Your Guide To Nostr, The Decentralized Network For Everything

"Nostr is (among other things) a decentralized social network run over a series of apps and relays, servers that anybody can run to process communications data". It flips the concept of social media platform "on its head: with one private key, you can access multiple apps/interfaces of your choice. However, Nostr is not just social media and communications".

Because its based on private keys - "you don’t have to put down a phone number or other identifier" - it's privacy-based: just plug your key into any Nostr app, which unlocks many functions: "building your website, zapping people with Lightning/Bitcoin, and sharing your content with the world".

There's noone to moderate your content, so no censorship or community management, "though individual users can block and mute your content".

Common clients: Primal,Iris, Snort. "Different clients are available for various settings... you can use multiple clients at once and switch back and forth... access an array of apps with that same private key, including social audio apps like Nostr Nests, zap.stream for video streaming, highlighter.com for reading and sharing notes, Wavlake for music, Fountain.fm for podcasts, Chessstr for playing chess and an array of other apps."

To share your account, "get a Public Key from Nostr that can be shared and discoverable on different apps" - but doesn't that make "Nostr" a central authority?

Or "verify yourself ... get a more human-readable way of sharing your profile... called being NIP-05 verified... the key you share ... will be much shorter ... easy to search"

Zaps are "fractions of a Bitcoin" you can send and receive, "sent as payments through the Lightning Network... easiest way ... get a Lightning wallet like Wallet of Satoshi ... give you a Lightning address ... your “zapping wallet” ".

Downsides? "potential for bot activity and spam... content tends to lean towards Bitcoin".