Then a friend sent me an invitation code and I replaced my mind. Bluesky is one of many social networks that have sprung up to compete with Twitter, which, since Elon Musk took it over last October, has become increasingly toxic. Opportunities came here in a temporary and furious manner: Mastodon, with its multiple servers (too confusing); Post and hive and spill.
None stuck.
Then, last Wednesday, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, which operates Instagram and Facebook, unveiled Threads, a Twitter-like platform that, in less than a week, registered more than a hundred million users. “I’m not sure I can perceive that fact,” said Threads chief Adam Mosseri.
All this plays against the chaos that accumulates on Twitter. During the July 4 holiday, the number of tweets users can see suddenly limited. Musk bears much of the blame for the turmoil, with his penchant for conspiracy tweets, his general notions of loose speech, and his general arrogance.
One way or another, I’ve been on Twitter for almost 15 years. I also have an account on Facebook. Me I resisted leaving or signing up for other networks for various reasons, especially because I find it overwhelming. How many social networks are too many? Plus, even now, Twitter’s success allows me to stay in touch professionally and personally with just about anyone I want to succeed at, and anything that feels like it in real time. If there are many things on the site that put me off (vax deniers, white supremacists, Christofascists), I also think we forget about toxicity at our peril; You have to count on that.
According to Mosseri, the site doesn’t focus on news and politics, possibly the kind of virtual groups that have long been unusual in the Bird app.
Many of the early reviews were unkind and mentioned everything from the interface, which is mobile-only, to the stunning ubiquity of influencers and celebrities. The launch prompted a stop and desist letter from Twitter’s lawyers, alleging “systematic, planned and illegal misappropriation” of its intellectual property, as well as some NSFW attacks through Musk.
At least for now, I’ll be watching the rejection of Threads-Twitter from the sidelines. In the power war between Musk and Zuckerberg, what, by the way, is the prestige of their fight in the cage?I am a conscientious objector. Or I just need them to lose.
All this brings me to Bluesky, which is not without problems. One is the presence on the board of Jack Dorsey, the former Twitter CEO whose tenure was less problematic than Musk’s.
The app may have crashes, with updates only loading if you update. Worse, there are those invite codes, which would possibly be bad (Bluesky remains in beta testing) but are nevertheless an awkward exclusivity.
What social media promises, after all, is that you can communicate with anyone. That this is illusory deserves to be overlooked; Does Barack Obama need to listen to me?The ghost remains powerful, however, because it feeds the concept that social media constitutes a non-unusual passod, a virtual edition of the public square.
This is a claim I resist because it is antithetical for the public square to belong to a billionaire, or for the commons to enter into competition. And yet, it would be a lie if I didn’t admit that I also feel his appeal.
That’s one component of what motivates me about Bluesky. At this time there is a bit of a dream, like a city built but not completely built, with large open spaces. Unlike Twitter, where my timeline updates dozens, if not hundreds, of tweets at once, Bluesky’s notifications pile up one by one.
Part of it has to do with my prestige as a newcomer; I’ve been on site for a little over a week. I am locating other people to adhere to and having them locate me. But this is also due to the small number of users so far. According to a representative of the network, only about 60,000 new accounts were created after Twitter announced it would restrict posts, and there are reports of 1 million downloads from Bluesky. Compare that to Threads’ hundred million records or Twitter’s estimated 350 million users.
For many people, the volume is what is exciting. But I prefer anything a little more manageable. I like not feeling stressed about keeping the app open or driven to review it. In this, Bluesky reminds me of my first reports on social networks, when he had no preconceptions and had to be informed as he went. The conversations then seemed more intimate because they also seemed less public. Or maybe fewer users also means fewer trolls.
If Bluesky takes off, it is possible that the few will multiply and intimacy will fade or tarnish, as is the case on Twitter and Facebook. But for now, I like the slowness. Don’t get me wrong: I didn’t delete my other accounts. But there is something to be said for this quiet corner of the virtual commons, and I add that it allows me to avoid thinking.
David L. Ulin contributes to Opinion. Su novel “Thirteen Questions Method” will be published in October.
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