Jay Graber, CEO of Bluesky Social, discusses his vision for decentralized social media, born from Twitter's original ethos. He argues that user control and account portability are essential for the future of online interactions. The conversation dives into the challenges and unique culture of Bluesky, innovative monetization strategies, and the importance of standardizing protocols. Graber emphasizes the need for platforms to balance user engagement with effective moderation, ensuring a healthier social media ecosystem in the wake of chaos across traditional networks.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Bluesky's Origin
Jay Graber pitched her vision for Bluesky to Twitter, emphasizing decentralization.
She insisted Bluesky spin out as a separate company to avoid losing institutional support if Twitter's leadership changed.
insights INSIGHT
Balancing Centralization and Decentralization
Graber recognizes the risks of centralization in tech and human systems.
She prefers a hybrid approach balancing centralization and decentralization.
insights INSIGHT
AT Protocol's Goal
Bluesky, the company, built AT Protocol, intending it to become the last social identity users need.
This protocol allows users to move their identity, relationships, and data between apps.
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Today, I’m talking to Jay Graber, the CEO of Bluesky Social, which is a decentralized competitor to Meta’s Threads, Mastodon, and X. Bluesky actually started inside of what was then known as Twitter — it was a project from then-CEO Jack Dorsey, who spent his days wandering the earth and saying things like Twitter should be a protocol and not a company. Bluesky was supposed to be that protocol, but Jack spun it out of Twitter in 2021, just before Elon Musk bought the company and renamed it X.
Bluesky is now an independent company with a few dozen employees, and it finds itself in the middle of one of the most chaotic moments in the history of social media. There are a lot of companies and ideas competing for space on the post-Twitter internet, and Jay makes a convincing argument that decentralization — the idea that you should be able to take your username and following to different servers as you wish — is the future.
Links:
Twitter is funding research into a decentralized version of its platform — The Verge
Bluesky built a decentralized protocol for Twitter — and is working on an app that uses it — The Verge
Decoder with Nilay Patel 