Twitter will fund bluesky, an independent effort to develop an open and decentralized standard for social media, with the goal of Twitter using it as a client
Twitter is funding a small independent team of up to five open source architects, engineers, and designers to develop an open and decentralized standard for social media. The goal is for Twitter to ultimately be a client of this standard. 🧵
@jack
Related Coverage
- Jack Dorsey wants to decentralize Twitter Decrypt · Tim Copeland
- Twitter Makes A Bet On Protocols Over Platforms Techdirt · Mike Masnick
- Twitter is funding research into a decentralized version of its platform The Verge · Adi Robertson
- Twitter will fund development of an open social media standard Engadget · Christine Fisher
- Twitter aims to build an open standard for social networks Axios · Ina Fried
- Twitter wants to develop an open, decentralized, federated social media standard...and then join it Boing Boing · Cory Doctorow
- Jack Dorsey Funds Development Of Decentralized Social Media Standard Bitcoinist.com · Emilio Janus
- Twitter is funding five developers to build decentralized standards for social media The Block · Celia Wan
Discussion
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@jack
@jack
on x
twitter was so open early on that many saw its potential to be a decentralized internet standard, like SMTP (email protocol). For a variety of reasons, all reasonable at the time, we took a different path and increasingly centralized Twitter. But a lot's changed over the years...
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@jack
@jack
on x
Recently we came across @mmasnick's article “Protocols, Not Platforms” which captures a number of the challenges and solutions. But more importantly, it reminded us of a credible path forward: hire folks to develop a standard in the open. https://knightcolumbia.org/...
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@paraga
Parag Agrawal
on x
I'm incredibly excited for Twitter to kick off @bluesky, a new independent effort to develop a decentralized standard for social media. Please see @jack's thread for more context. I have the privilege of finding a lead for this team. https://twitter.com/...
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@jack
@jack
on x
Finally, new technologies have emerged to make a decentralized approach more viable. Blockchain points to a series of decentralized solutions for open and durable hosting, governance, and even monetization. Much work to be done, but the fundamentals are there.
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@kevinmarks
Kevin Marks
on x
Hi chaps, we may be able to save you a lot of effort, as we already have a set of open standards developed by the #indieweb community and standardised through w3c - micropub, webmention, websub and more in development with microsub too http://chat.indieweb.org for more
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@mastodonproject
Mastodon
on mastodon
Jack... https://twitter.com/...
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@jack
@jack
on x
Why is this good for Twitter? It will allow us to access and contribute to a much larger corpus of public conversation, focus our efforts on building open recommendation algorithms which promote healthy conversation, and will force us to be far more innovative than in the past.
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@vitalikbuterin
Vitalik.Eth
on x
This seems interesting and important. https://twitter.com/...
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@davewiner
Dave Winer
on x
This is how shit happens in tech. There were people who said the same kind of thing to the W3C when they embarked on an NIH approach. ;-) pic.twitter.com/E2bjK8e9Jk
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@chronotope
Aram Zucker-Scharff
on x
This is about tech companies removing themselves from the community of the web, creating an alternative set of web standards, and making it harder for anyone to ever compete in the same way they did. https://twitter.com/...
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@paraga
Parag Agrawal
on x
The path ahead for @bluesky is full of uncertainty and challenges, which will be difficult but energizing for the right team. Some of the hurdles we can predict include:
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@mastodonproject
Mastodon
on mastodon
This thought from Twitter's CTO, charged with figuring out their Totally New Decentralized Protocol, is deeply troubling. The vast majority of the internet is powered by protocols which were achieved via consensus. This feels like laying groundwork for TwitterPub™. https://twitte…
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@bluesky
@bluesky
on x
lo https://twitter.com/...
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@jack
@jack
on x
First, we're facing entirely new challenges centralized solutions are struggling to meet. For instance, centralized enforcement of global policy to address abuse and misleading information is unlikely to scale over the long-term without placing far too much burden on people.
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@alexstamos
Alex Stamos
on x
I see this as Jack's response to Zuck's “pivot to privacy”, but one that fits Twitter's public content model better. Both companies want to be out of the “controlling what people say” business. Celebration by Twitterati who often call for more speech control seems premature.
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@jack
@jack
on x
Third, existing social media incentives frequently lead to attention being focused on content and conversation that sparks controversy and outrage, rather than conversation which informs and promotes health.
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@mmasnick
Mike Masnick
on x
My quick writeup on @jack's protocols announcement this morning... https://twitter.com/...
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@ferenstein
Greg Ferenstein
on x
Jack, ignore the haters. i think this is a wonderful experiment. its bold and (incredibly) difficult. if it works, it'll probably work in ways we cant even imagine, which is something that tends to bring out trolling snark and criticism. Ill be watching with earnest!
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@miguelrios
Miguel Ros-Berros
on x
Very excited about this. One tiny deet: Twitter should make @bluesky an independent B-Corp from day 1. https://twitter.com/...
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@vijaya
Vijaya Gadde
on x
2. Twitter has always believed in the principles of a democratic, open Internet — we believe the future of our industry rests in community-focused initiatives & direct engagement with emerging innovators. We look forward to continuing this public conversation next year.
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@vijaya
Vijaya Gadde
on x
1. Apart from the technical elements outlined by @jack here, this is fundamentally about openly exploring the fullest and most participatory vision of our Twitter. In 2020, we will be using our voice to more prominently support and foster the values of a free and open internet. h…
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@jamestitcomb
James Titcomb
on x
I am extremely unclear on how decentralisation addresses the problems described in this thread or Twitter's other problems https://twitter.com/...
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@davewiner
Dave Winer
on x
I'd like to see Twitter do this in a different way. You already have the bugs and scaling issues solved for a global notification network. Let's add a few APIs and create a new universe. It'll happen a lot faster with much better results imho.
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@jack
@jack
on x
Second, the value of social media is shifting away from content hosting and removal, and towards recommendation algorithms directing one's attention. Unfortunately, these algorithms are typically proprietary, and one can't choose or build alternatives. Yet.
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@jack
@jack
on x
We're calling this team @bluesky. Our CTO @ParagA will be running point to find a lead, who will then hire and direct the rest of the team. Please follow or DM @bluesky if you're interested in learning more or joining! 🌐💬💙
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@mcwm
Mike Murphy
on x
won't solve the nazi problem tho https://www.theverge.com/...
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@yoda
Drew Olanoff
on x
super interesting thread. if twitter can pull this off, it would be pretty huge. https://twitter.com/...
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@sriramk
Sriram Krishnan
on x
This is really exciting for many reasons but my favorite is: it tries to return us to how the internet originally got built - completely in the open. https://twitter.com/...
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@panzer
Matthew Panzarino
on x
Interesting. Plenty have tried but everyone ran up against the big problem: twitter existed. https://twitter.com/...
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@triketora
Tracy Chou
on x
this twitter account @bluesky is something else https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...