Bluesky, eXodus and... wind of changes
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
I remember when about 15 years ago we had in Poland two interesting and quite popular social media platforms: Blip and Flaker.
Blip was ‘polish Twitter’ in that time. Used only by Poles. Really interesting grassroots project which became important place for people with various interests.
Flaker was something different. You published posts, took part in discussions, following other people. Combination of Facebook and Twitter (or Blip). It had great community and some of options which wasn’t enabled for a long time in American social platforms like Twitter or Facebook. That cases were a wind of digital innovations in early years of 21st century in my country.
I remember there were my first experience with social media.
Then American platforms were growing and growing. Poles were created accounts there and local social media services like Blip and Flaker were doing worse and worse. The inevitability of change was felt then.
That was only one of digital migration which I can describe. Until yesterday. After American election many people got off X and started using Bluesky. Mainly in USA but growing trend is apparent in UK and… Poland where political polarisation is growing year after year.
I’m on Bluesky from over 12 months. Started using it late 2023 when platform hasn’t full open access yet (who remember invitations?). So I had observing how Bluesky was growing and changing. Why I write about it? Because in last few days I felt the same what in 2008 and 2009 when me and my friends started to using Twitter and Facebook and got off Polish social media. There was a big change in digital landscape. Now the feeling of inevitability of change also accompanies me.
I don’t know how long will this take. But I feel and see similarities between this two situations. Of course, regardless of the fact that the circumstances are completely different.