Thread

Bluesky added 2 million new users in a week following Brazil's Twitter ban. That's wild. Bluesky is seen as a Twitter alternative in the media. We often say that Nostr is more than a Twitter alternative, which it is, though right now that is the most popular use case. The media doesn't see it. Even though Nostr was created for events just like those unfolding in Brazil, Nostr is still the underdog. Keep building.
Engadget
Bluesky added over 2 million Brazilian users after Brazil banned Elon Musk's X
In a post on its own social network, Bluesky has revealed that it has added two million new people over the last week.

Replies (57)

Maybe they won't stay there for long and look for something better. I waited for a Bluesky invite for a year or so, but never received one. I tried again with a different email (a disposable iCloud mail) and was able to gain access after a couple of days, so for some reason they must block my email provider. After finally being able to try it out, I immediately encountered a bunch of racist posts within the first few seconds of browsing. I quit the app and never used it again. For some reason Bluesky is a cesspool, this stuff is usually rare and not something you see as your very first experience, even on fully anonymous and decentralized platforms. Even on 4chan I didn't see stuff like that in the first few seconds.
It's a problem related to our ability to present Nostr to “the people”. I commented on this earlier with another Nostriche here: we're doing badly in organic promotion. Many of us talk about Nostr only within Nostr, many libertarian sub-celebrities in Brazil talk little about Nostr and Bitcoin... Unfortunately, we're not very effective at presenting Nostr as a morally superior protocol to fiat antisocial networks, once people understand that Nostr isn't just here to prevent censorship, but also to fix the distortions that exist in cyberspace - distortions such as soft porn, disinformational guerrilla warfare, ragebait engagement, indirect funding of frivolous content favorable to bums - and demonetize the misfortunes of others. Paying for satoshis makes it impossible to waste money on bums; who would be crazy enough to give satoshis to useless sub-celebrities who live off scams, lies and pornography? No one. With fiat money, it's worth wasting it on futility, since it's a negative interest rate regime and holding on to that money for too long is a waste. In Brazil today, the terrain is morally hostile for Nostr, because there is a blatant cultural decay as a result of state policies and anti-culture, so a cyber-ecosystem that is morally superior to the one that is there (the one based on legacy) is combated. In Brazil, it pays more to be a bum than to be honest. The diaspora to BlueSky and Threads is the result of the anti-culture of Brazilians, coupled with the inability of libertarian digital influencers to disseminate Nostr. Regarding the advantageous vagrancy of Brazilians --> it is the same reason why Lula was elected president, if we do not disregard doubts about the electoral process, because they put prostitute sub-celebrities and vagabonds linked to drug trafficking (in the betting market and in the middle of funk carioca for money laundering) to influence young people to vote for the PT, this plus the discourse of “giving picanha to the people” in poor places where work does not pay, here is the result. Nostr gives citizens the chance to get rid of their addictions, all they have to do is choose the relays and who they follow, they can have their marriage saved, their integrity saved, their soul saved, etc and etc. However, if we bring up these points, we have to deal with people's excuses, such as: “there are no celebrities there”, “I don't have friends there”, or guesses from those who don't know the protocol and still want to badmouth the protocol just to validate the bad choice of staying in fiat antisocial networks. Of course, libertarian influencers here in Brazil also need to tell the truth about mainstream antisocial networks, that they all live off lies, that they all reduce men to bestiality, destroy families, generate intrigue, generate gossip, make people waste their lives, turn teenage daughters into promiscuous young women inserted in the sex market, the elderly into addicts, couples into adulterers and the meek into beasts, and unfortunately the average Brazilian today loves all of this.
I believe that many people misunderstand the "right" and "left" political spectrum when it comes to Brazil. Our beliefs are complex and deeply influenced by the multicultural nature of our society, resulting in a wide range of perspectives. Over time, however, we’ve seen the narrative of American politics with its restrictive liberal and conservative labels being imported onto our widespread scrolls the spectrum multi-party political system. This has led to a division on social media, where discussions are often toxic and unproductive. It’s ironic that some think they’re driving positive change within these echo chambers, where little innovation or fresh ideas spurs. The X ban is a black swan that maybe can change something. Many of those who criticize the country for not standing up to a billionaire, opting out of using VPNs, are the same ones who regularly use pirated software, evade taxes, and engage in small acts of corruption in their daily lives—the text book Brazilian way. We are all a little bit of buccaneers, rebels, pirates, small-time criminals with appetite for disobedience since the Portuguese first saw our lands. On the other hand, those who chose to remain on X despite the ban see themselves as defenders of freedom, the resistance, the only ones with balls to challenge the establishment. They imagine themselves as resisting tyranny, yet may still support a bit of oppression if it means suppressing the opposing side. With the absence of this clash, X now feels unexpectedly calm, peaceful, and even respectful, at least for the moment. In the middle of this divide lies nostr, attracting a different crowd. Some are the same combatants from X, but there's also a third group, more discerning and curious, who have come here as pioneers, eager to explore and test this new space. Curiosity is a positive trait. The Brazilian nostr community seems more open-minded and interested in what this experiment could become, compared to those who either stayed on X or migrated to BlueSky. With any luck, the curious will become the builders of tomorrow. The point is that nostr and BlueSky aren’t competitors. For now, it’s refreshing to see nostr attracting a different caliber of people—not just users, but potential builders. I see an incredible future here, maybe for other applications and use cases. BlueSky in the other hand, is just yet another twitter.
I’m not sure the message going out is Nostr is more than X alternative. The message is Nostr is censorship resistant. And that message only resonates with a small set of people. It’s an important feature to have if you need it but it’s not a daily requirement for most people. Nostr enables a social app ecosystem that puts people in charge of their feed including how they want to experience content moderation, their social graph, and their app experience. Don’t like the toxic conversation on X, try Nostr. Don’t like algorithmic ad driven feeds, build your own on Nostr. Don’t want to recreate your social graph/ friend community every time you want to try a new app, check out Nostr. Sick of 4-factor authentication and lost passwords, check out Nostr’s dead simple key pair for account access. Speak to the pain points people have with existing platforms.