Musings, The Authenticated Transfer Protocol is the Future of Decentralized Social Media

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Perhaps I’m leading with bias as a software engineer or I’m nostalgic for the early days of the internet but using Bluesky and its underlying protocol atproto (the Authenticated Transfer Protocol) for less than a week has been a breath of fresh air. So much so that I’m willing to say that it’s the future of social media decentralized or otherwise, at least as far as attempts at “public square” conversations go.

We’ve been so accustomed to being held hostage by some algorithm, some “For You” which is really “For Our Advertisers”, “For Our Secret Agenda”, or “For Our Billionaire Owner” that a platform “for the public benefit” that is so open seems hard to believe.

Bluesky COO @iamrosewang.bsky.social says the platform is focused on prioritizing users - not advertisers.

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— The Weekend on MSNBC (@theweekendmsnbc.bsky.social) November 30, 2024 at 2:19 PM

In a few short bursts of usage I’ve connected with strangers building APIs for the new protocol, others using FPGAs to emulate retro games, built a comments system using the open source Bluesky SDK to tie to my personal blog, learnt from other writers and engineers, sent out a bunch of links and increased relevant engagement to my own sites in ways that were not happening on other platforms. No algorithm-manipulated downplaying of content, just the freedom to hop in, hop out, block, mute, and discover like wikipedia and explore the useful parts of the internet like a rabbit down a rabbit hole - truly surfing the web. Social is fun again!

So much this. Bluesky loves links. As @hankgreen.bsky.social says "people click on stuff and they leave the site, they leave! and they read articles!". I love how excited we all are about the open web. Our timeline is healing. Click on the video, and enjoy it on hanks channel! youtu.be/D4ghgVq9z4M

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— patak (@patak.dev) November 30, 2024 at 3:12 AM

Needless to say, it’s early days, we’ll see what happens. For now, though, I’m calling it early (or rather a little late): “The Authenticated Transfer Protocol” and perhaps Bluesky (or similarly ethical variants) are the future of decentralized social.

…Just musing.