Bluesky is a relatively new social media platform, and at first glance it looks a lot like Twitter. As laid out by Mike Masnick in a great article on Techdirt, Bluesky is doing some excellent things to solve some of the major problems with social media.
Moderation
First, their moderation system is incredibly customizable. They have a team to help moderate things at a high level, but you can adjust a ton of settings and even pull in a completely different moderation system on top of theirs if you’d prefer.
Algorithms
Their algorithms are even more available for you to change. From Techdirt:
You can use any algorithm, and Bluesky might not even know what algorithms you’re using.
—
So, for example, someone could also set up a “fact-checking” moderation service. Or a moderation service to hide all political content. Or all sports content. Whatever people want. They don’t have to change instances to get it. They can pick and choose which labelers to subscribe to, or where to send reports.
If you’re mad at “the algorithm” on Facebook or whatever, this is the solution. It’s your algorithm, so make it do what you want. The details are admittedly complex, but the idea behind it (and the future of it) is amazing.
You can leave and take your account with you
Similar to Mastadon, but in a much easier to use package, Bluesky integrates with the Fediverse so that you can leave the service but take your account with you. Here’s how Techdirt explains it:
And it’s because Bluesky can be seen as something of the antidote to big tech, by enabling the freedom to exit, but without losing the benefits of the service you’re using. The main reason that we get these giant tech companies, and the ensuing enshittification, is that there’s no easy way to leave without losing access to the underlying services.
Some of this is still a bit complicated for the average user, but it’s improving. What’s important to know is that Bluesky is doing these things for the benefit of their users, and these are things that the other big tech companies are mostly intentionally avoiding.
I don’t know if Bluesky will pick up enough users to make it worthwhile, but I encourage you read the full article at Techdirt and then check it out and connect with me if you decide to join.
