Introduction to Nostr slides for Atlanta BitDevs 1/11/22.
Highly recommend downloading. The animations make the diagrams significantly more effective.
Nostr is a new, fast-growing protocol for decentralized social media.
Read more: https://github.com/vishalxl/nostr_console/discussions/31
https://www.meetup.com/atlantabitdevs/
2. Table of contents
• Intro
• Definition - It’s “decentralized twitter”
• Background – Architecture Comparisons
• Twitter – Centralized, Mastodon – Federated,
• Enter Nostr!
• Description
• Architecture
• Why are people talking about it?
• Protocol - How it works
• Notes (kinds), Profiles, NIP-05 Verification
• Getting Started
• Getting setup on a Client
3. What is Nostr?
• “Nodes and Other Stuff Transmitted
over Relays”
• A new protocol to “fix” social media
• Developed by Bitcoiners
Bitcoin Money
Nostr Twitter
5. Twitter - Architecture
You Twitter App
Twitter
Servers
User
Twitter App
1. Download Twitter
“I want to say
something to the
world!”
”My foot smells
funny.”
2. Compose Tweet
”My foot smells
funny.”
3. Post Tweet 4. Wait for Twitter to
Serve your Tweet to
Others
6. Twitter – Traditional Social Media
• Centralized
• Single Source of Truth
• It’s right… Trust us
Who owns your account?
Client Server
(data)
Protocol
(Presentation of data)
8. Twitter – Hard Ban
You Twitter App
Twitter
Servers
1. Download Twitter
“I want to say
something to the
world!”
”Chinese Gov’t…
Not a fan.”
2. Compose Tweet
”Chinese Gov’t… Not a
fan.”
3. Post Tweet
9. Twitter – Shadow Ban
You Twitter App
Twitter
Servers
User
Twitter App
1. Download Twitter
“I want to say
something to the
world!”
”Vote 4 Me! I hate
kittens!”
2. Compose Tweet
”Vote 4 Me! I hate
kittens!”
3. Post Tweet 4. Wait for Twitter to
Serve your Tweet to
Others
10. Twitter – Problem Summary
• Censorship
• “I can’t post what I think… I might get banned”
• Data Ownership
• ”If I get banned, I lose all of my followers”
• Competition
• ”I HAVE to use the Twitter App because there’s no alternative.”
11. Twitter
“We were the Client, the Protocol, and the
Hosting… which produced a single-point-of
failure – the company”
Jack Dorsey
Founder of Twitter
13. What is Mastodon?
• ”Better” Social Media
• Anyone can run a Mastodon Server
• Each Server can create their own
moderation rules and regulations
14. Mastodon - Architecture
You Mastodon App
BitcoinHackers.org
User
Mastodon App
1. Download Mastodon
”My foot smells
funny.”
2. Compose Message
”My foot smells
funny.”
3. Post Tweet
4. Wait for BitcoinHackers.org
“I want to say
something to a
HYPERSPECIFI
C Group of
people!”
15. Mastodon
• Federated - Many owners
• Users can pick a Moderator to
trust.
Who owns your account?
Client Server
(data)
Protocol
(Presentation of data)
BitcoinHackers
Moderator
BitcoinHackers
Moderator
16. • Users are free to pick any server.
• The Moderator can censor/ban
• Each server turns into an echo chamber
Mastodon – Summary
Mixed Reviews
18. Nostr – Nodes and Other Stuff Transmitted
Over Relays -
• First announced about a year ago by fiatjaf
• The simplest protocol for censorship-
resistant global social network
19. Nostr - Architecture
You Damus App User
Nostr.rocks
1. Download any client
“I want to say
something to the
world!”
wss://nostr.ora
ngepill.dev
2. Compose Note
”My foot smells
funny.”
3. Send note to
multiple relays.
4. Wait for people to
check any client.
wss://relay.cry
ptoculture.dev
wss://nostr.p2s
h.com
22. Nostr – Nodes and Other Stuff Transmitted
Over Relays -
• The simplest protocol for a censorship-resistant global
social network
• Everyone runs a client.
• To publish something, you write a post, sign it with your key,
and send it multiple relays.
• To get updates, ask multiple relays.
• Anyone can run a relay. A relay is very simple and dumb.
• Relays don’t have to be trusted. Signatures are verified on
the client side.
23. Notes
• Kind 0: Profile Update
• Kind 1: Normal post
• Kind 4: Encrypted Direct
Message
• NIP: Nostr Improvement
Possibility
28. Thanks!
Follow me on Nostr
NIP-05 alex@pleb.fm
npub16anjdksmvn5x08vtden04n64rw5
k7fsjmedpw8avsx8wsh8ruhlq076pfx
Editor's Notes
USE SLIDE SHOW MODE,
Before Diving into nostr, let’s talk about Twitter
0. “I want to say something to the world”, at any other point in history, this would be incredibly challenging!!! But twitter makes it easy.
Download twitter
Enter Nostr!
Description
Characterizations – Very Simple, Relay=dumb/client=smart,
Protocol - How it works
Notes (kinds), Relays, clients
NIP-04 secret, NIP-05 communication, NIP-19 encoding (npub/nsec)
Getting Started
Getting setup on a Client
