Bluesky to the rescue

DECENTRALISED: AT PROTOCOL THAT LETS USERS CONTROL THEIR DATA

- Arthur Goldstuck

Social media has been a train wreck for the last few years. Misinformation rules, normally brilliant billionaires prioritise toxic traffic over tolerance, and every social platform seems to go out of its way to remove the features that once made them great. There is always an alternative waiting in the wings, but they often turn out to be damp squibs. It happened when Facebook changed terms and conditions on Whats App, leading to massive uptake of Telegram and Signal. Anyone remember Signal? And when Elon Musk took over Twitter, changed its name to X and allowed back every scoundrel he could dredge up from the swamp, Threads was ready to take in the refugees. When they got there, many couldn,t figure out what to do next. And now, Bluesky. It?s described as a "decentralised social media platform", but the first impression is that it's like Twitter's slightly awkward, science-obsessed cousin who finally moved out of his mom's basement. And still needs to clean up a little. Bluesky launched in closed beta in 2022, with an adolescent-level cool kids strategy of being by invitation only. However, unlike Threads, which felt like a cheap knockoff of Twitter but without its remaining charm, Bluesky dared to be different. It's built on the Authenticated Transfer (AT) protocol, a new "federated" social network standard that gives users control over their data and al Onrithms hv hnstino it nn their own servers - if they want it and can figure it out. Otherwise just stay with the clunky user name.

More significantly, the AT protocol allows social networks to talk to each other. Threads also allegedly has that functionality. We have yet to see it implemented effectively for ordinary human beings.

But before you roll your eyes and go back to watching cat videos, let's see why Bluesky might be the real social deal.