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I joined recently and haven’t seen any of that. In fact it just feels like old Twitter where people are having fun instead of being pompous trolls

Mine is like the old Twitter and is rife with political meltdowns and “own the libs” memes.

I also basically only follow indie hackers and some “thought leader” types like Naval Ravikant.

Every time I launch the X app on mobile, it automatically switches me to the algorithmic “For You” feed, so it’s hard to miss. This is apparently not configurable in the app.

When I’m on desktop, the Control Panel for Twitter does a good job of getting rid of most of that.

I tolerate X, I wouldn’t say I like it but I like reading and connecting with certain people and their only platform is X.

I think that’s what keeps X going: network effect.

You should be able to stay on Following, they made that change a while back. I.e., once you choose Following, you will keep going there till you change it.

That's not how it works on my iPhone or iPad, unfortunately -- and I just replaced and clean installed my iPad this week. It even happens when I quickly switch from and back to the X app.

Maybe my user account isn't in that feature pool yet?

I just logged in again, I have 0 following and 0 followers and this is what I see [0], straight up political content, even on the Following tab, for some reason. I simply don't care to see political content right when I log in, and this phenomenon shows me that it has the exact same problems as Twitter, people posting ragebait to get engagement, just on the opposite of the spectrum.

[0] https://imgur.com/a/XHmidRt

And why do you think that is?

Probably because that's what people engage with the most and is thus shown to users who just start off on the platform, as I mentioned. Note that while Bluesky is open source, its feed algorithm actually is not open source, so it can be just as bad as Twitter.

If you don’t follow enough people or feeds to fill your Following feed it can add some of the most popular posts of the moment, just to make sure there’s something there, which right now will be about a major political event that just happened. I’m not sure what else you would expect?

If you don’t like how the algorithm works you can write your own (that’s what feeds are - custom algorithms).

If these are the most popular posts on the platform it is a clear indication of BS having the same lopsided political bias as Twitter had before it became X and with that it is just a refuge for those who prefer a platform with a similarly narrow window of allowed discourse also known as an echo chamber. If that is what you like BS may be appealing but for those who like to voice dissent - even if only to rile up the regulars - it is probably less than welcoming.

I don't like the format used by X, BS, Mastodon and all the others so I do not use any of them but I do passively partake of what is posted on them. In practice this comes down to probably 95% X, 5% Mastodon/Pleroma and that's it. I have yet to find a BS post of interest and won't use Threads because I don't do Metafacebookthings.

Obviously it’s left-leaning. X is pushing to the right. People are voting with their feet as a natural result: “like Twitter but not an alt-right foghorn” is a good enough selling point. It probably won’t stay that way as it gains traction.

However, it’s not just that. If you want to see more tailored content you have to follow people. Expecting to see anything other than the most currently-popular posts when you’re not following anyone and haven’t set any preferences is frankly ridiculous.

One thing I will say though is that although BSky has good science and arts communities the tech community seems to be sticking with Mastodon.

Because that is representative of the largely unpleasant user base.

unfortunately you have to train the algorithm to your liking by blocking everything (IIRC there's also a dislike button somewhere?)

not unlike reddit where the first thing you should do is unsubscribe from every single default subreddit (if you visit the home page at all, anyway) - this has been true for as long as I've been there (a decade, and I haven't really visited for the past couple years)

I don't have an account and all I see on the front page is posts about how bluesky is better than Twitter and how trump is Satan. There was one digital art piece of the moon over a lake.

> When I joined it, just as when I joined Mastodon, most of what I saw was just anti-Twitter and anti-Musk content

Was this during one of the major outflow events from Twitter? If so, hardly surprising; most new arrivals would have just left Twitter and would be irritated about the whole situation. Over the last week I've noticed a good deal of that sort of content in my Discover tab, but it's largely eased off now (yesterday was probably peak leaving-Twitter day, until the next stupid Musk thing happens; today is the day that the new TOS goes into effect).

This was a while ago during their private beta, perhaps 6 months ago? Regardless, this is what I see on my Following tab when I just logged in now, even though I have no following or followers: https://imgur.com/a/XHmidRt

> even though I have no following or followers

Ah, yeah, that might do it. You're probably just getting ~whatever's currently most popular, with no other guidance.

These days, when you sign up, you apparently get asked for interests, and it pre-primes The Algorithm(TM), but yeah, that wasn't a thing during the closed beta.

