Beyond the Blue #4
Every week @ferran.cc sends you a newsletter with the latest Bluesky and AT Proto news
Welcome to the 4th issue of this newsletter!
You may have noticed that I've moved the newsletter to Substack. The reason behind this shift is that Paragraph was lacking several essential features that I find necessary. But everything will be the same for you :)
This week, I would like to highlight something that makes me really happy: seeing more scientists and science communicators flocking to Bluesky, particularly in various areas of Biology!
If you're looking to add a touch of science and biology to your feed, I highly recommend following these accounts: @whysharksmatter.bsky.social, @restingdinoface.bsky.social, @danirabaiotti.bsky.social, @friel.bsky.social, and @jopabinia.bsky.social. These profiles will surely satisfy your curiosity in different fields (they are quite active, sharing great content from other accounts).
You can also follow the newly created What’s science custom feed, created by @bossett.bsky.social and curated by @danirabaiotti.bsky.social
I hope you enjoy this newsletter. If you do, please share it using this link and subscribe!
News
The Bluesky Team released an update detailing what they had released at both the Protocol level and with the Bluesky Client since February. Although they didn't provide many details about their roadmap for the coming weeks, it’s clear that the main focus right now is to work towards protocol federation, account portability and moderation tooling.
Following the uproar over the Reddit API prices, there are folks out there wondering if it's doable to create a Reddit-like experience using ATProto. Skyfeed’s developer @redsolver.net even started a GitHub repo sharing ideas on how this could become a reality. @dholms.xyz also shared his thoughts about it.
If you are the type of person that uses MacOS and loves using shortcuts for everything, I've got good news for you. Sky.app just implemented a way to easily access custom feeds through shortcuts (among many other updates).
An interesting post from @Why.bsky.team, Bluesky technical advisor, about the challenge that push notifications (a service that has to run somewhere) pose in a decentralized network like the one AT Proto wants to become.
There are many ways to handle languages in social media, with pros and cons. But there is no one-size-fits-all solution, so different alternatives can be used: client-side filtering, feed customization, and language translation at either the user or server level. As Bluesky grows, this problem is becoming more real and some Blueskiers are starting to discuss it.
Featured Articles
Bluesky’s Custom Algorithms Could Be the Future of Social Media, an article by @stokel.bsky.social, on the launch of custom feeds on AT Proto. It discusses the advantages of having custom feeds to provide a better UX and in front of closed-source algorithms.
Bluesky, championed by Jack Dorsey, was supposed to be Twitter 2.0. Can it succeed?, a general review of Bluesky as an alternative to Twitter, focusing on its decentralized approach to moderation and algorithm management.
How BlueSky Structure Their App and Manage State, a blog post for developers and techies exploring the Bluesky app's code after its recent release.
Bluesky’s growing pains strain its relationship with Black users, an article by @morgansung.bsky.social discussing moderation challenges and the suitability of Bluesky as a safe space for marginalized communities and diversity.
Featured apps tools clients
Skydeck: A column-based client for ATProto. Still in beta, but if the development focuses on UX and fully incorporates the core features, it has the potential to evolve into a great client, particularly appealing to Tweetdeck nostalgics.
Show my likes: Just enter your handle to get a list of the posts you liked (or that someone else liked). It doesn’t require login!
Don't forget that you can find more apps, tools and clients in the Bluesky Community Hub.
Featured Skeet
Bluesky Stats
Number of users: 113,271 (+10,205)
Number of skeets: 4,03M (+670,000)
Data extracted from Jaz's Bluesky stats on 25-05-2023