Maybe I'm just cynical, but isn't this how all social media companies start? Offer a good service to attract users and, once you've got them, enshittify like mad to please the investors.
Skepticism is good! My rebuttal is this: who cares how they start? If they turn into a nazi-infested cesspool along the way like Twitter, make a decision at that point!
In the transition, we lose touch with friends. Also, content creators continue to be at the whim of the algorithm.
With all that's going on in the world, you're right that this isn't that big of a deal, but it's still very annoying and an example of how capitalism ruins everything.
Well, the intention of bluesky is that you can switch to the next platform and keep your followers, post history, etc, there too. They design with the knowledge that they may be the next adversarial company.
We'll see how that works out, but there's still plenty of time to create with foresight.
I think we have, just we need to outrun it first. The biggest thing is making Bluesky's network stack just one of many. From the PDS to the relay to the AppView to the PLC directory. We need to have many more contenders so Bluesky can't own everything, most things, or even a large portion of it all.
Bull. They developed their own proprietary standards instead of picking any of the numerous open standards that already exist specifically to create lock in.
The Fediverse is criticized as too centralized because it's 40% Mastodon and 20% of that is Masto soc. ATPROTO is 95% Bluesky.
I'm comin' up fast, so you better get this party started
Pumping up the volume, breaking down to the beat
Cruising through the internet, we'll be checking the scene
X and @ is freaking as I'm coming up fast
I'll be burning rubber, they be kissing my ass
We'll see how long it stays that way. Bluesky is currently funded by venture capital and investors. Eventually that's gonna run out and they're gonna need to make money and investors will want to be paid. Don't get your hopes up but enjoy it while it lasts.
Open Source funding model is well known and well tested out, no need to reinvent the wheel on the 21st Century. Now let them to celebrate their wins and redeploy their strategy, which will be similar to other ventures like Linux Distros: Store+Donors+Fixed advertised Sponsors in one or other way.
Buy your Bluesky schwag everybody. I am involved in another free and open source community called Blender. It is free and open source 3D software and its starting to overtake all the paid and subscription models. Make sure to support this stuff every way you can.
Can Bluesky please add "Remove This Follower" to our options when deciding if we want to FB, block or mute. Sometimes Blocking is extreme & muting isn't helpful if I'd rather just have them unfollow me. By the way I'm also getting lots of Chat requests from guys I guess think this is the new Tinder
I really hope they keep it that way as much as possible with a user-supported model. really tired of the gradual slide into absolute enshittification that ad-based services always descend into
I agree but at some point they have to make money and move out the investment stage model. Maybe a starter pack for brands you like that will give discounts when you follow. You control what you see and want and brands have a targeted audience?
How would that work? Ppl don’t want to pay another subscription to me it’s like putting up a paywall for news. It’s good business but it creates a breeding ground for misinformation
No bots and no advertisers.
As for a subscription fee. If you stick to your principles and are honest to you users you can be rewarded. Let users help with your scaling costs and then some. What users are sick of are fraud and lack of transparency. Productize the antithesis of that would be novel!
There is a way to 'verify' yourself, in a way. If you have a personal website, you could use it to change your handle here to be the same URL as your website.
Uniter
I enjoyed the @msnbc.com questions by @michaelsteele.bsky.social & @aliciamenendez.bsky.social including asking @rose.bsky.team what she calls a post on Bluesky 😉
I don't know the long-term financial model for Bluesky, but I sincerely hope that they can do something like Wikipedia. I would gladly make a recurring donation to fund their work, keep advertisers away, and help cover the costs for those who cannot afford it.
It's been so much fun being on bluesky since it opened to the public. I was lucky enough to get an invite before then and watching this place grow and engage with real people is so refreshing.
Comments
Until then, enjoy the non-toxic engagement imo
With all that's going on in the world, you're right that this isn't that big of a deal, but it's still very annoying and an example of how capitalism ruins everything.
We'll see how that works out, but there's still plenty of time to create with foresight.
Blogging was based on open source RSS-feeds, but blogs mostly died out when Google stopped supporting Google Reader.
I'm mostly talking out of my ass here, but capitalism is very good at finding ways to ruin things.
The Fediverse is criticized as too centralized because it's 40% Mastodon and 20% of that is Masto soc. ATPROTO is 95% Bluesky.
Pumping up the volume, breaking down to the beat
Cruising through the internet, we'll be checking the scene
X and @ is freaking as I'm coming up fast
I'll be burning rubber, they be kissing my ass
How about re-sky for this site ?
https://www.inc.com/sam-blum/is-a-brand-invasion-coming-for-bluesky-not-exactly/91019129
As for a subscription fee. If you stick to your principles and are honest to you users you can be rewarded. Let users help with your scaling costs and then some. What users are sick of are fraud and lack of transparency. Productize the antithesis of that would be novel!
It can act as some form of verification.
Ads are inevitable.
Hell, social media is fundamentally us advertising ourselves to everyone else.
The revenue to sustain a media platform has to be generated somehow and the subscription model isn't the best business model available.
"Free speech, free of charge, with ads."
🍻
Ads are a sign the platform has made it to a self sustaining model.
I look forward to the first ad.
focusing on the people instead of a few corporations may actually make thing better
I enjoyed the @msnbc.com questions by @michaelsteele.bsky.social & @aliciamenendez.bsky.social including asking @rose.bsky.team what she calls a post on Bluesky 😉
https://bsky.app/profile/dividerdecider.bsky.social/post/3lc6gnufyds2h
1. prioritise user needs
2. prioritise the decentralised vision - before 20 million caused server fires
keep those virtues, and you have my money
Left that site! Fixed the problem!👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