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2. Provide functions similar to Friend.tech personal subscription

5. Alphacaster:

1. DAO Community voting governance tool

2. Communities are classified according to user wallet asset categories, and only those who hold designated assets can speak in the corresponding community

Of course, there are still many Farcaster ecological applications that are still under development. This article only lists Several more representative examples with many users.

Farcaster Frames

When it comes to the application of Farcaster, we must not Not to mention the Frame function that is the biggest driver of Farcaster’s explosion. Frame is a revolutionary innovation in the Farcaster ecosystem, allowing developers to seamlessly embed various interactive mini programs in users’ social content. Through Frame, Users can directly participate in rich application experiences while browsing social information streams, such as games, voting, NFT minting, e-commerce shopping, etc. This "composability" completely breaks down the barriers of traditional social media and turns the social network into an infinitely expandable super App.

After the launch of Frame, the playability of Farcaster has been greatly improved. Developers can easily combine their creativity with social scenarios to reach more potential users. .

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

Author’s opinion

From the experience of the author who has used many decentralized social networks, Wrapcast can be said to be the one with the best experience, almost as smooth as centralized applications. The degree is the same, and another great thing about Farcaster is that it has attracted the heavyweight KOL like V God. The reason why social applications are difficult to develop is because the first-mover advantage is too great. Of course, when most people express their opinions on Twitter, no one wants to go there. Use Wrapcast, but it is different when V God only expresses his opinions on Farcaster!

In my opinion, the decentralized social track is certainly not as grand as the AI ​​or BTC ecology, but from the perspective of airdrops, I think Farcaster airdrops are much easier to use. You only need to post the content you originally planned to send to other communities on Farcaster every day. You may be blessed on the day when the coins are released. This is not much easier than interacting with other Dapps, so you have nothing to do. Use Farcaster more!