Author: Wenser (@wenser2010), Odaily Planet Daily
In May, the decentralized social protocol Farcaster announced the completion of a $150 million financing, led by Paradigm, with participation from a16z crypto, Haun, USV, Variant, Standard Crypto, etc., with a valuation of up to $1 billion, entering the "unicorn ranks"; on July 2, the total revenue of the protocol exceeded $2 million, and the total number of users exceeded 570,000. It can be said that Farcaster is now the hottest social protocol in the crypto industry, and according to sources, "Like most protocols, Farcaster is expected to launch tokens, and investors will be eager to capture its fully diluted value."
Previously, in the article "Analyzing Spectral: An on-chain AI agent that raised $30 million and spent 8 million tokens in S1 airdrop", we also mentioned that active users of Farcaster (specific conditions are 10+ likes, 10+ followers, 10+ content releases, and 10-200 interactive contacts) are also one of the airdrop targets. Therefore, staying active in high-quality channels may have a significant bonus to future token airdrops.
Odaily Planet Daily hereby reviews and introduces the top 10 high-quality channels in the Farcaster ecosystem for readers’ reference, and compares them with the mature platforms next door to get a glimpse of its growth space.
Channel decentralization: a channel is a "decentralized world"
On May 18 this year, Farcaster co-founder Dan Romero wrote, "We are decentralizing the Farcaster channel. Different channels will run on the chain and remain independent, similar to user accounts. If you build a community channel, you have the final say in the membership of the community, not a centralized platform. In addition, the protocol version of the channel will give channel creators flexibility in ownership, management, and economic systems. We hope to fully decentralize the channel by the end of the summer, that is, not rely on the Warpcast client."
It has to be said that Dan, who came from Coinbase, may have had complaints about centralized platforms for a long time, so he tried his best to avoid the "centralized problem" in his entrepreneurial project. Farcaster's client is also a rare "hundred flowers blooming" in the countless social protocol ecosystems - including not only the semi-official Warpcast, but also early ecosystem applications such as Supercast and Kiosk, internationalized organized applications such as Phaver and Firefly App, and even independent developer applications such as Recaster.
Perhaps, in Dan's vision, the channel's "ownership-management rights-economic system" is more like "Lego blocks" combined together. Different components lay the foundation for the stable operation and circulation of a channel's "authority-content-economic elements", thereby giving it "anti-fragility" to a certain extent.
Farcaster co-founder Dan Romero's vision for decentralized channels
Not only that, Dan also responded to a user's comment that "I hope the core of Warpcast is not just English users" by saying that Warpcast is an American team with no international expansion plans. The team believes that they can create an excellent client for English users, but they do not have enough bandwidth to serve international users well.
Therefore, the growth space of Farcaster protocol and more localized clients is still full of imagination. Without further ado, here are the top 10 high-quality channels in Farcaster ecosystem that I personally think are suitable for "content farming" and can also establish their own "industry reputation" by outputting high-quality content, for your reference.
1./base
Address: https://warpcast.com/~/channel/base
Followers: 360,000
Post threshold: 840 Wraps
As the "Onchain Summer Star Project" created by the Base ecosystem, this channel has the highest activity, strongest cohesion and the best building atmosphere within the Farcaster ecosystem. With the halo of "bigwigs in the circle" including Base protocol leader Jesse Pollak, Farcaster co-founder Dan, and Coinbase CEO Brian Amstrong, the threshold for posting in the Base channel is obviously high - users need to pay Wraps (Wrapcast platform currency, which can be used for rewards or fees) equivalent to US$8.4 to "Cast" (post).
Here, you can publish everything about the Base ecosystem, whether it is a Meme coin project, some opinions and suggestions on the development of the Base ecosystem, or a Free mint NFT. Relatively speaking, the Base ecosystem welcomes all builders to participate in the construction. In addition, /onchainsummer is also a channel worth paying attention to in the Base ecosystem (the number of followers is about 12,000).
Channel Introduction
2./farcaster
Address: https://warpcast.com/~/channel/farcaster
Followers: 297,000
Posting threshold: None
As an official channel, the Farcaster channel can be said to be one of the earliest channels, and it is also extremely tolerant of all content. You can discuss everything about Farcaster here. Official staff including Dan will also respond and communicate on certain posts, and it is quite peaceful. For example, this post published yesterday gave a positive response to the user who complained about Wrapcast, and it was quite sincere - not only did it give a simple explanation of Farcaster's user import mechanism, but it also mentioned some tips for Farcaster users who want to gain attention and popularity on the platform.
Channel Introduction
3./Memes
Address: https://warpcast.com/~/channel/memes
Followers: 318,000
Posting threshold: None
As the "greatest common denominator of human culture", Memes plays a vital role in human attraction and communication. Therefore, just like Reddit, 4chan and other forums, the Memes channel is also one of the most active channels on Farcaster. Here you can When sharing hot Internet memes or even some so-called "Internet hanging pictures", the important thing is not the number of likes and comments, but the vibe of having an "online postmodernist carnival" with "Internet family members".
