Blueskies

Since the manchild took over Twitter, it became clear how toxic, either deliberate or by accident, the site was becomming.

That accelerated through 2022 and into 2023, so I decided to try an alternative.

At the time, that was Mastodon. It was, and still is, a federated social media, where lots of common servers share the site. And in theory should have been great.

But wasn't.

I tried to post lots of images to brighten people's feeds, but almost no feedback.

Which is the point really of social media.

I grew disheartened and used it less and less.

Last year, the tech guy behind Twitter rolled out his new platform: Bluesky.

Its feels pretty much like Twitter did early on, though it was in beta stage, and lacked much functionality.

At the end of October, I received an invite code from an existing member, at the time the only real way one could join. And still is, though the allocation of invite codes to memebers to share seems to have stopped, but I digress.

Initially, the botanical group I interacted with on Twotter moved to Bluesky pretty much at the same time, as did some other friends, but the churchcrawlers seemed very reluctant. Still few have joined.

On my first day on Bluesky I received more interaction than in 6 months on Mastodon, so I said on there I was leaving. Only at that point did one guy say he really liked my daily train pictures I posted. I had received no feedback from him before then.

I have not posted on Twitter since October, but still use it for news and sports coverage, as media companies can't migrate until they recieve code or the site is opened up.

There is a little politics on Bluesky, mostly from American botanists I have linked up with. I can live with that, not having domestic politics on Bluesky has been good, though I see plenty still on Twitter, even if I have culled contacts.

I like Bluesky, its like Twitter and new/familiar functions are being rolled out weekly. Its not for everyone, you really need to post to get interactions, just sitting there doing it will be like a desert. Its still so small, sometimes my contacts don't post for hours, mid-mornings and evenings seem to be the busiest, and for me, #wildflowerhour is there too.

I still have codes if you would like one, just message me.