BlueSky: Decentralized Social Media and an Intersectional Future

Soon, the days of managing multiple social media accounts may be a thing of the past.

I. What is BlueSky?

In November 2024, BlueSky, a social media platform founded by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, reached over 20 million users.

The platform is still relatively new, having launched in 2023. It’s attracting all the people tired of both Trump and Elon Musk’s antics or just the wild wild west that is currently X (formerly known as Twitter). Many are packing their digital bags, closing their accounts, and moving permanently to the BlueSky platform.

I have a BlueSky account, and though it looks a lot like OG Twitter, there are a few key differences between BlueSky and X:

BlueSky is decentralized: Aiming to become even more decentralized in the future. This means users will have more control over their data, the ability to create their own servers, and the freedom to design their own algorithms. Users won’t be tied to any one system-wide feed. For example, if someone only wants to see pets and never wants to see politics, there are algorithms available to make that happen.

Data Portability: The premise is that no single person or group controls the activity or data on BlueSky. This allows people to move their data to other platforms that may use the Authenticated Transfer Protocol (AT Protocol or ATProto) — an open, decentralized protocol for building social media applications.

Jay Graber, BlueSky’s CEO, Said This in an Interview With CNBC:

“The billionaire-proof is in the way everything is designed, and so if someone bought [BlueSky] or if the company went down, everything is open source… What happened to Twitter couldn’t happen to us in the same ways because you would always have the option to immediately move without having to start over.”

II. The Fediverse

This concept of decentralization means more customizability and potential overlap with new platforms, lending itself to what is known as the Fediverse (a combination of “federation” and “universe”). The fediverse is a concept facilitating the intercommunication of several independent social media platforms.

Imagine using Facebook to comment on something happening on X and X users being able to respond back.

I think this is one of the cooler things happening with the future of the internet. The idea that people could create one account to interact across many different platforms would enable faster communication and sharing of information without logging in and out of multiple accounts. Scheduling posts and planning content could become even easier in the future, possibly reducing the need for large teams to manage different accounts for one persona.

This concept ties in nicely with Web3, blockchain, and decentralized networks. Imagine servers facilitating lightning-fast exchanges of currencies or tokens, enabling NFT transactions at unprecedented speeds. Jack Dorsey, a staunch advocate for crypto and Bitcoin, has been a major player in digital finance systems like Square and CashApp.

It wouldn’t be surprising if BlueSky became one of the key platforms in the future for advancing high-speed crypto, token, and NFT transactions, as well as fostering digital cultural movements directly on the platform. While the idea of customizability is exciting, it doesn’t really reduce concerns about political echo chambers on social media.

I predict that posting on social media and creating content will become a more robust profession in the future, potentially rewarding users with platform-specific tokens. These tokens could offer features like higher-quality video uploads, enhanced post visibility, further gamifying social media, and able to be exchanged for cash.

III. Meta’s Role in the Fediverse

Meta (formerly Facebook) owns Instagram, Facebook, and Threads. While they haven’t announced a comprehensive plan to integrate all their platforms into the fediverse, there are signs of progress. For example, Threads now allows users with public profiles to make their accounts visible within the fediverse.

Turning on the fediverse on threads

Meta explains this feature as follows:

“With our beta experience, Threads users aged 18+ with public profiles can now choose to enable sharing to the Fediverse. If they do, they’ll be able to publish posts on Threads that will be viewable on other ActivityPub-compliant servers. Threads users will also be able to see aggregated like counts on their posts from other Fediverse servers directly from the Threads app. If people on other Fediverse servers follow federated Threads profiles, they’ll be able to see, reply to, and repost Threads posts (if their server allows it).” — Meta, March 21, 2024

The Fediverse and the Blockchain

Meta has had plans for a while to integrate various digital currencies into its platforms. Tentatively named, “Zuck Bucks” have reportedly been in the works to facilitate transactions across the Metaverse, including Instagram, Facebook, and Threads.

Don’t forget, in 2019, Facebook had plans to release its own decentralized stablecoin in 2020, called Libra, which was later named Diem due to distancing itself from its original name because it was facing some very challenging regulatory issues; eventually, key partners like PayPal, Stripe, eBay, Visa, and Mastercard abandoned the Libra Association and the project at large, thus the Libra stablecoin by Facebook was cancelled.

The Future of the Internet Is Infinite and Seamless Intersectionality:

For the metaverse to function effectively, all platforms must seamlessly communicate with one another. This digital realm could offer people the opportunity to live out a second life through a variety of mediums, primarily VR.

Nearly everyone can become a digital actor in some capacity, though, whether by creating a personalized avatar operated with keyboard and mouse, or by opting for a more immersive experience using virtual reality eyewear.

Some individuals will contribute to the metaverse’s growth by designing and coding virtual environments directly from their laptops, aided by sophisticated AI agents that optimize and streamline the development process.

This technology enables the rapid creation of decentralized apps, worlds, tokens, and NFTs in a matter of minutes. The interconnected nature of the fediverse means that publishing a virtual world on one platform effectively makes it accessible across all platforms.

This interconnectivity leads to a more significant impact in the digital world, accelerated development, enhanced tokenized incentives, and further gamification of culture as digital universes overlap.

Despite concerns about over-saturation in the content creation space, I believe we’re still in the early stages. While many argue that the market is crowded, I’m convinced that we’re just scratching the surface of what’s possible in the creator economy.