True, I joined during the beta. They really should have some default filtering of content for those who have not yet followed anyone, because seeing the homepage like I posted above made me not want to even interact with Bluesky anymore, which is likely how other people would feel as well.

I just joined -- contrary to this, my 'Discover' feed (equiv to Twitter's 'For You') is mostly dogs and nature photos, rather than anti-Musk content.

Still not really what I'm after, but that's what the 'Following' tab is for.

Same, except I mostly got cats and some stuff about video games and book quotes. There was another thread here the other day where someone was complaining that the first things they saw were furry drawings. It seems like there's a variety of first things people see on Bluesky.

Just posted another comment, I have 0 following and followers and I see political content as soon as I log in: https://imgur.com/a/XHmidRt

Maybe you should follow some people?

My point is that it should not be that vitriolic as soon as someone joins. When I joined Twitter, I got actually interesting content, but of course that was way before Musk and "the algorithm" now. Sad to see that Bluesky is basically replicating the same thing that Twitter is doing currently, instead of how Twitter was in the beginning.

That appears to be your "following" feed

As I mentioned above, I have 0 following and followers, so it takes the discover tab content to show on the following tab, even though the correct behavior would be to show nothing. Therefore, since Bluesky deliberately does this, I don't see it as being better than Twitter at all, engagement chasing wise. After all, it is VC backed and will need to make money somehow.

> even though the correct behavior would be to show nothing

I think I see the problem. There's room for disagree about what the "correct" behavior is in this edge case of a user making unusual decisions about how to use the app. I can see it either way and there are probably pros and cons but "show them whatever bullshit" is not obviously incorrect compared to "show them nothing at all."

If you're refusing to use even the most basic tools to shape your feed or give it any clues about what to show you you're kind of in UI UB territory.

I understand your point but I find it interesting that others cannot.

IMHO, online bickerers don't care for understanding. Understanding requires responding, not reacting. If we take a step back to contemplate your words, we lose the stimulation in the exchange.

I've thought about that for myself: missing the other person's point and debating imaginary outrages isn't actually fun or even winning. It's just stimulation for an internet addiction.

What country are you in? I'm seeing mostly nature photos and other non-political content (albeit I'm viewing signed out), but I'm not in the US.

I think as a site starts, you might see that, but as it matures it diversifies. Definitely on Blue Sky, which doesn't default to an algorithmic feed, what you see depends on who you follow and as more groups move there the diversity of content increases.

You can see how that's going with the Blue Sky Starter pack directory https://blueskydirectory.com/starter-packs/all which currently has over 12000 entries across a wide range of topics.

Twitter shows you what you want because you have been a long time user and have tuned the feed

Any other platform you adopt will likewise need the same tuning, and it should be no surprise that if it knows nothing about you, you will see content that is widely appealing to the rest of the community (who just left xitter)

I’m new to bluesky and am making liberal use of the “show me less of this” button as I try to discover people with reading.

It will take some time until it reads less like the front page of Reddit and more like a feed I want to engage with.

>Twitter shows you what you want because you have been a long time user and have tuned the feed

You have way too much faith in how fancy these algorithms are.

Agree. I don't understand why anyone cares. If you talk to Jack and Jill on Twitter, why does it matter if you now talk to Jack and Jill on <insert platform here>.

It's not going to change your life or any situation you are in. Nobody outside of this circle is going to care or even notice. But that's true of all these online things, petitions, social drama, and so on.

Everyday life goes on. I'm having a late breakfast. Then doing some important work.

It feels more snappy to me than Twitter/X.

This seems to be a USP: https://openrss.org/blog/bluesky-has-launched-rss-feeds

And no addictive cat videos please.

Bonus points: install this for facebook: https://socialfixer.com/

This is my hide posts section of socialfixer:

Reels and short videos

Join

Follow

Sponsored

Reels

It will take a lot to break the network effect of X, probably more so than many other platforms, because it's very detrimental to their reach (and income/revenue share) for people with a lot of followers to move. So the important people will mostly stay, and they will attract back the people who leave, we've seen this a couple of cycles. Contrast that to something like Facebook. It had large network effects too, but all it takes is a few of your best friends switching at the same time, and nobody is losing a lot of reach by leaving. So they keep posting to both, but that takes work to keep up.

