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Twitter, the social media platform you are familiar with, launches the app Damus through its subsidiary Nostr, with Jack Dorsey promoting it.

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Twitter, the social media platform you are familiar with, launches the app Damus through its subsidiary Nostr, with Jack Dorsey promoting it.

The decentralized social network Nostr, which received strong support from the Bitcoin community at the end of last year, also attracted funding from former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey who donated 14 BTC to assist in its development. Today, Jack Dorsey announced on Twitter that the social apps Damus and Amethyst developed on Nostr are now available on mobile app stores.

What are the features of Damus?

Damus and Amethyst are two seemingly different applications with different names and trademarks, but they have almost identical usage methods and interfaces. The only difference is that the former is available on the App Store, while the latter is on Google Play, and both can be downloaded and used for free.

Here are four key features of the Damus social app:

  1. Private messages are end-to-end encrypted to prevent private message leaks.
  2. No registration required; creating an account does not need to provide a phone number, email, or name.
  3. Message propagation is through a decentralized relay, requiring no infrastructure to run and no single point of failure.
  4. Programmable to easily integrate bots for life and business automation.
  5. Supports the Lightning Network for paying Bitcoin fees.

Furthermore, Damus is developed on the open network protocol Nostr, where no one can prohibit or review user accounts, and each user has control over their own data.

Introduction to Damus Features

As mentioned above, the account creation process for Damus is very fast. By clicking on "Create Account" and entering a nickname, a set of public and private keys will be generated, which should be recorded to complete the creation.

The public key is the account's ID, used to track others; while the private key controls the account and should not be leaked.

The homepage of Damus, as shown below, displays posts and responses from oneself and followers, and by clicking on the "+" symbol in the bottom right corner, users can make posts. Overall, it functions similarly to Twitter.

For new users, clicking on the magnifying glass icon in the third position at the bottom of the feature list allows users to view post shares from users around the world and find accounts of interest to follow.

Lightning Network Payment Feature

In the profile editing interface, besides changing the nickname, avatar, and cover, users can also enter a Bitcoin Lightning Network address.

After entering the address, a lightning symbol will appear on the personal page, which allows users to pay Bitcoin fees to other users through the Lightning Network. Currently, there are 13 supported payment applications, including Strike, Cash App, and Muun.

Additionally, when posting an Lightning Invoice for the Lightning Network, the post will display payment options for other users to transfer funds directly.

As Damus is still in its initial stages, its functionality is quite basic. Following the launch of Damus today, Jack Dorsey also added his Damus ID to his Twitter bio to help promote the Nostr ecosystem.