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Bluesky adds 700k new users in a week

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Re: Bluesky adds 700k new users in a week

#81

Post by minimaxir »

threeseed wrote: post #72
minimaxir wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what you're alluding to regarding what happened on X during the election. If anything 2024 was smoother (very surprisingly) than what happened in 2020 even when Twitter had a Trust and Safety team, mostly because the election was not contested this time.

Right wing accounts were heavily pushed in the later stages of the election. I manage a number of business X accounts which are publish only and all switched to showing right-wing politicians, pundits and extensive amounts of Elon Musk. I created a new account to check and same thing. Even though when I selected interests I specifically chose non-political topics. For me it was very clear then that whether it's Musk…

It is true that Elon pushed right-wing accounts algorithmically (and is one of the reasons for the exodus to Bluesky), but "no politics ever" as a neutral content moderation stance to counter that factor makes it impossible for a social network to show what's happening now in the world and will make people go elsewhere for the information gap.

Re: Bluesky adds 700k new users in a week

#82

Post by skygazer »

rapsey wrote: post #64
shubhamjain wrote: post #14

It's beyond words how much Elon Musk has wrecked Twitter. But, I am not ready join another echo chamber that mirrors the same flaws from the other side of the spectrum. My initial impression of BlueSky is just that. Twitter's greatest flaw—no, I won’t call it "X"—is its obsession with engagement to promote tweets. This creates the worst feed you can think of: - People ask the dumbest questions, just to bait responses…

I do not understand how people have this problem. Follow interesting people and look at the following tab. Unfollow or mute uninteresting or annoying people. I find it great because there is a ton of interesting people. It is not a website for discussions, it is for one off messages.

I installed some guy's userscript to remove the For You tab all together and dump me straight into Following. It's way better, but it's still out of order, so you can't see what's new, only a random selection of what's popular from the last few days, which is irritating. My workaround is to create a list named Timeline, and add all my follows to it and pin it up top, and poof, sequential timeline again, with none of the crap. Then just some css to hide inline ads and constant upgrade nags, and it's like 2014 again.

Re: Bluesky adds 700k new users in a week

#84

Post by bsimpson »

minimaxir wrote: post #3

Unlike previous attempts for groups of people trying to leave Twitter/X post-Elon acquisition for a competitor social network but failed due to the difficulty of getting all their friends to also switch, this time it might actually stick. Even before the election results on Tuesday, the vibes on X have been steadily been getting worse from my perspective, and the fact that Musk will get more power and influence from…

As someone who was on Reddit when we got the influx of Digg users, it's wild that "Digg moment" is now an anachronistic culture reference like "Betamax" or "jumping the shark" was for me when I was younger.

I'm sure there's a huge cohort of people active here have never heard of Digg except that it was a thing that fumbled and made Reddit bigger.

Re: Bluesky adds 700k new users in a week

#85

Post by TMWNN »

infotainment wrote: post #39
minimaxir wrote: post #3

Unlike previous attempts for groups of people trying to leave Twitter/X post-Elon acquisition for a competitor social network but failed due to the difficulty of getting all their friends to also switch, this time it might actually stick. Even before the election results on Tuesday, the vibes on X have been steadily been getting worse from my perspective, and the fact that Musk will get more power and influence from…

Ehhh, at this point people have been predicting the downfall of X/Twitter for so long such predictions feel a bit meaningless. Twitter was always terrible and I was hopeful Elon’s mismanagement would finally destroy it, but I think its clear that its never going anywhere.

[flagged]

Re: Bluesky adds 700k new users in a week

#86

Post by cen4 »

duxup wrote: post #53
cen4 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its weird how all these useful local info accounts end up being dependent on platforms that promote noise makers and attention cravers.

It’s not like local weather guy is likely to get anyone on just his website or such these days.

So the current dynamic is - platforms use noise makers to draw in crowds, then signal producers like the weather guy go where the crowds are.

Does Bluesky change this dynamic?

