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Bluesky hits 20 million users
(www.engadget.com)
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this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2024
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Bluesky absolutely provides a better, more cohesive and centralised experience than most of the fediverse microblog alternatives.
That's why it's getting more people
But the reason it can do that is because it's centralised, with federation tacked on. And that centralisation means it's most likely going to go through the same cycle of enshittification as twitter, facebook, reddit etc. Twitter was great to use back in the day. Reddit was great to use back in the day. Then they got large captive audiences that couldn't leave because of the network effect, and instead of trying to make the platforms attractive to new people, they started to bleed their existing customers for value at the expense of their user experience, because those people had nowhere else they could easily go.
Bluesky will go down that same path if they get a critical mass of users and stop being the "alternative" to twitter.
Mastodon and the fediverse will always be an alternative at best, because they can't compete with the experience of using a centralised network. But the Fediverse platforms don't suffer from the vulnerability of centralised networks and their path to enshittification. And for me, that's going to keep me here.
The only way I'll move to Bluesky is if they truly embrace decentralisation to the point where the platform/network could exist without them.
I'm with you.
I think GP has one or two good points about shortcomings of the existing distributed platforms, but I also think these things can be addressed. For example, a centralized system's single namespace for usernames brings advantages for both identity and usability. This would be harder for a distributed system to implement, of course, but it's not impossible.
They are getting more people because they are paying them and in bed with corporations.
Where do I put in my request for that bluesky money I'm owed, then?
They pay celebrities and companies
They pay celebrities and companies not people with 0 followers
But if the atproto team actually releases a way to selfhost a relay server as well (and not just a data server), in theory if bluesky enshittifies you could always fork the app, selfhost your PDS and Relay and migrate, while still being able to interact with the people in the "mainstream bluesky".
I know this is a big if, and that at the moment it's not reality, but the Atmosphere it's at leaat 10 years younger than the Fediverse. So I'd say let's not call it shit yet and just see how it evolves...
It's not shit yet. Right now, it's good. Honestly, better than the fediverse in core usability.
The issue is whether it stays that way. And yeah, if they open up the way you're talking about, I'll probably move over myself, because that's the protection against enshittification. But if they don't open up, if they stay centralised, and just play at federation, then the writing is on the wall for how it ends, because it's happened countless times before. And I won't invest my time or effort in being part of that community only to lose it
That's BS, they're only getting more people 'cos normies never heard of the fediverse, maybe once or twice about mastodon and couldn't be arsed to try a fringe app "nobody" uses anyway - it's liek email? What?
Plus their two techie friends are moving to Bluesky so it must be good.