Summary
Journalists are increasingly abandoning X (formerly Twitter) for Bluesky, citing higher engagement and less toxicity. Since Elon Musk’s takeover of X, changes like deprioritizing external links and rising hate speech have alienated many, especially marginalized groups.
Bluesky, founded by Jack Dorsey, offers a more welcoming environment, especially for journalists and activists, with 20x the engagement in some cases.
Reporters note better traffic, reduced harassment, and a focus on diverse stories.
Organizations like The Guardian and fundraising groups also report greater success on Bluesky compared to X.
This is the most common reply to any mention of onboarding newcomers, but it’s not helpful. It’d be much more productive to hear specific criticisms so we can address them.
- Is clicking the big “Join” (the default server) on joinmastodon.org really that big of a hurdle?
- Is a firehouse home feed required to engage users from the start?
There are other issues. Missing features (cited by people who bailed from Mastodon):
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a lack of “trending” list - that means journalists and other people who want to know what’s happening right now didn’t have a way to find events.
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no suggestions for follows. As a new user, how do people know what to follow?
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no suggested posts. Once I scroll through all the posts from the people I follow, the system doesn’t provide me with new posts.
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no quote tweets.
It isn’t just that Mastodon has a weird onboarding experience, it’s that it doesn’t behave the way Twitter users have come to expect/need. I realize that is usually by design.
Edit: added 4
