Paul I have mentioned this often:
You don’t really own your data on Lens.

For me the definition of owning is being able to restrict access if needed. On Lens anything you post will be owned by the public forever, even if you attempt to delete it.

Even with Facebook you have more data control since they are forced by law to delete all your data if you ask them too.

Now as a data nerd, I love the data transparency on Lens. It’s nice to play around with. But it comes with a huge downside which is lack of privacy and data control for the users.

Centralization has its benefits though. Like shipping is much faster. I think this has been the difference between lens & Farcaster. Products can upgrade faster with a centralized team but Lens is many different teams with novel technologies, which requires more time to develop.

I’ve bet my future on Lens more than Farcaster because ownership means the world to me. I think that one day I’d hope that reputable clients on lens can get more revenue from their apps to improve their ability to find new products in the apps. (I’ve recently proposed a 2.5% fee on collects atop the 5% fee for lens to be sent to app).

I’m excited for the future of Lens generally but my worse fear is that the clients begin to be fractured and siloed away from the other. In the early days, I remember when Phaver & Hey post popped up on Buttrfly and different communities interacted. It was beautiful but in recent months I’ve begun to see the fracturing off of these communities which i understand from a business model because it makes the app or client more valuable. I just think from a user perspective.

It’s like gaming nowadays. Communities, once siloed off to PC or their respective console, can combine and it improves the experience. How access Lens is up to me, the user, but I hope to be able to interact with all the personalities on the app regardless of their client.