Bluesky

JME Studios said

It's a knee jerk reaction to the Trump victory.

In the same way Threads suddenly popped up when Twitter became X. ...

It has been a far slower, longer, reaction, starting well before that and accelerating as the proportions changed.

Threads is part of the wars - or competitive games using living pieces - between the technogarchs. 

JME Studios said

It's a knee jerk reaction to the Trump victory.

It's really not; defection rates are speeding up very quickly, for sure, but defection from Twitter to Threads/Bluesky/Mastodon has been increasing since Musk bought it and after changes he has made (like readmitting Trump, Alex Jones, Andrew Tate etc., without consulting the "council" he promised to create and hasn't). And suing his critics, claiming people who don't want to buy ads any more are censoring him, using it to bully people and trigger dogpiles on people who criticise him... all of that.

In short I think people would have defected from Twitter at more or less this rate whether or not Trump had won, simply because of Musk's actions. I don't think it's unreasonable to not want to be part of a thing owned by a man who is so freely meddling in the affairs of others, threatening and bullying people.

I know more than a handful of people who quit several months ago; personally I closed the longstanding account I had after Musk bought Twitter. (Though I never really used it, I needed it for testing API work. From now on I'm only going to use client-owned accounts for that.) 

But now it is a bit different. It really is not sensible for any US-based critic of the US government to keep an account open on Twitter when it is owned and unilaterally managed by someone who is a functionary of that government -- someone who was literally appointed by Trump to do a government job.

Threads was a pretty imperfect alternative, but this is more because of what it wasn't capable of (full desktop access for example, proper APIs). Bluesky is a pretty full-functioning replacement.

I just logged into the X test account I created. I have expressed no interest in Musk or Trump, and X surely knows I am in the UK! But I now have a "For You" made up of Musk and Trump tweets, and pretty much only Musk and Trump followers. And yet it's Bluesky that's the "echo chamber"?

I think it's time to recognise X for what it has become. I'm not comfortable around that much hate and stupidity, and it will only get worse, until it ultimately merges with Truth Social.

Edited by Unfocussed Mike

Unfocussed Mike said

JME Studios said

It's a knee jerk reaction to the Trump victory.

Threads was a pretty imperfect alternative, but this is more because of what it wasn't capable of (full desktop access for example, proper APIs).

And of course that it was operated by Meta, who motivated a lot of people to use Twitter instead of Facebook in the first place.

I am in no rush to use Bluesky but I do think it has reached critical mass and at least for now offers an environment that is a little less full of hatred, trolling and stupidity. It's not surprising that people will switch in large numbers all at once, like they switched from Friends Reunited and MySpace to Facebook pretty rapidly.

Critical mass is like that -- Metcalfe's Law alone explains why, beyond a certain point, people switch their primary energy to new social networks.

One day in the future people will abandon Bluesky for something better, I suspect. But it won't be Facebook, or X, or Myspace.

Edited by Unfocussed Mike

Unfocussed Mike but I'd argue Facebook was just right place right time. The big switch from MySpace came just as smart phones became popular. It's been mainstream for nearly 20 years now. Indeed all of the major platforms we use today caught fire in the late 2000's. We haven't seen any big new platforms or big new ideas come through since.

Unfocussed Mike said

until it ultimately merges with Truth Social.

Lawks! I'd forgotten about that! Trump spouting "truths" that are the polar opposite to that!

Just FYI, Bluesky allow you to use your domain name as your "handle", so I'm now @RHM.Photo on there 

I tried to like it, but it's just another attention thief.

Russ Freeman said

I tried to like it, but it's just another attention thief.

...except that some of the work on there is top notch and for now at least it's a nice place to be if you're following other creative types.

RHM.Photo said

Russ Freeman said

I tried to like it, but it's just another attention thief.

...except that some of the work on there is top notch and for now at least it's a nice place to be if you're following other creative types.

I'm sure you are right, but the default feed is just an endlessly scrolling stream of stuff to steal attention, and every platform is the same when you seek out and follow other creatives.

I am at the stage where I'd rather read a book, go for a walk, meditate...anything except forever scroll through wannabe influencers clamouring for attention.

Cynical me says that that form of "social networking" is dead. I have no idea what will replace it.  

Russ Freeman said

I am at the stage where I'd rather ... go for a walk ... 

The best thing anyone can do for all sorts of health and self-help reasons.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

RHM.Photo Big +1 to that!

Thank you, you too :-)

Only joined it relatively recently so not got much of a following, but one thing I do like is the ability on the home tab to set it to "Discover" or "Following". That way I only get to see posts from the people I'm following rather than the usual rubbish.

I have set up an account but not yet done anything with it. I am not sure whether I will ever get around to it. I tried Instagram for a while and got bored. I'll probably get bored even more quickly the second time.

Is there a web interface? If not then it is even less likely that I will do much with it.

I am badjohnuk as someone beat me to badjohn. The same happened on Instagram.

RHM.Photo said

Russ Freeman said

I tried to like it, but it's just another attention thief.

...except that some of the work on there is top notch and for now at least it's a nice place to be if you're following other creative types.

I have a computer. I'd like it to do the following, and bring me the things I've decided to attend to in a single* stream.  

A world(line) building detail not reflected in the TV version of "The Peripheral" - William Gibson's** book, which I recommend reading for those who like that sort of thing - was the reduction of such things to two, "Social" and "Badger". 

* While working I met a lot of people who thought that if three of them were booking my time for various things, they should each have a book to do it in, and it would be someone else's job to deconflict it.   "Count me!" I said to them, and after a while they agreed that One was one, sole and singular.  Then we had one book, and later "book".

** You may have heard someone say "cyberspace". He said it first. An SF author. 

bad john

Yes: go to https://bsky.app.