https://www.wired.com/story/big-interview-jay-graber-bluesky/
Something is brewing over at Bluesky. I have always worried that the grand social media experiment has no guardrails.
Unlike interacting in person, where some social conventions keep our darkest motives and urges in check, it is too easy to be anonymous, too easy to have extreme opinions and start a flame war, with very little consequence.
Furthermore, our current social media empires: Facebook, X, have removed much of central content moderation, so fake news and fringe opinions are difficult to discern from responsibly reported news, and consensus-driven ideas.
Bluesky looks to change that by building a web3 framework called AT (Atmosphere) where Bluesky is just one app. Then other apps can join, and you can bring your Bluesky identity to the other apps as you desire. So far there is Skylight, that is like TikTok, Flashes, that is like Instagram. The platform is open for any other app innovations.
I still have a poor understanding of the idea, but it sounds like smart people are constructing a platform, having learned from our prior experiences that has feedback and self-correcting mechanisms that allow “freedom of speech” distinct from “freedom of reach.” Interesting, to allow all kinds of content creation, but that the apps and feeds that are created can turn the volume up and down, with both creators and users able to participate.
Read the article and see if you agree. I am hopeful.