A thread for updates on the various ways the internet is destroying everything and the undying hellsites of social media. Let's all laugh at the abyss.
I'm sticking with Threads. 36M daily active users vs 3M on Bluesky (as of July). This means it's about ten times more likely I'll find discussions that interest me on Threads than Bluesky.
So much of Threads “activity” is just IG overflow content though. They embed Threads blocks into the IG app to drive people into Threads. I imagine a lot of that “daily active” use is people temporarily popping into Threads because they tapped on something in Instagram, then they head right back to IG.
I was expecting Threads to be the new home of Sports Twitter, but Threads is full of really lazy content. It’s a lot of “what’s your favorite color?” kind of posts.
It’s a lot of “what’s your favorite color?” kind of posts.
What's your favorite color baby?
The uncuratable feed of Threads is untenable for me.
BSky has had a surge of the accounts I followed on Twitter so it is approaching a critical mass.
It takes about 4 minutes to catch up on Twitter each day now, so few of the accounts I followed are bothering with it any more.
Threads being Facebook (and thus Zuck) made it a no go for me from the start.
If you leave aside what the new and political posts were referring to, today on Bsky felt like almost every Sunday on Twitter before Leon Sumk bought it.
I only follow Jamelle Bouie on Bsky. The Discover tab has been delightfully enjoyable to browse.
Jamelle Bouie is the only decent writer left at NYT I think.
I was expecting Threads to be the new home of Sports Twitter, but Threads is full of really lazy content. It’s a lot of “what’s your favorite color?” kind of posts.
I mostly read my following feed, which, unlike the "for you" feed, is chronological. Since it's only people I follow, there isn't a lot of "what's your favorite color" 
I should probably give Bluesky another look, because it's been a good while. Last time I tried it there wasn't much there there for me. I imagine it's different now.
I expect things to get worse on both Bluesky and Threads since all the Xitter faithful seem to be restless.
The shitheels of Twitter are walking straight into automated blocklists on Bluesky.
There has also been a lot of "starter packs" created, a bundle of accounts you can choose to follow in bulk for various topics.
If you were there a long time ago, note that Jack Dorsey and his freezepeach position got ran out of town more than a year ago.
I imagine a lot of that “daily active” use is people temporarily popping into Threads because they tapped on something in Instagram, then they head right back to IG.
I'm often a 'daily user' on Threads because I accidentally tapped on something when I was trying to scroll past on Facebook.
Isn't political discussion basically impossible on Threads? While I do sympathise with people wanting some respite I need my social media to keep me informed, at least a bit.
The shitheels of Twitter are walking straight into automated blocklists on Bluesky.
It's amazing the number of times someone has shared a screenshot and tag for some MAGAt and they're already been banished by a blocklist.
You do need to be a bit careful with blocklists. I was subscribed to a transphobia blocklist where the admin was a touch aggressive. I think they were blocking anyone who was quoting posts from trans people and 'dog piling'
And while I don't support dogpiling of vulnerable people, if you're going to be a prick in someone's replies, that's your choice.
Isn't political discussion basically impossible on Threads? While I do sympathise with people wanting some respite I need my social media to keep me informed, at least a bit.
If you want to be informed, at least on US stuff, just keep a browser tab open to ground.news and another for Wonkette and you should be fine. You don't need social media rotting your pleasure centers.
Wise advice, but since leaving Twitter my pleasure centres have been largely unassailed by social media gremlins.
We'll see how things go now post election and with the latest influx of Twitter refugees to Bluesky, but so far I've got a healthy mix of news and existential dread and fun pictures of space.
I'm grateful that GWJ and, to a far lesser extent, Reddit comprise all the 'social media' interest I have. The latter I am less interested in the social aspect but instead appreciate it as a news/link aggregator, while GWJ is better for actual social/discussion elements.
It occurred to me that Back to the Future 2 predicted the increase in media consumption and decrease in attention span with the scene where the kid was turning on all of the TVs. It just missed out on the size of the screens.
Bluesky has reached the critical mass of 'pundits blaming trans people for everything' where I've added it to my hosts file as another domain that gets sent straight to hell, alongside twitter.
Oh, so the Lincoln Project finally moved over?
Tom Nichols, Helen Lewis, you know the coterie
Probably already on my transphobe block list.
Yep, those are all mass blocked immediately. I've seen Lewis' latest piece shared purely for dunking.
Loomer joined yesterday and was mass blocked within minutes.
Loomer joined yesterday and was mass blocked within minutes.
They have total control of the biggest bullhorn in social media, but they don't even want to hang out with each other, they have to find the libs.
Rat Boy wrote:Loomer joined yesterday and was mass blocked within minutes.
They have total control of the biggest bullhorn in social media, but they don't even want to hang out with each other, they have to find the libs.
Because, like all fanatics, there's shameful doubt at their core and they need validation from the libs to quell that doubt.
Or like any bully, sadness and fear are their music; happiness and hope their finger nails on the chalkboard.
I'm sticking with Threads. 36M daily active users vs 3M on Bluesky (as of July). This means it's about ten times more likely I'll find discussions that interest me on Threads than Bluesky.
It's up to 12M now, it's accelerating. Also Bluesky doesn't have an algorithm, so you are much more likely to actually see the things the people you're following are posting. A bunch of "big" accounts that have come over from Twitter have a 10th of the following they did before but say they get twice as much actual engagement.
For me the killer app is the nuclear block; if you block someone, they disappear from your timeline, and they disappear from any interaction with you, in everyone's timeline. So trolls get completely cut off at the source.
Also there's a MAGA blocklist that everyone in my feed appears to be using, so you never even see the bullhorn jerks in the first place. They never have the chance to farm outrage.
Catturd tried to join the other day, got immediately reported for hate speech by, like, 20k people, and was suspended by the next day.
At the least, I hope this drives the remaining twitter hold-outs in my entertainment sphere to kill their accounts. A few have started mentioning Bluesky so that's promising. Who knows, maybe I'll create an account some day. I still have to keep FB open for a work thing and a few childhood contacts but the social media aspect of that is completely useless.
(Edit: I have so many filters enabled that FB's news/activity feed often returns 0 posts!)
Yes, there is a freak out in progress.
Shadow President Elon is absolutely going to sue this place for suppression of Free Speech.
Okay, I created my account! First impression though is that most folks that I might normally follow haven't made the transition yet. A handful have made accounts but aren't active. Well, I'll check in again in a few months.
It's nice there.
It is NEVER going to beat the "tumblr in 2012" allegations, but it's nice.
I was a very heavy twitter user but swore it off several years ago for be-the-change reasons. I tried threads and mastodon, but bluesky is the only one I've stuck with.
It's still very sparse, and nothing at all like a public square. But it has some key folks like jbouie and Popehat, and the vibe is pleasant. (I don't use any block lists , but the big accounts I follow probably all do.)
The only thing I miss about twitter is the people I know in real life - need to find an automated way to find who's moved over..
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