Lens

New Social Layer. Frontier apps: @orb_club and @thefireflyapp

[Lens @LC]

Open Doors Day.

Dear Farcaster users. Come and claim your badge and say GM

[Lens @LC]

16 years on a handle. one email. gone.
your handle was never yours. it was a permission slip from a server.
on Lens the name is a token in your account. different stack.

[StarPlatinum @StarPlatinum_]

Elon Musk took a $40,000 username from a guy who had owned it for 16 years.

He paid him absolutely nothing.
Not even a dollar.

Instead, he was offered a T-shirt and a tour of Twitter’s headquarters.

This is the story of Gene X. Hwang the first @X username

2007

- photographer from San Francisco
- co-founder of Orange Photography
- registers @x on Twitter
- keeps the username for 16 years

over the years

account grows to ~53,000 followers
receives offers of up to $40,000 for the handle

But he refuses to sell

2014

- hackers steal his x account
- Twitter helps him recover it

July 23, 2023

- Elon Musk announces Twitter will become X
- Gene is in Canada playing in a pinball tournament

He has no idea what’s coming

July 25, 2023

- Twitter officially becomes X
- the company wants x
- Gene receives an email from Twitter support

“Your user handle is affiliated with X Corp.”

his username is taken and gets a new one @x12345678998765

what X offers him

- company merchandise
- exclusive tour of X headquarters
- meeting with the management team

$0.

Gene even asks if he can have the old blue Twitter bird sign being removed from headquarters.

they say no.

October 2025

X launches its Handle Marketplace
rare usernames can cost $2,500 to over $1 MILLION

users must maintain a paid subscription
lose the subscription, potentially lose the handle

the same company that took x without paying its owner now charges people for access to rare usernames.

16 years building an identity.

$40,000 in offers rejected.

and all he got was an offer of merchandise and an office tour.

BROTHER.

[Mask Network (mask.io) @masknetwork]

Portals, then search, then feeds. Every era of the internet gets a gatekeeper.

Feels like the next one could be an AI agent that sits between you and everything you read. Apps were never the product. They were the container.

@KimmoOrb, our Head of Product at Lens & Orb, shares his take on what comes after big social on the @nym community call👇

[Lens @LC]

“The technical revolution reshaping our society is based not in hierarchy but in decentralization, not in rigidity, but in fluidity.”

Branwyn, G. (assembler). Cyberpunk Cut and Paste Manifesto.

[Firefly ✨ Everything App @thefireflyapp]

Not sure how to claim your Farcaster OG badge?

Here's a quick walkthrough using Firefly 👇

[Lens @LC]

@nym claim yours → nym.​lens.​xyz

[Lens @LC]

now that i have your attention.

a month of free decentralized vpn for y’all from @nym frens

[Lens @LC]

Privacy should be something you can use, not just something you talk about🫡

Lens is collaborating with
@nym to make private internet access available to the Lens community.

Lens users can now claim a free NymVPN pass and put privacy into practice.

Claim through Lens → activate on NymVPN → browse privately

No complicated questline. Just a little more privacy, now in your hands.

👇 Claim yours now: https://t.co/BAGmH00c3C

[Lens @LC]

@vssema11 @sujiiverma yes

[Lens @LC]

@mhollynft open doors. no invite code needed

[Lens @LC]

Open Doors Day.

Dear Farcaster users. Come and claim your badge and say GM

[Lens @LC]

@sui_13 badge

[Lens @LC]

@0xFlick we might do a special one for u

[Lens @LC]

@firmjeff sure send dm happy to chat

[Lens @LC]

@zelda0xx looks amazing!

[Lens @LC]

@CryptoCraze78 checkout your profile on @orb_club

[Lens @LC]

@Olumi441 <3

[Lens @LC]

@sajiiiiiiii8 right behind you

[Lens @LC]

@0xAghdd @sajiiiiiiii8 how's job hunting

[Lens @LC]

@TheDudeA @trishprattle @orb_club ☠️☠️☠️

[Lens @LC]

@ny14co @sajiiiiiiii8 <3

[Lens @LC]

@mortezazedd @sajiiiiiiii8 yesss

[Lens @LC]

@rjarivi how do u afford vibecoding