> the important people will mostly stay, and they will attract back the people who leave

Important people on the left (broadly, not just lefties) are starting to leave. I think Kara Swisher just deleted her Twitter and migrated to Threads.

What I'm seeing here is lots of echo chambers getting created as we speak. Threads, bluesky, etc... I don't use Threads because I don't use Instagram that much. Everyone will have their safe space and the world will continue without any issues whatsoever. Heck, there are countries where Facebook is the "internet". Other than the left (US, UK, Canada?) posting on any of those platforms, nothing will change for the rest of the world and each one will capture what the other side said and post it on the platform.

> lots of echo chambers getting created

And X transforming into a right-wing one.

> nothing will change for the rest of the world and each one will capture what the other side said and post it on the platform

Network effects almost guarantee each country will choose one. My guess is Europe will migrate away from X, mostly, while South America mirrors our left/right split.

This is interesting. We know twitter was left-wing all the way to the top and after Elon took and put both sides on equal footing, it suddenly became right-wing? C'mon man. Media is run by the left.

The EU is increasingly trying to suppress dissenting voices on one side of the aisle. We'll see how long people will put off with that before things get out of control.

South America is starting to divide itself between socialism (Venezuela, Bolivia, etc...) and center-right ideas (Argentina, El salvador). Time will tell.

Yep. There's this massive blind spot created by years of "moderation". All the media has been heavily left leaning, as well as all social media platforms. So sure, when a major social media platform removes restrictions it will of course feel to them like it's moving right, when in reality it's just balancing out. It's unacceptable for left leaning people to be subjected to any dissenting views, so they move elsewhere.

I’m skeptical it changes much. You don’t need different platforms to have echo chambers, a given platform can support more than one.

I don’t experience twitter as a right wing app at all, for example

I've moved sharply right in the past 4 years. But I still see plenty left content on X so it doesn't seem like a complete echo chamber to me.

It could be that the "left" content that reaches me is whatever enrages the people I follow, so I get an extreme view of what the left thinks now. That is a danger in the "for you tab", but I also follow plenty of people directly on the left of the spectrum.

> because it's very detrimental to their reach (and income/revenue share) for people with a lot of followers to move

That's a problem for, like, Twitter-celebrities, sure. What percentage of Twitter users are actually interested in these, tho? I don't think, back when I was on Twitter, that I followed anyone who made money via Twitter; the only Twitter celebrities I followed were dril and a cat, and I don't think either were making money on Twitter (at any event, both dril and the cat are now on Bluesky; the cat is also on Mastodon).

I'm sure there are plenty of people selling, like, get-rich-quick schemes and so on who are dependent on Twitter, but, well, who cares about them?

I think that just based on the properties of the network/graph, it's unlikely that enough important accounts will leave, and therefore people who are interested in them can't leave. Anyone who's built a good audience is unlikely to want the platform to die, that's a big risk to them. Some people are just famous in general, and they might have an easier time migrating to new platforms and have people following them, but still, why give up all your followers?

You see people like Yann LeCun announcing his leaving. Then he comes back and posts "teasers" of his Threads posts, and he's retweeting posts showing that he's still active. And this guy works for a competing social network!

Maybe this time is different, the left's hate for Musk runs deep now, but my bet is X will be fine in the end.

Hrm. Very little of my Twitter usage was following ultra-high-follower accounts, and of those I did follow, most of them ended up simul-posting on Mastodon and/or Bluesky. I'm not sure how typical a use pattern this was, mind you.

I’d really recommend muting the words “Twitter”, “the bad place” and “the other place” - really makes your feed better

Yeah, ditto. "1M people" seems great but it turns out that you don't really want people who joined due to the result of an election.

I joined yesterday and was overwhelmed by the same things, but I found the mute keyword feature and with a few muted keywords, it's a lot more useful for me. No need to mass mute/block the users, just mute twitter, musk, trump

it's starting to change now - definitely give it another spin in a week or so - a lot of organic non-musk/twitter content there now

When I joined mastodon like a decade ago it was mostly "meta" content. People talking about mastodon and ActivityPub itself. It was honestly great and there were many interesting folks & nerds talking about interesting technological stuff. It was more like hacker news, unlike now. I am a bit sad that it got more popular but it's still quite good. So yeah, some people actually want "niche" content and not mainstream content.