tldr:

Farcaster is changing how channels work. Most relevant to Rounds is that you must first be invited by a moderator to post in a channel. Rounds is working on an invite system to help channels grow their membership by allowing members to invite friends and earn rewards together (you can also install the invite system without rewards).

How channel changes affects Rounds

• New members interested in participating in a round must first be invited
• This is good because spam and low-effort posting will be reduced while quality of posts will increase.
• This is bad because we no longer have an easy way for new participants to join.

What we’re doing about it:

• We’re creating tooling to make growing the number of channel members easier:
  • An invite system so channel members can invite friends and be rewarded for it
  • A signal system so non-members can signal to the channel that they want to join.
• The invite system will be ready when channel updates go live (Oct 4, 2024)
• The signal system will be ready in the coming weeks.

How will it work?

1. Channel mods can get started by setting @roundsbot as a moderator in the corresponding channel and getting a ‘rounds invite frame’ via composer actions
2. The invite frame can be pinned to a channel so that members can invite their friends by inputting their friends’s username.
   • Initially, members will be able to invite 1 friend per week. In the coming weeks, we will be adding additional logic to determine who can invite, how often and what sorts of penalties can come from abusing the system.
3. Once the invitee accepts the invite and starts earning rewards, the member who invited the invitee will receive a % of their rewards.

What this means going forward:

• Rounds is broadening its scope beyond rewarding community participants with the same focus as always: help communities grow.
• Rounds will become more channel centric. Growth will happen inside-out (moderators and members inviting new members) vs outside-in (open invites via exposure).