Jack Dorsey introduces a decentralized social network with algo selection and portable accounts

By: Dickson Arinze

October 19, 2022 4:16 AM

Bluesky Social, an eagerly awaited social networking app, is finally accepting private beta testers and promises to "launch soon."

Jack Dorsey, co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, has revealed the newest version of the social protocol and a new app called Bluesky Social as a decentralized alternative to Twitter.

The announcement on October 18 comes nearly three years after Dorsey announced the initiative in December 2019, with the goal of giving social media users control over their data and allowing them to move it from platform to platform without permission.

The new protocol, formerly known as ADX, is called the Authenticated Transfer Protocol (or AT Protocol) and is being marketed as a "protocol for large-scale distributed social applications" that will improve things like account portability, algorithmic choice, interoperability, and performance.

The AT protocol will use user domain names, like @alice.com, to manage user identities. This would lead to encrypted URLs that protect the user's information.

Moreover, "without losing any of your data or social graph," you can transfer this information from one service to another.

Furthermore, the protocol allows for interoperability and improved performance, as well as "algorithmic choice," or the provision of "an open market of algorithms," much like the freedom of indexer selection afforded to users interacting with Web search engines.

According to Bluesky's explanation, this means that users of social media platforms that implement the protocol will have more say over what they see and who they reach out to than would be the case with a centralized entity seeking user engagement.

In the past, Bluesky has explained that its model for content moderation takes place "at multiple layers throughout the system," which includes aggregation algorithms, reputation-based thresholds, and user input.

"Companies in the market decide what to carry to their customers, so "no one company can decide what gets published."

Following a user's inquiry on Twitter, Dorsey clarified that the option to use "no algorithms" was available.

Bluesky Social is a new social app that will "launch soon," according to the developers. Interested users can sign up for a private waitlist to get access to the beta version before it is released to the general public.

After reaching a "temporary limit on mailing signups" due to the high volume of beta testers, Bluesky switched mailing list providers to reopen beta registrations.

As the Bluesky application continues to evolve, we look forward to providing updates.

Many people believe that centralized management of social media feeds, accounts, and data is detrimental to community cohesion; a decentralized social platform could be one solution to this problem.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has been critical of how Twitter handles "misinformation." In April, he said that if he were CEO of Twitter, he would be "reluctant to delete things" and permanently ban accounts. Instead, he would work to promote free speech in accordance with the laws of each country.