2024-05-14 notes on federated socials

I view Bluesky, Threads, X(FKAT), nostr, all the Mastodon instances, and spin-offs from them, as well as Insta, TikTok, and even Facebook, and others, as comprising a decentralized system of social networks (the "socials"). These systems are like silos, in that I end up having accounts on each if I want to participate. Having a bridge, or bridges, among these silos, is one way to enable participation of, say, me from my Mastodon instance, to participate in Bluesky, and vice-versa. There are social issues with bridges; different socials have different rules and norms of participation, control of information, visibility of posts, and so on. Communication among the silos is key to having a larger, connected, social federation. That's how I think about it now.

2025-12-05 some updates:

My Bluesky account had been bridged to my Mastodon instance, using Bridgy Fed @ap.brid.gy as soon as Bridgy Fed was available. I had also connected my Mastodon account to my Threads account, and I think that did work, although I had a hard time determining what posts could be seen where. My Mastodon instance has blocked Threads, and I appreciate the rationale for that action.

A month ago I decided to move my Bluesky account to a "blacksky.community" PDS. The transition was easy, the documentation great, and the Blacksky support was fast and helpful with my own mis-understandings. One other pleasant surprise in this Bluesky->Blacksky transition was how well deck.blue just kept on working.

So these experiences bode well for federating a collection of socials. I'm optimistic about decentralized web developments.

2025-12-10 notes:

Posted today on "blacksky.community" and it showed up right away on my Mastodon Home feed. And an early morning post on my Masto instance shows up on my "blacksky.community" "federated" tab. So, yes Bridgy Fed is working.