The net is bifurcating and, twitter vibes aside, I think we should all be a bit concerned with this “balkanization” of the internet. I don’t blame any one person, and it’s arguably better than everyone on one platform, still…
I agree we do not want one, or a few platforms, for social media.
What we need is a protocol for social media that is widely adopted, like http did for small websites. This is where I think ATProto shines (Bluesky). Meta is testing out ActivityPub with Threads, but that apparently has discoverability limitations that ATProto addresses. I also like how they make the four core components modular (App, data host, algo feed, moderation)
As an aside, the bifurcation is already well on the way between authoritarian govts and the free world
… I mean, for most of its history, the Internet was a bunch of small sites. The extreme centralisation of the last decade arguably shouldn’t be seen as a _good_ thing.
In any case, Bluesky, Threads, and Mastodon/mainstream ActivityPub can all, with varying degrees of clunkiness, talk to each other.
I for the first time decided it's worth using after abandoning it very early on. I prefer to use it mostly read-only these days. So there's definitely opinion differences to be had about whether Elon broke twitter or "rescued it". One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter!
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The net is bifurcating and, twitter vibes aside, I think we should all be a bit concerned with this “balkanization” of the internet. I don’t blame any one person, and it’s arguably better than everyone on one platform, still…
The Internet began on it's long path of Balkanization the moment people realized they can make money off of the Internet.
I agree we do not want one, or a few platforms, for social media.
What we need is a protocol for social media that is widely adopted, like http did for small websites. This is where I think ATProto shines (Bluesky). Meta is testing out ActivityPub with Threads, but that apparently has discoverability limitations that ATProto addresses. I also like how they make the four core components modular (App, data host, algo feed, moderation)
As an aside, the bifurcation is already well on the way between authoritarian govts and the free world
… I mean, for most of its history, the Internet was a bunch of small sites. The extreme centralisation of the last decade arguably shouldn’t be seen as a _good_ thing.
In any case, Bluesky, Threads, and Mastodon/mainstream ActivityPub can all, with varying degrees of clunkiness, talk to each other.
I blame Elon Musk. He bought twitter and broke it.
I for the first time decided it's worth using after abandoning it very early on. I prefer to use it mostly read-only these days. So there's definitely opinion differences to be had about whether Elon broke twitter or "rescued it". One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter!