anyway my brave take is that Bluesky isn't really working because you just can't launch a text-based social media platform in the era of Big Video And Picture Slop and expect it to flourish, most people don't really want to type or read
Replies
That's a feature, not a bug.
sep 1, 2025, 2:12 pm • 9 0 • view
I'm a big consumer of TikTok, but it's a very different medium than text based social media. I still spend a lot of time here
sep 1, 2025, 1:51 pm • 2 0 • view
Yes we do. That’s why we’re here, to communicate with each other. Others are free to go stare at the videos elsewhere.
sep 1, 2025, 11:45 pm • 0 0 • view
Interesting way to add to your block / mute list @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com
sep 1, 2025, 5:57 pm • 0 0 • view
But I hope people who are not most people can still have some sort of platform.
sep 1, 2025, 12:42 pm • 2 0 • view
I am quite happy to belong to a site/app that is primarily text-based. I’m an old, and I don’t have to worry about the volume of a video disturbing my family while I scroll. I’d much rather read anyway.
sep 1, 2025, 3:56 pm • 1 0 • view
This is me too. I don't mind pix and vids but primarily text is good
sep 1, 2025, 5:54 pm • 1 0 • view
sep 1, 2025, 6:19 pm • 0 0 • view
I agree with you, and also I prefer text-based. I don't want to make videos lmao.
sep 1, 2025, 1:21 pm • 2 0 • view
Reading books does seem to be on the rise though
sep 1, 2025, 1:15 pm • 1 0 • view
I kind of think it's fine here, as a 'get information' platform. I do miss the existence of a 'have a silly chat' platform. This definitely isn't that
sep 1, 2025, 1:26 pm • 1 0 • view
There are some like that but not too many 👍🏼
sep 1, 2025, 2:09 pm • 0 0 • view
People don’t read even when they want to buy something from you. They’ll message you asking you a question about the item that you already have made clear in the short, simple description. All they had to do was read it. They spend more time writing to you than reading.
sep 1, 2025, 1:25 pm • 4 0 • view
It will do fine, as it is easier to ingest a skweet faster than some bobblehead bloviating about nothing. Fantastically there is Flashes (an app), a means to use BlueSky as if it were Instagram or TikTok. It’s the best of both worlds in one platform.
sep 2, 2025, 5:33 am • 0 0 • view
i hadn't thought of this but now i'm just sad. on labor day. thanks for that, gonna go read my dumb book from the library
sep 1, 2025, 2:31 pm • 0 0 • view
76% of Twitter is Bots, so….
sep 1, 2025, 1:32 pm • 4 0 • view
It's working beautifully for me, thanks.
sep 1, 2025, 1:20 pm • 2 0 • view
That’s not why bluesky “isn’t working” Your assessment that it isn’t working I ASSUME is based on number of users who are actually active on this thing, which is not many when compared to other longstanding apps. From my perspective, there’s not enough diversity of topics. For example:
sep 1, 2025, 2:32 pm • 1 0 • view
1. It’s heavy on politics here, left leaning of course. 2. It’s an echo chamber nearly impossible to have rational conversations (not much different from X) 3. People still love to argue with MAGA, so they stray back to X for engagement. 4. X still offers more likes for people who need them.
sep 1, 2025, 2:32 pm • 0 0 • view
Anyway, I think it’s far less to do with the types of media people prefer to use & more to do with the type of engagement people are used to. BK in most minds I think was meant to be a bit of a safe space to have discussions without psychopaths jumping down their throat. But that’s boring ain’t it?
sep 1, 2025, 2:32 pm • 1 0 • view
It’s working for me a lot better than X did. This is the only social media platform I bother with now. Didn’t realise it wasn’t really working? I guess you mean it isn’t growing like mad still? I can see why (for reasons you give). But let’s take quality over quantity and hope it lasts.
sep 1, 2025, 7:21 pm • 0 0 • view
we have photo and video??
sep 1, 2025, 4:12 pm • 0 0 • view
I think alcopops are the next social media network.
sep 1, 2025, 11:39 am • 6 0 • view
And yet here we are. And I'm not on those others
sep 1, 2025, 1:20 pm • 1 0 • view
Define "working"?
sep 1, 2025, 1:19 pm • 1 0 • view
It has over 30 million users.
sep 1, 2025, 1:31 pm • 3 0 • view
People need to have something worth reading
sep 1, 2025, 2:49 pm • 3 0 • view
I love how I’m not ‘most people’
sep 1, 2025, 1:12 pm • 11 0 • view
Who doesn't want to read or write? Infants? Doing no research makes for a very short lifespan.
sep 1, 2025, 11:53 am • 0 0 • view
Bluesky IS working because it repels that type of user.
sep 1, 2025, 1:47 pm • 5 0 • view
Funny, I like it almost because it's not full of video. Pictures/memes in support of a message are fine but I would rather read than to watch someone read to me
sep 1, 2025, 1:34 pm • 20 0 • view
Yeah, if it had more video I’d have to start filtering the video out somehow
sep 1, 2025, 1:59 pm • 6 0 • view
I just can’t face moving to another one
sep 1, 2025, 11:40 am • 11 0 • view
So BlueSky can be a site for people who want to read and write. Radical!
sep 1, 2025, 5:52 pm • 1 0 • view
I am way too impatient to watch a video, waiting for them to make their point. Much faster to read. The exception being, of course, music performances.
sep 1, 2025, 2:13 pm • 7 0 • view
Who says Blue Sky’s not really working 🤷🏻♀️ plenty on it. I rarely watch the videos as often too long & life’s too short
sep 1, 2025, 2:03 pm • 5 0 • view
+Maybe not adding new features and not addressing the bigger holes too
sep 1, 2025, 11:42 am • 0 0 • view
My take is that this is 'Bluesky is failing!!!!!!' yet again.
sep 1, 2025, 6:51 pm • 0 0 • view
Ignoring this until it's on Youtube
sep 1, 2025, 11:39 am • 0 0 • view
The stats have been pretty stable for the past couple of months at around 50% of the all time post-election high. This works just fine for me, and seems perfectly sustainable. And video in social media sucks (apart from the odd cat video as a treat).
sep 1, 2025, 12:00 pm • 19 0 • view
This site is sorely lacking breaking video news.
sep 1, 2025, 4:58 pm • 1 0 • view
When I’m in charge, I promise things will be different.😁
sep 1, 2025, 1:30 pm • 0 0 • view
Thanks for the heads up to mute your “text based “ blather
sep 1, 2025, 12:55 pm • 0 0 • view
I agree, I think the sad truth is that people like us, who like to READ our social media, are in a tiny minority and our heyday of having fun with it all is in the past 🙁 - that said, I'm happy to carry on here, understanding that it is just a smaller pond
sep 1, 2025, 11:48 am • 126 0 • view
Smaller but greater.
sep 1, 2025, 1:13 pm • 17 0 • view
I’d never really thought about that but now you say it….
sep 1, 2025, 2:17 pm • 0 0 • view
Why do we think Bluesky isn't working?
sep 1, 2025, 7:11 pm • 0 0 • view
It's the main reason I spend more time here than other socials. I like reading words and don't mind typing. I don't want to watch a video instead. Self-confessed GenX-boomer borders.
sep 1, 2025, 11:50 am • 39 0 • view
I prefer Bluesky because it’s text-based, but it’s not surprising that it’s failing.
sep 1, 2025, 1:42 pm • 0 0 • view
So…what are you doing here?
sep 1, 2025, 1:21 pm • 2 0 • view
Typing and reading are my preferred methods of communication.
sep 1, 2025, 3:11 pm • 2 0 • view
It doesn't need to flourish, nor should it. It must simply exist in a sort of defiance, a place that can be seen as refuge for those who need it.
sep 1, 2025, 1:28 pm • 3 0 • view
Hi, I’m Zach, a HS senior. Reading Moby-Dick this summer made me think about how unpredictable life and politics can be. I wrote an essay on Ishmael’s approach to uncertainty: zachkahn.substack.com/the-worldwide-quest-for-certainty Would love if you could read and share it!
sep 1, 2025, 7:12 pm • 0 0 • view
“Most people” seems like a stretch, but if true, how incredibly sad & worrisome.
sep 1, 2025, 2:06 pm • 0 0 • view
It's what I want Video is a pain in the bum
sep 1, 2025, 6:12 pm • 3 0 • view
by working, do you mean financially viable or something else?
sep 1, 2025, 11:52 am • 1 0 • view
I love Bluesky because of that! It feels so clean and fresh. 1. no spammy algorithm 2. no spammy 'short videos' (or not many) 3. conversations and links to interesting articles (which Facebook and Twitter actively hide and Insta doesn't allow) It would be my happy place if it wasn't full of NEWS.
sep 1, 2025, 7:37 pm • 3 0 • view
BlueSky seems a lot like early Twitter, somewhat stagnant right now. Engagement suddenly took off on Twitter, then there was Elon… I don’t know if that will happen here, but I don’t want to watch videos. Let’s stop whining that BS isn’t Twitter.
sep 1, 2025, 12:30 pm • 13 0 • view
I hate short "reel" style videos, but enjoy medium form YouTube videos by interesting content creators of my interests.
sep 1, 2025, 12:17 pm • 2 0 • view
this is definitely the case and also why i love bluesky
sep 1, 2025, 1:51 pm • 4 0 • view
Those of us who prefer reading want to go somewhere so Go Bluesky
sep 1, 2025, 2:41 pm • 3 0 • view
That plus the big institutions mostly haven’t switched
sep 1, 2025, 1:12 pm • 0 0 • view
I didn’t “know” it’s not really working; I don’t know its financial support however
sep 1, 2025, 1:40 pm • 1 0 • view
This was said about twitter for over a decade too. There's no reason to assume that everyone should use a particular platform, any more than everyone should read The Economist or Private Eye, they can be there for people who like that kind of thing without being compulsory.
sep 1, 2025, 11:44 am • 17 0 • view
Twitter was always a niche platform. It’s just that its niche included some very interesting and important people.
sep 1, 2025, 1:18 pm • 4 0 • view
And some very not interesting but unfortunately influential ones
sep 1, 2025, 1:56 pm • 4 0 • view
And some very self important ones.
sep 1, 2025, 2:07 pm • 2 0 • view
This kind of huffing and puffing reminds me of when UK newspapers first started writing about Twitter and I parodied them epeus.blogspot.com/2009/02/load...
sep 1, 2025, 2:58 pm • 2 0 • view
I think Bluesky works so long as people don’t repost loads of stuff endlessly…
sep 1, 2025, 11:47 am • 6 0 • view
I think Bluesky works as long as people don’t keep posting about how it doesn’t work and just post about stuff they find interesting instead
sep 1, 2025, 1:58 pm • 14 1 • view
Personally, I’d rather read a text than watch a video. Much faster.
sep 1, 2025, 1:33 pm • 5 0 • view
Where are the celebs?
sep 1, 2025, 1:35 pm • 0 0 • view
Another reason why I like it here 👍🏼
sep 1, 2025, 2:25 pm • 1 0 • view
More’s the pity.
sep 1, 2025, 11:37 am • 2 0 • view
I can't send images in DMs, which means I can't use it to communicate a lot of media for work.
sep 1, 2025, 1:43 pm • 3 0 • view
Twitter had celebrities tweeting a few times a day as a draw in the early days. Anyone remember Stephen Fry? He was hilarious. Made people jump into twitter. Bluesky lacks this. No-one talks about bluesky outside of bluesky
sep 1, 2025, 12:20 pm • 1 0 • view
idk, there'll always be room for microblogging, right? for people who (rightly) reject twitter, there's bluesky, at least for now. that isnt *not* a business model, you just need to monetise it in some way if you care to. i think people would pay, for instance.
sep 1, 2025, 11:43 am • 0 0 • view
i guess my point is, yeah, i agree, but i like bluesky for what it does do.
sep 1, 2025, 11:44 am • 3 0 • view
I don't miss all the videos. If I want them, I'll seek them out. The folks on Bluesky are light years more intelligent and focused than on any other platform. Then again, I am a senior citizen who still has an attention span and loves to read.
sep 1, 2025, 1:32 pm • 6 0 • view
👍🏼
sep 1, 2025, 2:12 pm • 0 0 • view
It’s a good filter then.
sep 1, 2025, 1:54 pm • 4 0 • view
I disagree. Those of us who want to be here aren't going anywhere.
sep 2, 2025, 12:03 am • 0 0 • view
This feels like a good explanation! Also, relatedly: people are generally more jaded with the ‘twitter experience. Whilst some of us are nostalgic enough to chase after rekindling that heyday, that’s not everyone. Bluesky just can’t magic up the buzz, novelty and excitement from 15 or so years ago 😢
sep 1, 2025, 12:38 pm • 0 0 • view
I would rather read than watch a video. Granted, I'm 63 but there are a lot of us that feel that way.
sep 1, 2025, 1:26 pm • 5 0 • view
I do!
sep 1, 2025, 2:40 pm • 0 0 • view
I cannot engage with this Bluesky is dead debate because, by all objective measures, it has quite a bit of traffic, but it's not doing Facebook level growth so it's a dud. I come from the blog era, so this feels both like A LOT of people and it's skewer to one side of the political compass
sep 1, 2025, 1:23 pm • 6 0 • view
Which to me is a good thing? All of our readers / donors / stakeholders are in this one spot without Nazis seems like a dream scenario for any left of center coalition. Do you think the right complains that Fox News is dead?
sep 1, 2025, 1:25 pm • 3 0 • view
I also cannot take seriously people who talk about Twitter vs Bluesky reach. If you're vaguely lefty, you're gonna do better numbers with 1/10th the followers here, and you don't have to game the damn system and pay! Is the Nation Review going to crush it here? No! Good!
sep 1, 2025, 1:28 pm • 2 0 • view
God am I just a freak for hating video? Doesn’t everyone hate it???? My strong belief is it’s better for advertisers thus more easily monetised, but most people find it a chore
sep 1, 2025, 11:39 am • 308 3 • view
I hate it so fucking much.
sep 1, 2025, 5:06 pm • 0 0 • view
I most certainly despise video if it is supposed to be an alternative to the written word. I like clips from movies and TV shows, skits, music videos and the like. Don't try to get me watch someone talking politics on YouTube, just don't!
sep 1, 2025, 1:26 pm • 0 0 • view
Apparently yes. I know this because I too am this freak.
sep 1, 2025, 3:58 pm • 1 0 • view
sep 1, 2025, 11:53 am • 4 0 • view
Can’t be bothered with video
sep 1, 2025, 1:12 pm • 0 0 • view
Can't bear it either, unless I need DIY help.
sep 1, 2025, 12:28 pm • 1 0 • view
Same, I can’t stand video! This trend is so unrelatable!
sep 1, 2025, 6:32 pm • 0 0 • view
Yes! Here watch this 90 minute instruction video on how to use our site or scan this written ‘Quick Start’ document & be up and running in 5mins?
sep 1, 2025, 12:53 pm • 0 0 • view
🤝
sep 1, 2025, 2:14 pm • 0 0 • view
I like to choose the pace of my information consumption.
sep 1, 2025, 1:29 pm • 0 0 • view
You’re not! All the video apps are overstimulating!
sep 1, 2025, 1:57 pm • 0 0 • view
I detest it. SM has been steadily going downhill since it became popular. Also I have all my social media muted by default because I find the noise changes between each post I flick past extremely annoying.
sep 1, 2025, 7:47 pm • 0 0 • view
I have just posted a video in which I state unequivocally that I hate video podcasts much more than you do...🫡
sep 1, 2025, 11:51 am • 0 0 • view
I prefer audio if I am looking for "stimulation". I am still a millenial/zoomer who gets themselves into scroll holes but yes none of them are visually appealling enough for them to justify videos. I think I'm weird and autistic though so idk what normies like.
sep 1, 2025, 12:00 pm • 0 0 • view
I can't tell you how much I hate it when I ask Google a "how to" question and I get a bunch of YT videos in the results. Yes, sometimes a visual how-to is necessary but I've got to sit through ads, listen to a bunch of crap & watch a person. It's like recipes that give you a 2-page story first
sep 1, 2025, 1:50 pm • 1 0 • view
This is basically why I like this site, the lack of videos is great 😎😂
sep 1, 2025, 1:22 pm • 3 0 • view
The lack of bombardment by cryptocurrency ads and nagging to “upgrading” accounts is a massive bonus.
sep 1, 2025, 9:20 pm • 2 1 • view
I'd almost forgotten about crypto currency...I'm only half joking as yes I'd got absolutely sick of it. I think what did it for me was even before that- being @ by absolutely stupid as hell NFT 'art' that either made me feel sick or want to fight whoever was 'designing' it!
sep 1, 2025, 9:23 pm • 1 0 • view
Turns out nope, most people love it. Especially under 30s. Text is video now, audio is video now, video is…still video I guess but there’s more of it.
sep 1, 2025, 11:49 am • 35 0 • view
That’s mad bc I can’t even watch tv without subtitles on all the time and have done for 5 years ago. If a social media video doesn’t have subtitles then I won’t bother watching it most of the time I much prefer text based socials too I am 30 tho so I guess an oldie now 😂
sep 1, 2025, 1:17 pm • 5 0 • view
I think that’s bollocks and it’s all about what they are used to and the whole monetary pile is fraud all the way down. Was sent this spam text the other day!
sep 1, 2025, 11:52 am • 0 0 • view
Yes, but that is a spam text for a non-existent job. I wouldn’t use it as evidence of anything except that someone is trying to rip you off.
sep 1, 2025, 1:16 pm • 6 0 • view
I think it’s possible it’s real, there’s a big market in geolocated fake comments views etc (I made a dispatches on click farms a few years back).
sep 1, 2025, 1:19 pm • 0 0 • view
You could try googling it…
sep 1, 2025, 1:23 pm • 1 0 • view
Can't we have something for over 30s?
sep 1, 2025, 11:49 am • 33 0 • view
What, are any people on the internet actually over 30?? (Sarcasm)
sep 1, 2025, 2:24 pm • 1 0 • view
I'd like to think Bluesky can survive as long as it is understood to be a niche platform that is never going to be dominant or influential.
sep 1, 2025, 1:49 pm • 15 0 • view
So we're losing to illiteracy and the superficial every day...
sep 1, 2025, 1:56 pm • 12 0 • view
As a content creator, video seems to take a freakin’ long time to upload… Does this not annoy video content people?
sep 1, 2025, 11:51 am • 1 0 • view
Video killed the radio star
sep 1, 2025, 1:27 pm • 4 0 • view
I hate it. Read something that takes 15 seconds or watch a video for 2 minutes. If something is posted as a video I mostly skip it
sep 1, 2025, 3:56 pm • 0 0 • view
Maybe we can just let AI watch them so we don't have to.
sep 1, 2025, 11:50 am • 2 0 • view
Short form video (TikTok, insta reels, YouTube shorts) is, in a strange way, a return to programming. The kids passively consume content much in the same way that people used to sit and watch cable tv. The difference is that the “content” are mostly commercial (bookended by commercials).
sep 1, 2025, 1:44 pm • 0 0 • view
This is the thing - are they even really comparable? Bluesky is a means of directly accessing and engaging with subject matter experts. Tiktok is like when you stuck music videos on in the background whilst you chatted with your mates, its not *meant* to be engaging
sep 1, 2025, 4:49 pm • 0 0 • view
You are not alone. There are dozens of us.
sep 1, 2025, 1:09 pm • 6 0 • view
Ditto. I like the occasional funny video (often shared with me by my resident young people), I like video for instructions where it's really helpful to see the thing (eg putting up a tent), otherwise TEXT ALL THE WAY. If I want TV, I watch TV.
sep 1, 2025, 1:28 pm • 8 0 • view
I appreciate this makes me sound like I'm about 900 years old and talking about how I used to post by engraving HTML on tablets of stone. (I am 53)
sep 1, 2025, 1:29 pm • 3 0 • view
Video means I have to listen & look, it often glares or shouts at me, demanding attention. Text can make me laugh with only a quick skim across a single line. Or grab my attention with a topic I can read at my own pace, branching to new opinions/people/perspectives. And autoplay video is the devil.
sep 1, 2025, 1:42 pm • 3 0 • view
The whole humour of the Royle Family tv show was the family just sit around watching whatever on TV. We've just given everyone a TV they can carry around with them. Culturally the same, method of delivery different. There are always some people who don't sit around watching TV though!
sep 1, 2025, 11:57 am • 0 0 • view
Video is complete bullshit
sep 1, 2025, 6:42 pm • 0 0 • view
TikTok is like watching loud TV with someone flipping the channel every ten seconds. I hate it.
sep 1, 2025, 3:53 pm • 0 0 • view
I hate it.
sep 1, 2025, 1:51 pm • 0 0 • view
No. Me too. You have to mute them (if you are even remotely considerate) unless you are alone & they mostly don't have sensible subtitles AND they take about 5 times as long as the same information in text AND you have to watch people gurning at their camera
sep 1, 2025, 11:43 am • 24 0 • view
Me too, one reason why I would never go near TikTok. I also don’t understand putting podcasts on YouTube - I listen to them while doing other stuff. I don’t want to watch them
sep 1, 2025, 12:28 pm • 4 0 • view
I think on BlueSky the text based platform you’re going to get skewed answers but me too. I absolutely hate the push to video especially for how to content that isn’t physical.
sep 1, 2025, 11:44 am • 9 0 • view
That was my attitude as I resisted TikTok for a long time. Turns out I’m not terminally unique and have an addiction to short for video now.
sep 1, 2025, 2:28 pm • 0 0 • view
Nope. I hate it too
sep 1, 2025, 11:57 am • 2 0 • view
If it ain't a funny clip that plays in under two minutes I zone out
sep 1, 2025, 1:11 pm • 0 0 • view
I also hate video, you’re not a freak.
sep 1, 2025, 1:44 pm • 0 0 • view
Counterpoint: that's a nice filter to have
sep 1, 2025, 11:37 am • 58 2 • view
It's working for me, and like so many have said, I'd pay a small subscription fee. I only use TikTok for light amusement after I've caught up on BlueSky, The Guardian and CBC news.
sep 1, 2025, 3:42 pm • 2 0 • view
The subscription model works if you're already enjoying the service but it takes a few months on a site like this to care enough to do that
sep 1, 2025, 3:43 pm • 0 0 • view
This feels like a thinly veiled, I'm smart, and everybody else is dumb post.
sep 1, 2025, 4:17 pm • 0 0 • view
Well, you're probably right, and if so, Bluesky will never have the numbers, and will never be Topp. But some people really do like to type and read, so it fills a niche. To me the problem is that it's all just a bit too cosy, but that will probably change, won't it?
sep 1, 2025, 5:54 pm • 0 0 • view
There was a paper I read (I really ought to make a system so I can find my way back to the cool ones - but you never know in the moment if you'll need it again), that concluded that reading tolerance & political alignment tend to correlate (there was a whole bit on how they handled it - it was...
sep 1, 2025, 11:44 am • 0 0 • view
...brilliant). They found that extreme left leaning folks (presumably as far as you can get before closing the loop - a la France) have a reading tolerance close to 300 words, whereas extreme right leaning folks' tolerance tends to be around 62 syllables. Doesn't help I forget which journal it...
sep 1, 2025, 11:44 am • 6 0 • view
...was, but I think it must've been published between late 2019 & now, because I think I read it during lockdown. Definitely it was one of the linguistics journals. Just can't remember which one - sorry.
sep 1, 2025, 11:44 am • 0 0 • view
this
sep 1, 2025, 6:23 pm • 0 0 • view
I consume information so much faster in the written word than audio or video.
sep 1, 2025, 3:22 pm • 1 0 • view
I hate taking 5 mins to watch some talking head on a tik tok style vid tell me something I could have read in 30 seconds had he typed it out instead and gotten to the gd point.
sep 1, 2025, 1:29 pm • 87 5 • view
Word!! 👍🏼👍🏼
sep 1, 2025, 2:05 pm • 2 0 • view
The *vast* majority of people get their information much faster by watching the video. It's less efficient if you *can* read but anything more complex than Harry Potter is basically unreadable for the average US resident
sep 1, 2025, 2:29 pm • 0 0 • view
Which, in many ways, makes video the superior medium: it meets people where they're at, instead of asking people to meet it where its at. Most cultured were primarily oral and visual until very recently!
sep 1, 2025, 2:32 pm • 0 0 • view
It's a good point, but the same criticism could be levelled at twitter. In a post-literate era, writing and reading is such an elite pastime. We can kick back against this, though.
sep 1, 2025, 11:50 am • 0 0 • view
I do agree that most of gen Z is looking for video. But I specifically like blue sky because I can read it in public without headphones and because I don't have to put my face or voice on video.
sep 1, 2025, 1:19 pm • 10 0 • view
And I don't keep having to interrupt what I'm listening to e very time I come across something interesting - I can read it and move on.
sep 1, 2025, 1:57 pm • 3 0 • view
Most people have never wanted to type or read. It's a huge part reason why the overwhelming majority of human history we communicated through visual or oral mediums!
sep 1, 2025, 2:34 pm • 0 0 • view
Reading seems pretty optional for the folk on here TBH
sep 1, 2025, 12:59 pm • 0 0 • view
The only bad thing here is the constant diagnoses that it’s somehow not working over the cesspools of other social media
sep 1, 2025, 12:22 pm • 33 0 • view
That's not so terrible, because those who "don't really want to type or read" don't tend to have things worth saying anyway.
sep 1, 2025, 1:36 pm • 11 0 • view
Do we reckon a purely paid-for written social medium would work?
sep 1, 2025, 12:02 pm • 0 0 • view
I think not. Once you make it paid for, you are really limiting the framework of discussion to people with a certain amount of disposable income.
sep 1, 2025, 12:06 pm • 4 0 • view
Feck that. Usenet is where it's at. Amateurs.
sep 1, 2025, 3:25 pm • 0 0 • view
I quit reading after 'anyway.' I don't want to read a bunch of that 'regardless' or 'whatever' talk.
sep 1, 2025, 11:58 am • 1 0 • view
Unfortunately this seems right. Idiocracy here we come.
sep 1, 2025, 1:27 pm • 2 0 • view
I use social media (outside of friends) like reading or watching news. Bluesky is a newspaper. TT/Insta/YT are tv. But I find vanishingly little engagement on here. I think people setting replies to only those you follow and tightly curating their followers stifles discussion & audience build.
sep 1, 2025, 3:57 pm • 1 0 • view
It sort of feels like you're in a vast room with Speakers Corner at one end, and then a bunch of huddled cliques that you can listen to but not interact with.
sep 1, 2025, 3:57 pm • 1 0 • view
On X I could post & get a convo going immediately. I've been here since the first months & it's definitely improved, particularly with the US Xodus. But the weird thing here is I can post & get zero engagement- it's like you don't even exist in the algo- that makes it unlike any other SM app I use.
sep 1, 2025, 3:57 pm • 1 0 • view
The Bsky algo is sluggish, that's true. (Threads has the opposite issue in that it's too responsive.) And I agree with what you said about people limiting replies—it seems counterintuitive for social media. Bsky reminds me in a way of Google+, which no one seemed to know quite what to do with it.
sep 1, 2025, 4:28 pm • 1 0 • view
That's true about Threads although in the beginning it was a relaxed, supportive place stuffed full of creatives, particularly photographers & artists exiled from Insta when it aggressively shifted gears into reels. I do think the overly tight curation here exacerbates the echo chamber effect.
sep 1, 2025, 4:50 pm • 1 0 • view
Here the curation is personal. Each user is and makes their own algorithm which is intentional in Bluesky design. There's no echo chamber. If you're not getting engagement you probably need to adjust to what works here
sep 1, 2025, 5:52 pm • 1 0 • view
Also I don't need to adjust; like anyone else I post what I want when and where I want. Engagement for those of us with few followers is extremely low compared to other apps, whether you post frequently or not. It's a noticeable difference.
sep 1, 2025, 6:21 pm • 0 0 • view
Have fun with that!
sep 1, 2025, 7:19 pm • 0 0 • view
Clearly I understand the curation is personal, but if people you follow restrict their discourse on a topic to only people they follow, any discussion will naturally be largely limited to people who agree with them. This encourages the echo chamber effect.
sep 1, 2025, 6:14 pm • 1 0 • view
TBH, I miss the old Twitter algorithm. Much as it is nice seeing mostly posts from people I have pre approved, the Twitter algorithms kept throwing new stuff at me which kept the place fresher and more interesting (not offence to the people I follow!)
sep 1, 2025, 11:57 am • 2 0 • view
To hell with most people - isn’t that the point?
sep 1, 2025, 9:48 pm • 0 0 • view
I know its not everyone's world, but on other sites, not just X, there are loads of football highlights, as soon as a goal goes in you can see it, that doesnt exist here, and that means lots won't use it. Sure its similar in other spheres on here.
sep 1, 2025, 6:43 pm • 0 0 • view
You ignore the elephant in the room - a platform designed around mass exclusion (blocklists) and trigger-happy "intolerance" labelling is a significant deterrent to organisations - at least those not primarily intent on signalling their left wing stripes. X will remain preferable to most.
sep 1, 2025, 2:26 pm • 0 0 • view
It's working for those who do... 😉
sep 1, 2025, 11:42 am • 7 0 • view
That might help, but I think the root cause for a twitter competitor is network effects.
sep 1, 2025, 1:27 pm • 1 0 • view
But I prefer a text-based social media platform because voicing my outrage at the use of phrases like "adding an additional..." isn't as satisfying on a Big Video and Picture Slop site.
sep 1, 2025, 2:05 pm • 2 0 • view
Text readers of the world, unite and takeover
sep 1, 2025, 1:28 pm • 5 1 • view
In the meantime it is at least less shit than twitter. I would like to see some sort of universal social media where we build our own connections independent of platforms.
sep 1, 2025, 11:43 am • 1 0 • view
"some sort of universal social media where we build our own connections independent of platforms" - ie, IRL
sep 1, 2025, 12:03 pm • 1 0 • view
*I* want to type and read!
sep 1, 2025, 1:35 pm • 1 0 • view
Except it is working.
sep 1, 2025, 1:19 pm • 4 0 • view
Bsky is the best!
sep 1, 2025, 12:36 pm • 2 0 • view
I'm not most people. I hate watching videos containing content I could easily read in a fraction of the time it takes someone to speak it. Video often is a time waster.
sep 1, 2025, 1:27 pm • 26 0 • view
Yup, me too
sep 1, 2025, 2:08 pm • 0 0 • view
That makes sense
sep 1, 2025, 11:36 am • 0 0 • view
Debating which flavour of digital feudalism is preferable whilst ignoring that the entire model - centralised platforms controlling discourse - is the problem.
sep 1, 2025, 1:37 pm • 3 0 • view
The class dynamics here are also worth noting - there's an implicit assumption that preferring text makes you more intellectual or cultured, which is exactly the kind of thinking that keeps these platforms as elite bubbles rather than genuinely useful communication infrastructure.
sep 1, 2025, 1:37 pm • 2 0 • view
I don’t think people think that. I just don’t have the time to watch 15min vidéos. Nothing to do with ‘class’. I’m a working class kid from up north ffs.
sep 1, 2025, 2:25 pm • 1 0 • view
Elite bubbles? Hilarious.
sep 1, 2025, 2:14 pm • 0 0 • view
That's all you saw there isn't it? No wonder you can laugh, you don't even know what to look at.
sep 1, 2025, 2:35 pm • 0 0 • view
yes-most americans read below 6th grade level-hence the success of trump and tiktok. we are dinosaurs.
sep 1, 2025, 1:25 pm • 0 0 • view
I don't agree, I just think the text content out there has become really stale, there aren't that many interesting posts to read.
sep 2, 2025, 8:56 am • 0 0 • view
What do you find isn't really working about Bluesky?
sep 1, 2025, 11:57 am • 8 0 • view
Except for all of us who hate video!
sep 1, 2025, 3:30 pm • 0 0 • view
I can see that Bluesky’s business model may need some tweaking, but personally I’m fine with it remaining relatively elite and niche. I have no interest in conversing with people who don’t like reading and writing.
sep 1, 2025, 1:27 pm • 4 0 • view
And think Threads has taken some traffic - some notable posters there. As well other platforms. More competition around now to gain critical mass
sep 1, 2025, 11:38 am • 8 0 • view
When I was primarily there, all the big accounts were promoting BlueSky. So I came here and people complain, too. Basically, everyone hates every platform, and yet, he we are.
sep 1, 2025, 1:21 pm • 1 0 • view
Every time I scroll the algo feed on Threads I can feel myself taking psychic damage. Truly some of the worst posting I have ever seen. If Bluesky wants to launch a premium supporter offering I will happily give them money to keep the lights on if the alternative is going to Threads.
sep 1, 2025, 11:48 am • 54 2 • view
I refuse to go back to threads. What a shit show 😂
sep 1, 2025, 1:17 pm • 13 0 • view
I’ll do without altogether rather than go back to threads.
sep 1, 2025, 1:43 pm • 2 0 • view
Threads is absolute trash. Kind of impressive how terrible it is.
sep 1, 2025, 3:52 pm • 2 0 • view
I deleted my threads because 1) Meta but also 2) it’s overrun with all the worst people you know and frankly… I hope they stay there. The platform is Facebook lite which renders it basically unusable for me. One of the worst social media experiences I’ve had to date, and that says a lot 😂
sep 1, 2025, 1:46 pm • 1 0 • view
I think its youtube sucking up all the oxygen. Matt Bellamy on Puck had an insane stat that YT is now the largest streaming app by share on TVs in the US. Not on Laptops or phones - TVs. And people are watching tonnes of longform conversation on YT. So it's competing for conversation, which is Bsky.
sep 1, 2025, 12:02 pm • 3 0 • view
But on YT aren't you just watching someone else's conversation? It's a bit like that everywhere, but with text based social media, everyone is at about the same level and there's a greater chance that conversations can expand into unexpected and interesting domains. Theoretically, at least.
sep 1, 2025, 12:15 pm • 1 0 • view
Oh sure. It’s just, you know, the whole attention economy thing. It feels like the entire world is now built on advertising. Facebook - advertising. ChatGPT very soon - advertising. Amazon - advertising. Youtube - advertising. I’m beginning to think we’re overdosing on advertising.
sep 1, 2025, 12:22 pm • 6 0 • view
Every now and then my adblocker stops working and I am shocked all over again how many ads people tolerate.
sep 1, 2025, 1:23 pm • 1 0 • view
Huge chunks of the population cannot distinguish between an advert and a news article
sep 1, 2025, 2:43 pm • 1 0 • view
I am not sure it's huge chunks of the public, but certainly some ads are deliberately disguised as news items.
sep 1, 2025, 2:56 pm • 0 0 • view
Text is the reason I like Bluesky. CBA to watch videos.
sep 1, 2025, 12:06 pm • 8 0 • view
I want to read, sometimes to write. and i still use FB for those
sep 1, 2025, 11:39 am • 1 0 • view
Mine is that perhaps using a popularity metric such as "unique likers" on a platform where people often read but don't necessarily "like" what has been posted is not going to show how much value there is. bsky.jazco.dev/stats
sep 1, 2025, 12:17 pm • 7 0 • view
That's a good point, b/c Likes are a much more powerful factor on Twitter compared to Bluesky, and there's a much larger incentive for artificial/bot Likes Not many people here seem to use the algorithm feed (and I'm not really sure how the Discover algo prioritizes Likes)
sep 1, 2025, 6:40 pm • 1 0 • view
Maybe it doesn't need to "flourish" per se. Not that it was ever gonna be the biggest social media site, but the insatiable need for growth of the product doesn't need to be here. As long as it can slowly grow it will still have a place as a site for people who do like reading text!
sep 1, 2025, 11:50 am • 60 1 • view
Right. There are forums from the late 90s / early 00s which had WAYYYYY fewer than 600k daily users, like multiple orders of magnitude fewer, but have had huge cultural, social and even political impact. I understand BSky needs to keep the lights on but does being niche = failure? NO.
sep 1, 2025, 1:21 pm • 27 2 • view
Those didn't require instant response type infrastructure etc. A lot cheaper to run.
sep 1, 2025, 1:43 pm • 0 0 • view
Oh yeah no like I say, BlueSky needs a lot more to keep the lights on. But the "at huge scale or nothing" narrative needs to be challenged.
sep 1, 2025, 1:50 pm • 1 0 • view
I do wonder what the cost to run it is and if that will be manageable on subs or whatever else they think of to monetise it.
sep 1, 2025, 2:43 pm • 0 0 • view
Also: I would PAY for it like I pay for Wikipedia. Why don’t they just ask us for donations?
sep 1, 2025, 1:26 pm • 12 0 • view
i would give them 10 bux, heck, i would give them 5 bucks every time i wanted to change my pfp (i will never change my pfp but its' the thought that counts)
sep 1, 2025, 1:57 pm • 0 1 • view
They might. I would pay too.
sep 1, 2025, 1:28 pm • 6 0 • view
I think there’s a demand for a site that’s not really niche/obscure, but not quite mainstream either. This was a space that Reddit occupied for years.
sep 1, 2025, 1:36 pm • 1 0 • view