There’s less talk about decentralized social media these days (or maybe I’ve just been out of the loop), but it’s nice seeing more people join Bluesky or Mastodon. I haven’t been on X for over a year, and every time I need to go there because someone posted something useful only there, it frustrates me. That’s why this quote by Bryan Newbold about regional governments and institutions posting on Bluesky hit home:
Everybody should be able to get through their day safely without faustian privacy bargains and barrages of targeted ads and adversarial slop
Network effects lock users in, but they also lock people out. Every person who leaves X makes it less valuable for the next person thinking about leaving, until suddenly the whole thing tips. Institutions moving first is what can make this happen. Let’s hope it keeps going (so I never have to open X again).
Source: @bnewbold.net