Re: Bluesky adds 700k new users in a week

#87

Post by karaterobot »

EasyMark wrote: post #77
karaterobot wrote: post #70

My hypothesis is still that the problem isn't Twitter per se, but that Twitter-like failure modes are built in to that structure. A communications platform that has certain qualities will tend to become Twitter-like: Many-to-many, short messages, reposting, etc. These are mechanics that will just create certain kinds of behaviors. So, that would predict Bluesky having many of the same problems as Twitter sooner or la…

I never thought twitter was a failure until Musk introduced $8 “pump you to the top” blue check accounts, then that’s when the bots -really- moved in because they knew they could pump propaganda for a small fee and get far more traction than they every could by setting up bot armies that were easy to detct. Bsky will be fine as long as they try to control the bots.

I guess I didn't define what I think the problems with Twitter are, and now I don't have time for a long message. But, in short, I think that format encourages echo chambers, shortens attention spans, and rewards bad behaviors like bullying, cheap shots, ungenerous reading, etc. None of those are directly related to bots (though maybe bots are a symptom of the same issues). Nor did they emerge with Musk. That Elon Musk wanted to control Twitter might even be diagnostic of a certain kind of basic problem with it—or a basic power—but I'd have to think about that a little more.

Re: Bluesky adds 700k new users in a week

#88

Post by intended »

minimaxir wrote: post #81
threeseed wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right wing accounts were heavily pushed in the later stages of the election. I manage a number of business X accounts which are publish only and all switched to showing right-wing politicians, pundits and extensive amounts of Elon Musk. I created a new account to check and same thing. Even though when I selected interests I specifically chose non-political topics. For me it was very clear then that whether it's Musk…

It is true that Elon pushed right-wing accounts algorithmically (and is one of the reasons for the exodus to Bluesky), but "no politics ever" as a neutral content moderation stance to counter that factor makes it impossible for a social network to show what's happening now in the world and will make people go elsewhere for the information gap.

No political content ever is a community growth stance and business strategy.

It is the right call, by frikking far.

There are a 3-4 horsemen of the apocalypse for online communities. The first two are most definitely politics and religion.

If these two topics are allowed on your forum, you are pretty much done. Flame wars, harassment, brigades etc. are going to be the highest you can expect.

This is going to force you into high amounts of comment removals and bans. The velocity of action, and anger of your users will mean that you can no longer communicate the rationale for your bans, or maintain transparency.

On top of this, you will start to attract groups who will want to use your community for astroturfing, or for targeting. So now you have to deal with the worst kind of adversarial behavior.

Getting rid of politics, is just simply better for the product.

I will also argue that there should be such product experiments conducted in the economy. We already have a multitude of platforms where we can discuss politics.

Re: Bluesky adds 700k new users in a week

#89

Post by FooBarBizBazz »

Everybody forgets that Twitter created Trump.

They remember fondly when left-crazy ruled Twitter. They forget that the opposite and more-enduring right-reaction formed as part of the same dynamic.

If Twitter had never existed, Donald Trump would still just be playing a rich guy on The Apprentice, and licensing his name to developers of hotels and colognes. Elon Musk would just be pushing electric cars and rockets and solar panels.

Which is why this effort to rebuild Twitter as BlueSky is not good news.

I know it seems that we all need to develop a fever again to dislodge Trump. I don't think we do. Incumbents have gotten wrecked all over the place. The world is not getting better. Four years from now, Team Trump will be the incumbents, and the voters will express their dissatisfaction again. This will happen without efforts to make society start boiling over again. Those will just cause more blowback. We don't need another Twitter.

Re: Bluesky adds 700k new users in a week

#90

Post by add-sub-mul-div »

dandellion wrote: post #16

Whenever I see an article about this or that platform gaining a million users I always think of the Eternal September. I'd like to see a platform where after a certain number of people join, a new server is automatically created and new users are redirected there, similar to how MMO servers worked.

The non-death of Twitter looks like it's keeping the Eternal September quarantined there. Leaders and early adopters are finding new spaces, the passive and undiscerning may not follow this time. If they've put up with this much crap, what would make them leave?
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