Nostr

Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays

What it is — Nostr is a simple, open protocol where posts are signed JSON events broadcast to a network of relays. There is no server you depend on — anyone can run a relay, and your identity is a cryptographic keypair that no platform controls.

Why it matters — Nostr is the most censorship-resistant social protocol in existence. Your account cannot be banned because it is literally a key. It is Bitcoin-native: zaps (Lightning tips) are built into the protocol, and many of the sharpest minds in crypto publish there first.

What it's good for

Censorship-resistant microbloggingLightning zaps and tippingLong-form articles (NIP-23)Bitcoin and freedom-tech communities

How DegenFeed enhances it — DegenFeed connects to a pool of relays for redundancy, renders kinds 1, 6, 7, 30023 and 9734 (zap requests), supports NIP-07 browser signing and NIP-46 remote signing, and lets you cross-post your Nostr notes to every other protocol — with zaps aggregated into your unified feed.

Open Nostr feed

Farcaster

Sufficiently decentralized social

What it is — Farcaster is a decentralized social network built on a hybrid architecture: a content-addressed hub network for posts, with identity anchored to Ethereum. It is the home of Warpcast, channels, and Farcaster Frames — interactive mini-apps embedded in posts.

Why it matters — Farcaster brought the Ethereum degens, crypto builders, and DAO communities into one place with a genuinely open protocol. Frames turned social posts into apps, and channels created some of the most engaged crypto communities on the internet.

What it's good for

Crypto-native microbloggingFarcaster Frames and interactive postsChannels and topic communitiesWallet-centric identity

How DegenFeed enhances it — DegenFeed reads from public hubs with automatic failover, renders cast adds, reactions, recasts and replies with thread context, supports wallet-based signing for posting, and lets your Farcaster casts reach Nostr, Lens, Bluesky and Mastodon from one composer.

Open Farcaster feed

Lens

The user-owned social graph on Polygon

What it is — Lens Protocol is an on-chain social graph where profiles, follows, and posts are NFTs and smart-contract state on Polygon. Every action is a transaction — your social graph is literally an asset you own.

Why it matters — Lens pioneered the idea that your social graph can be portable and monetizable. Collects turn posts into mints, open actions let any app plug in, and the whole network is permissionless: no one can revoke your profile.

What it's good for

Owned profiles and follows as NFTsCollects (minting posts)Creator monetization on-chainComposable social apps

How DegenFeed enhances it — DegenFeed reads Lens publications, mirrors, comments and collects through the GraphQL API, supports challenge-response wallet signing for posting, and surfaces Lens collects and open actions in the same ranked feed as every other protocol.

Open Lens feed

Bluesky

The AT Protocol

What it is — Bluesky is built on the AT Protocol: a decentralized network where your identity is a portable DID, your data lives on a Personal Data Server (PDS) you can move, and the feed you see is generated by code you can choose — not a secret algorithm.

Why it matters — Bluesky solved the two things people hate most about web2 social: identity lock-in and algorithm opacity. Custom feeds (like Skylight, or the crypto feeds) let anyone curate, and portable identity means you can switch apps without losing followers.

What it's good for

Portable identity (DID)Custom and algorithmic feedsApp password-based automationThe escape hatch from X

How DegenFeed enhances it — DegenFeed reads Bluesky posts, reposts, likes and replies via XRPC, resolves DIDs across PDS instances, aggregates custom crypto feeds, and writes posts through app-password sessions — so your Bluesky presence lives alongside your other protocols.

Open Bluesky feed

Mastodon

The fediverse flagship

What it is — Mastodon is federated microblogging on ActivityPub — the protocol that powers the fediverse. Thousands of independent instances talk to each other, and your account on one instance can follow anyone on any other.

Why it matters — Mastodon is the proof that federated social works at scale. Communities self-host, moderate their own spaces, and interoperate globally. It is where journalists, academics, and a huge slice of the open-web movement actually live.

