I left Twitter right after Elon Musk bought it. After exploring many alternatives, I’ve settled in the fediverse (often called “Mastodon”) as my main social media channel. I also have a Bluesky account, but it’s decidedly secondary.
Why did I choose this? Isn’t Bluesky the Next Big Thing? Isn’t it “like Old Twitter but better”?
Bluesky sucks less than old Twitter did, yes. It has nice features, like subscribable community-maintained block lists. It’s still a business, though. They are not making money yet. Their plans to do so appear remote. Which means that somehow, I’m the product.
I’ve said this so often it’s turning into a Lucas Cliche, but: the Internet’s business model is betrayal. Every mature social media platform has betrayed us. Every big search engine has betrayed us. (Search Google for “the strike is the compromise”. Then ask yourself why they’d be hiding some of the most contentious bits of labor history. No, I’m not afraid that the Goog will deprioritize me. They already have. Google once sent me hundreds of blog each day. In the middle of the year, that fell off a cliff.)
Bluesky might be a public benefit corporation, but that only means they are allowed to consider public benefit as well as profits.
Is it possible that Bluesky will stand by their declared morals and not eventually sell us out? Yes. But I’ve watched Internet companies rise and fall for decades. I haven’t seen any company remain benign, and extraordinary claims demand extraordinary proof. I don’t want to invest ten years in a third party platform only to have it do a rug pull at the end of my career.
Until it can prove otherwise Bluesky is just another company, sowing another crop of victims.
Yes, I know you can’t prove a negative. I do not own that problem.
The fediverse is open. Any social network I build there is mine to grow or destroy. I control my experience, and can easily block alt-right/TERF/racist garbage at the server level. Does it grow more slowly? Yes. Does the fediverse lack a coherent user story? Also yes. The whole “by picking a server you’re picking the kind of moderation you want” aspect is critical, deeply confusing, and unadvertised.
Despite all that I’ve built a fedi following as large as I had on Twitter, and it supported me through the Run Your Own Mail Server Kickstarter.
What about Threads, Instagram, or Facebook? Pffft. Meta is the poster child for betraying its users.
So: follow me on the fedi. Or on the RSS feed here. Or subscribe to my announcements-only mailing lists. Or, if you must, follow me on Bluesky.