I’ve been thinking a lot on our native Farcaster addresses. Farcaster has a lot of potential for identity usage, the protocol is currently optimized for dapps rather than individual identity. Farcaster's identity system currently relies on a single source of truth - your activity on Warpcast. This makes it difficult to build a comprehensive and robust identity system that can be used across multiple applications. If someone who is web3 native with a lot of reputation on twitter joins Warpcast, their identity will be completely new, they would have to build up their reputation from ground up again (yes there is some overlap of identity from twitter but on an application front, they are brand new). This could be a good and bad thing.

Thinking more on the future of decentralized identity: one potential path could be to build a decentralized identity system on top of Farcaster. This would allow users to create and manage their identities independently of any single application or platform. Products like chainstory are super great for visualizing reputation on chain - these mechanisms can translate and enable lot of cool new user interactions. Farcaster could benefit from integrating DID (Decentralized Identifiers) or Verifiable Credentials. This would allow users to have greater control over their personal data and credentials, as well as enable the creation of more sophisticated and trustworthy identity systems.

There is the catch of how to handle reputation-based identity in a decentralized social network. On web2 platforms, reputation is typically based on metrics such as likes, followers, and engagement. However, in a decentralized social network, this type of reputation may not be as meaningful or reliable. One possible solution is to develop a reputation system based on engagement, trust and verification. For example, users could earn reputation points by verifying the identity of other users or producing high quality casts (high engagement rates).

Finally, one of the most important aspects that is necessary for a wider adoption of web3 is interoperability. Current protocols are a bit selfish, protocols don't talk to each other. Farcaster could benefit from greater collaboration and cooperation with other decentralized social networks such as Lens and other platforms. By working together, these networks could share knowledge and resources, and potentially create a more unified and cohesive ecosystem of decentralized social applications.

Overall, most web3 social networks are attempting to build infrastructure to create similar apps as web2 social networks but on a decentralized network. There is a need for something different and a bit more. There is no focus on how to scale the reputation-based identity from web2 to web3. Farcaster has a lot of potential for identity usage and decentralized social applications. However, there are several challenges that need to be addressed in order to fully realize this potential. By developing a robust and decentralized identity system, integrating with existing identity protocols, developing a reputation system based on trust and verification, and collaborating with other decentralized social networks, Farcaster could become a truly groundbreaking platform for decentralized social applications.