Channel Introduction
4./the dough
Address: https://warpcast.com/~/channel/degen
Followers: 92,000
Posting threshold: None
Degen is a typical "community-based Meme" project, but it is more than just a Meme coin. The official account of Project X platform was established in January this year, but with the support of Base ecology, DEGEN tokens have gradually become the "circulating currency" unique to Farcaster ecology. Not only that, the previous cooperation with Web3 infrastructure Syndicate to launch Layer 3 network Degen Chain is also an excellent example of "token-generated chain". Previously, according to official news, the number of DEGEN token holders exceeded 500,000 within 6 months of going online. It has to be said that this result is extremely terrifying.
Channel Introduction
5./ethereum
Address: https://warpcast.com/~/channel/ethereum
Followers: 256,000
Posting threshold: None
As one of the former "die-hard fans of Ethereum", it is not surprising that Ethereum's official channel in Farcaster Ecosystem has such a large number of followers. Not only that, compared with the current noisy public social media of X platform, the niche channel of Farcaster Ecosystem has become one of the few places where many "industry leaders", "OGs in the circle" and well-known founders are very active, and the topics discussed are also very wide. If you are interested in technology or Ethereum ecosystem research, you can participate more here.
Channel interface
6./founders
Address: https://warpcast.com/~/channel/founders
Followers: 161,000
Posting threshold: None
As a co-founder of Farcaster, Dan insists on checking in every day to get Streak's channel. The Founders channel gathers founders and co-founders of many projects. Even Coinbase CEO Brian Amstrong has posted here before, highly praising the work of the two founders of Farcaster. Not only that, Dan and Brian have also launched an AMA event in this channel before, which is also a good window for external publicity.
Channel interface
7./crypto
Address: https://warpcast.com/~/channel/crypto
Followers: 8.7 thousand
Posting threshold: None
Compared with the previous channels, the number of followers of this channel has dropped a level, but it is still a channel worth mentioning separately. After all, crypto is now increasingly influential in the industry, and the management of this channel is relatively strict. It is directly stated in the channel introduction: "General discussion of cryptocurrency, from its use and technology to its culture and philosophy. Spam information about prices, charts, gambling, etc. will be hidden or prohibited. Please check the channel rules."
Channel interface
8./fitness
Address: https://warpcast.com/~/channel/fitness
Followers: 92,000
Posting threshold: None
Physical exercise is also an important part of a "niche ecology", which has attracted nearly 100,000 followers. In addition, this channel is also one of the common active positions of many robot accounts or "E-beggars" such as "posting for rewards" - the other two are /food channel (the number of followers is about 86,000) and /design (the number of followers is about 178,000).
Channel interface
9./nouns
Address: https://warpcast.com/~/channel/nouns
Followers: 72,000
Posting threshold: None
As one of the well-known cultural symbols in the field of cryptocurrency, the popularity and spread of Nouns in the Farcaster ecosystem cannot be underestimated. Although the final outcome of Nouns DAO was not ideal, the discussion about the decentralized governance structure of Nouns and the spirit of "freedom, openness, optimism, and crypto-punk" conveyed by the Nouns symbol are still quite marketable. This is also the reason why you can often see a symbol similar to a 👓 in many landmarks or promotional posters.
Channel interface
10./Warpcast
Address: https://warpcast.com/~/channel/warpcast
Followers: 40,600
Posting threshold: None
Yes, as the official client, Warpcast also has its own channel, but it looks more like a "customer service forum"? In any case, it is also a feedback channel in addition to direct communication with Dan and V, the two co-founders of Farcaster.
Channel interface
Summary: The active user aggregation effect is obvious, and the ecosystem is still in its early stages
According to a data report in April this year, Reddit, a well-known Internet forum and a US listed company founded in 2005, has a total user base of approximately 500 million, with over 100,000 active sub-forums, of which more than 500 forums have at least 1 million subscribers. The most popular subscribed forum is r/funny, which has over 55 million subscribers.
In comparison, Farcaster, with a total number of users of only 570,000, is as immature as a "newborn". Therefore, active users are mainly concentrated in a few channels such as /base and /farcaster. The ecosystem is obviously in its early stages. The economic system within the ecosystem supported by Wraps and DEGEN and the $5 threshold for app downloads also show that Farcaster is not yet fully prepared for large-scale expansion.
In addition, compared with Web2 users, Web3 users may have a stronger awareness of payment, which is one of the important reasons why Farcaster can achieve more than 2 million US dollars in protocol revenue through hundreds of thousands of users.
From the horizontal comparison between Reddit and Farcaster, the latter's development potential can even be said to have ten thousand times of growth space. This may be the reason why a number of star capitals such as Paradigm and a16z crypto are willing to place such a heavy bet and gamble on the "next generation decentralized social track."
As for whether it can truly become a world-class social application like Reddit, X, or even Facebook and Instagram, only time will tell.
Reddit's 20 most popular subreddits