What it's good for

Federated microbloggingCommunity-run instancesLong-form threadsInteroperability via ActivityPub

How DegenFeed enhances it — DegenFeed aggregates 15+ public instances for a diverse timeline, supports OAuth2 on our GoToSocial instance for posting, renders boosts, favourites and replies with content warnings, and cross-posts your toots to the web3 protocols.

Open Mastodon feed

Lemmy

Reddit, but federated

What it is — Lemmy is a federated link aggregator — think Reddit built on ActivityPub. Communities are called "communities" (not subreddits), they are hosted on instances, and they federate with Mastodon and the rest of the fediverse.

Why it matters — Lemmy proved there is life after Reddit's API wars. Communities that were deplatformed or squeezed by corporate policy found a home on open infrastructure, and the discussions there are often deeper than anything the algorithm serves you.

What it's good for

Link aggregation and discussionCommunity-driven moderationA Reddit alternative that is yoursIntegration with the fediverse

How DegenFeed enhances it — DegenFeed reads Lemmy posts, comments and votes from curated crypto and tech communities across multiple instances, renders them in the unified feed, and gives you one place to follow the conversation without leaving your web3 timeline.

Open Lemmy feed

PeerTube

Decentralized video on ActivityPub

What it is — PeerTube is a decentralized video platform where every instance is its own YouTube — and instances federate so videos are shareable across the whole fediverse. Creators own their platform, their audience, and their monetization.

Why it matters — Video is the internet's most centralized medium — one company decides what you watch and what gets demonetized. PeerTube breaks that: no single platform can throttle, deplatform, or algorithmically bury a creator.

What it's good for

Self-hosted video publishingCreators tired of YouTube policiesFederated video discoveryLong-form and live video

How DegenFeed enhances it — DegenFeed aggregates videos from hundreds of PeerTube instances, renders them inline in the unified feed next to text posts, supports PeerTube Live, and makes decentralized video discoverable alongside YouTube and web3 content.

Open PeerTube feed

Pixelfed

Federated image sharing

What it is — Pixelfed is a decentralized, ad-free image-sharing platform on ActivityPub — an Instagram that no corporation owns. Photos, stories, and profiles federate across instances, and your images are not fodder for an engagement-maximizing algorithm.

Why it matters — For photographers and visual creators, Pixelfed offers something Instagram never will: permanence. Your account cannot be algorithmically buried, your images are not trained into a model, and your followers are yours to keep.

What it's good for

Photography and visual artAd-free image sharingPrivacy-respecting communitiesFederated visual discovery

How DegenFeed enhances it — DegenFeed surfaces Pixelfed photos in the visual and media feeds, renders them in the unified timeline with full image support, and connects decentralized photography to the wider web3 conversation.

Open Pixelfed feed

Zora

On-chain minting and creator culture

What it is — Zora is a protocol for minting and trading on-chain media — NFTs, creator coins, and editions, primarily on Zora Network and Base. It is where digital art, music, and culture meet programmable ownership.

Why it matters — Zora turned minting into a social act: creators drop art, fans collect it, and the price and provenance live on-chain forever. It is a working example of creator economy without a platform taking a cut of the culture.

What it's good for

NFT minting and dropsCreator coins and editionsOn-chain provenanceDigital art and music culture

How DegenFeed enhances it — DegenFeed tracks Zora mints, editions, and creator coins in the web3 feed, lets you discover drops from the same ranked timeline as social posts, and connects on-chain culture to the broader decentralized social graph.

Open Zora feed

Every Protocol. Explained.

Nostr

Farcaster

Lens

Bluesky

Mastodon

Lemmy

PeerTube

Pixelfed

Zora

Want the technical details?

Every Protocol. Explained.

Nostr

Farcaster

Lens

Bluesky

Mastodon

Lemmy

PeerTube

Pixelfed

Zora

Want the technical details?