Brazil Bailed on Twitter, and So Did I: The Vibes Are Off
Is Bluesky’s Back? Or Are We All Just Bored Again?
Something interesting happened this week, the Brazilian Supreme Court banned X, that's ~ 40 million users or about 10% of X’s user base. The effects of this mass exodus have been felt surprisingly amongst fandom accounts for many prominent Western celebrities and cultural “institutions” if you can even call them that. But that's not what I want to write about today. Taylor Lornez already did a fantastic job at WaPo this week. What I want to explore is the vibe shift that's taken place across the ever-fracturing internet, and how the exodus of X in Brazil exemplifies this shift.
It’s been reported that a lot of traffic went to Bluesky, some ~ 2 million new users joined the app this week, a large sleuth of that is believed to be from Brazil. This inspired me to shift back to Bluesky, because fundamentally we’re all sheep following the herd.
Some background: I started using Threads from day dot, I’ve garnered a small following and found a lovely community of academics, thought leaders, media pundits and tech enthusiasts– oh, and political news, my favourite thing, and parent company Meta’s perpetual headache. I haven't used X in any meaningful way since the launch of Threads, yeah a few comments here and there, reposts, and a tweet or two when the urge hit to bring some sense into the ever-growing cesspool they call a platform. But before this turns into a Twitter retrospective, sorry.
Bluesky! I joined Bluesky in October 2023, past its “peak”, at least in the eyes of the media, I had a few returns, pledging to give the platform another try, but never quite sticking around. I was tired of having to restart on a new platform for what at the time felt like every second week, T2 (later Pebble, then dead), Hive Social, Spill? Remember those? Exactly. But at the time it was anyone's game, Threads was going through a rough patch and X was falling further into the right-wing abyss of death, deep fakes and Trump worship. But recently, like the Brazilians, I’ve found a new life on Bluesky, and it's making me question my once certain stance that Threads (with a few tweaks and some hope) was the final destination.
I want to preface this by saying I’m not a standards expert, I could name 100 other people that can better explain ActivityPub and the AT protocol and their ins and outs etc…! But what I can do is assess the vines—and right now? The vibes are with Bluesky.
To start, you can definitely feel some old Twitter DNA in Bluesky– no surprise, since as many of you know, Bluesky started out of Twitter under Jack Dorsey. Then… Well, Elon happened. Anyway, aside from the Twitter-ness of it all, Bluesky has a lot of compelling features that Threads is just lacking. For one, it has a thriving ecosystem of third-party apps such as GraySky or Skyfeed. Are they polished? No. But the fact that they exist clearly shows that there's an appetite for this, which can’t be said about Threads, which seems to be missing this entirely, despite launching their own API.
Feeds! Another truly wonderful Bluesky feature, such a game-changer, and one that really adds so much life into this relatively small social network. It's way better at categorizing content than Threads’ excuse of an attempt, “tags”. Also, starter packs, a great feature that I’m surprised Meta hasn’t stolen yet, it gives new users the opportunity to grow their network by following accounts other people have coalesced into a nice little starter pack, perfect for new users who may feel overwhelmed.
Finally? Bluesky has something I never knew I was missing with Threads, fun, spontaneity, vibes! Every day, there's something happening: jokes, satire, sarcasm like you wouldn’t believe, and don’t get me wrong, Threads has that too, but not nearly as much as Bluesky, and the algorithm isn’t doing and favours, iykyk.
Now, Bluesky isn’t perfect– no platform is (welcome to the internet). It's got major moderation blind spots which I don’t feel like delving into, just know it needs work. There's no video or polls, and search is pretty clunky. And trending topics would be nice too. But I’m nitpicking– except for the moderation stuff. Seriously, Jay, get on it.
But my biggest gripe? Siloing.
It’s not Bluesky’s fault, and don’t get me wrong, there's some great accounts on there and I’m finding new ones every day, but I’m stuck in limbo between Threads and Bluesky, checking both, posting on both, and somehow feel as if I’m accomplishing nothing, I don’t foresee a future where we’re all on the same app, posting together and ripping each other apart, just as Dril intended. This isn’t just with social media– TV, news, music, it’s all been siloed off into whatever part of the algorithm we inhabit, wherever the rabbit hole takes us.
So, where have I landed? Well, I’ll continue to use Threads purely for its size and reach, plus I’ve got a decent follower base and there's great content, when it’s not being stifled by Meta’s issues (but I digress). As for Bluesky? Well,
I’ll add it to the things I check when I wake up in the morning– and randomly throughout the day. It's got some work to do, and some real issues to fix, but there's potential. If you think Threads has won the race, well then just remember what happened to the Hare, when it slept on the Tortoise.
Thanks for reading this! I've been meaning to write something like this for a while now and I’m glad I finally did. I love writing and I hope you’ll find value in my work. I’m a one mad operation and I’m not a professional, but I strive to improve and provide something that isn’t written for the sake of being written. I hope this isn’t the last you’ll read from me. Subscribe if you want, and don’t be afraid to reach out on social media, whether it’s Threads, Bluesky or Instagram.
Note: I didn’t talk about Mastodon because well Threads is bigger and I’m lazy.