Bluesky thinking?

James Dreyfus has an interesting Critic piece on Bluesky, the social media platform.


Bluesky thinking?

The honeymoon phase of the X alternative could be short-lived

“There is a place where the sky is blue and you will find me there.”

Gives you goosebumps, no? Thus spake Jolyon Maugham QC (he/him) announcing his departure flight to Bluesky, the relatively new kid on the social media block. Granted, it’s hardly “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”, but his phrasing does suggest he’s discovered a magical place, replete with unicorns and a floating lake.

He was not alone, it seems. Since the US election, there had been similar mass decrees, all deafeningly trumpeted across X, nee Twitter, from all sorts, with varying reasonings, the most prolific of which involved the words “Fascist”, “Far Right” and, of course, the now obligatory “Nazi”. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and a huge amount of dramatic door-slamming, but a noticeable lack of accounts being deactivated. Which remains curious.


Dreyfus then goes on to give examples of the abuse he received after he created his Bluesky account. The whole piece is well worth reading as another comment on our standards of public debate in the digital arena. Not edifying is my impression as a social media outsider.


The quote that best explains the current situation over there does not, however, belong to the Poet Laureate, Maugham, but to Rob Reiner, director of some truly wonderfully funny movies, who somewhat glumly posited the following missive…

“All the abuse and hate from Twitter has now spewed over to here. There seems no point anymore.”

Not a glowing endorsement of his fellow travellers, is it.