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Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app

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Re: Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app

#201

Post by big_toast »

AnonHP wrote: post #78
raincole wrote: post #28

Bluesky's feed algorithm (the "Discover" tab) is the worst I've ever seen. Hands down. I can't imagine anyone enjoying it unless they're 1) super into the US politics/domestic issues AND 2) politically aligned with the main user base of Bluesky. The funniest part is that there is a better algorithm. It's right here: https://bsky.app/profile/spacecowboy17.bsky.social/feed/for-... But somehow the devs of Bluesky never…

I have a lurking account and follow some other accounts, but I’m not interested in “liking” or “reposting” any posts. I want to keep my usage and engagement as low as possible. The “For You” feed doesn’t work for this need because it relies on signals like liking content. I agree that the Discover feed sucks (why does it show posts from people I’m following when there’s a dedicated tab for that?). But I’d rather have…

'show more/less like this' should work[0] with cowboy's for you feed. 'more/less' was proprietary for discover but they've rolled it out to other feeds now[1].

I think it's part of an interactions object passed to the feed operator. You can see what's potentially passed here[2].

[0]:https://bsky.app/profile/spacecowboy17.bsky.social/post/3lxx...

[1]:https://github.com/bluesky-social/social-app/pull/8672

[2]:https://endpoints.bsky.app/#bluesky-app/tag/appbskyfeed/POST...

Re: Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app

#202

Post by goatlover »

kuramori wrote: post #200

So maybe far left echo chamber as a service is not that good of a business model after all. But then there’s Reddit.

Define "far left". In comparison to MAGA? The Overton window of the US has shifted so far right that universal healthcare and free education are seen as one step removed from communism.

Re: Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app

#203

Post by afavour »

pessimizer wrote: post #172
afavour wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's entire life is due to lib slactivism I'd disagree with that, I'd say its entire life is due to the shittifying of Twitter. People, like myself, sought to recreate the experience of what Twitter used to be like and (after trying and not being satisfied with Mastodon) it's the next best thing. The problem is that a social network of this kind relies on having a large enough population to feel "live" and Bluesky…

I agree (in a way), but I don't think that people who went to Bluesky were trying to recreate twitter, they were trying to silence twitter. The past they are pining for was a past when people they didn't like weren't allowed to speak, and they were hoping (in a non-userlike, political way) that bluesky would threaten twitter, and force it to behave in the way that they preferred or to shut down. Then they would all b…

I feel like some folks who don’t use Bluesky, evidently yourself included, have this very distinct notion of what a Bluesky user is. All I can tell you is it doesn’t match at all with the experience I have on the service.

You are projecting a lot on this imaginary Bluesky user. You’ve crafted an entire narrative in your head about how egotistical they were and how crushed they are at Twitter still being around. I don’t really know how to respond to creative fiction.

Re: Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app

#204

Post by afavour »

nailer wrote: post #181
afavour wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's entire life is due to lib slactivism I'd disagree with that, I'd say its entire life is due to the shittifying of Twitter. People, like myself, sought to recreate the experience of what Twitter used to be like and (after trying and not being satisfied with Mastodon) it's the next best thing. The problem is that a social network of this kind relies on having a large enough population to feel "live" and Bluesky…

> People, like myself, sought to recreate the experience of what Twitter used to be like Have you tried X recently? My feed right now is: - A neat tech bag - Discussion about AI going rogue - How fee markets on Hyperliquid work - Someone who was ill from a viral infection talk about his recovery - Someone from Team17 talking about the game Worms It's very much what Twitter used to be like

I haven’t. Bluesky gives me enough of the old Twitter content to satisfy me so I don’t really see a reason to, especially when my dislike for Elon Musk’s politics is strong enough to dissuade me from giving money to him when I can avoid it.

Re: Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app

#205

Post by zem »

hamburglar wrote: post #99

I notice that the stat the article repeatedly quotes is MAU for usage of the mobile app, but one of the things I love about Bluesky is that you don’t need to use a mobile app to have a good UX. I use the mobile browser to access it, so I’m not in that MAU number. Perhaps bsky has a larger number of active users that don’t use the app?

I've been an active user for ages now and I didn't even know they had an app! the mobile website works very well.

Re: Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app

#206

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

dewey wrote: post #114
hamburglar wrote: post #99

I notice that the stat the article repeatedly quotes is MAU for usage of the mobile app, but one of the things I love about Bluesky is that you don’t need to use a mobile app to have a good UX. I use the mobile browser to access it, so I’m not in that MAU number. Perhaps bsky has a larger number of active users that don’t use the app?

Not having the app installed but being a monthly active user, not just someone who's driving by because they clicked on a link on mobile seems like an edge case and I'm pretty sure it won't make a difference to the numbers.

That's funny because the Bluesky app is the only social media app that I have installed. Everything else I do from the browser.

Re: Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app

#207

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

CSSer wrote: post #52
anon7000 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that Bluesky has first class support for me to choose my own feed algorithm is proof it’s NOTHING like truth social.

Whenever I point out (in agreement with your statement) that the idea that the left and the right are somehow equally bad is a kind of fantasy on HN I usually get downvoted. People seem very committed to "shades of gray", moderate thinking to the point that it's viewed as always correct, which is well, just wrong. Yeah, often things are more complicated than they appear, but I find it almost hilarious how often you c…

Showing my age, about 35 years ago, someone (wish I remember who, but google probably knows), wrote an article in Analog magazine called "The Dogma of Otherness" that spoke to the tendency of a certain demographic to always try to understand different perspectives, even when those perspectives were objectively hostile.

Some people just can't not think in shades of gray.

Re: Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app

#208

Post by oseityphelysiol »

The article is about Bluesky, but what I find hard to believe is that Threads has almost twice the MAU compared to X?.. I’ve never met a person that uses Threads in any capacity. Never even heard anyone mention about anything on Threads.

Are these numbers skewed somehow?

Re: Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app

#209

Post by SoKamil »

hamburglar wrote: post #99

I notice that the stat the article repeatedly quotes is MAU for usage of the mobile app, but one of the things I love about Bluesky is that you don’t need to use a mobile app to have a good UX. I use the mobile browser to access it, so I’m not in that MAU number. Perhaps bsky has a larger number of active users that don’t use the app?

In fact, this is the same codebase as Bluesky uses react-native-web.

Re: Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app

#210

Post by xethos »

oseityphelysiol wrote: post #208

The article is about Bluesky, but what I find hard to believe is that Threads has almost twice the MAU compared to X?.. I’ve never met a person that uses Threads in any capacity. Never even heard anyone mention about anything on Threads. Are these numbers skewed somehow?

I'd expect it to be cross-pollination from Instagram being tied to Threads
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