The Fediverse Isn’t the Future. It’s the Present We’ve Been Denied.
For years, the internet has been shrinking. Not in size, not in data, but in ownership. A vast, decentralized network of personal blogs, forums, and independent communities has been corralled into a handful of paved prison yards controlled by a few massive corporations. Every post, every “friend,” every creative work—
Bluesky: Network topology, polarization, and algorithmic curation
Bluesky is a nascent “Twitter-like” and decentralized social media network with novel features and unprecedented data access. This paper provides a characterization of its interaction network, studying the political leaning, polarization, network structure, and algorithmic curation mechanisms of five million users. The dataset spans from the website’s first release in February of 2023 to May of 2024. We investigate the replies, likes, reposts, and follows layers of the Bluesky network. We find that all networks are characterized by heavy-tailed distributions, high clustering, and short connection paths, similar to other larger social networks. BlueSky introduced feeds—algorithmic content recommenders created for and by users. We analyze all feeds and find that while a large number of custom feeds have been created, users’ uptake of them appears to be limited. We analyze the hyperlinks shared by BlueSky’s users and find no evidence of polarization in terms of the political leaning of the news sources they share. They share predominantly left-center news sources and little to no links associated with questionable news sources. In contrast to the homogeneous political ideology, we find significant issues-based divergence by studying opinions related to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Two clear homophilic clusters emerge: Pro-Palestinian voices outnumber pro-Israeli users, and the proportion has increased. We conclude by claiming that Bluesky—for all its novel features—is very similar in its network structure to existing and larger social media sites and provides unprecedented research opportunities for social scientists, network scientists, and political scientists alike.
The Social Network That Can't Sell Out: Understanding Mastodon vs. Bluesky - phillipjreese.com
As users flee from Twitter/X, two visions of social media's future compete: Mastodon's community-controlled network versus Bluesky's venture-backed promises. The difference isn't just technical—it's about whether we'll finally break free from the profit-driven cycle that has degraded every major social platform.
The Future is Federated is a series of essays about the Fediverse with the goal of introducing it to people not familiar with it... and showing interoperability between projects for more advanced users. The future is already here, thanks to the magic of ActivityPub!
How to Quit Mainstream Social Media and Join Mastodon: A Healthier Way to Connect | unbound routes
This post addresses three parts: (1) Why Delete Your Social Media?, (2) How to Delete Social Media, and (3) How to Register on Mastodon. If you’re simply trying to figure out how to sign up on Mast…
Mike McCue: Why Flipboard Sees the Fediverse as Its Future
Flipboard CEO Mike McCue discusses the company’s shift to the Fediverse, why it's becoming a "Fediverse browser," and its plans to boost decentralized content.
Bluesky is ushering in a pick-your-own algorithm era of social media
More than 20 million people have joined Bluesky, a social network that gives you fine-grained control over what you see and who you interact with. I think it is the future of social media, says Chris Stokel-Walker
La fuga de Twitter/X y la larga marcha de las migraciones digitales.
Pensar que la fuga de Twitter/X es la gran migración de la era digital es un espejismo fruto de las altas temperaturas y un inflacionado optimismo de la voluntad. Este no es el primero ni será el ú…
ChatGPT-4 Beat Doctors at Diagnosing Illness, Study Finds - Slashdot
Dr. Adam Rodman, a Boston-based internal medicine expert, helped design a study testing 50 licensed physicians to see whether ChatGPT improved their diagnoses, reports the New York TImes. The results? "Doctors who were given ChatGPT-4 along with conventional resources did only slightly better than...
Introducing ActivityBot - the simplest way to build Mastodon Bots
As you may have read, BotsIn.Space is closing down, I have lots of automated bot accounts living on the Fediverse - and I want them to continue posting. Installing and maintaining an entire Mastodon instance sounds like hard work. Paying people to host my stuff feels like putting my fate in someone else's hands. Say… […]
If you were to design an open social networking protocol, what would that look like? Which metaphors and comparisons would you use to get a general idea of how the network functions? And what would you answer if people ask if your network is decentralised and federated?
How the 'Fediverse' Works (and Why It Might Be the Future of Social Media)
Fediverse, which is a portmanteau of Federation and Universe, is the name for a new protocol for the social internet: a bunch of different social networks and platforms that are connected to each other. Users on any of these services can follow users on any other one and respond to, like, and share posts. Here's how it works and how it could change social media.
I. La red precursora de internet nace en Estados Unidos a finales de la década de 1960 con el objetivo de facilitar la comunicación y el uso compartido de recursos informáticos escasos entre centros de investigación. Hoy en día, a pesar de ese origen en la colaboración científica, persiste el
