I used Twitter heavily for many years. I’m very fortunate that my experience was better than most. This is largely due to my good fortune of not becoming the target of harassers. I also give a lot of credit to my very disciplined usage pattern.
I blocked all ads and sponsored content. I only ever had a chronological timeline. Eventually I even filtered out all re-tweets. I was very picky in who I followed, and very liberal with who I blocked. I almost never checked the replies on anything. When I did check the replies I often gave the block button a workout. I only saw content created and posted by the people I followed, and nothing more.
I know that for many people their experience was not the same. If people are finally able experience something closer to what I did during the better times of Twitter, I’m happy for them. And if Bluesky is the one making it happen, I’m glad. I would still recommend, even on Bluesky, following my diligent usage pattern to protect yourself.
That said, my strongest recommendation would still be to use nothing at all. There was life before social networks, and there will be life after them. Billions of people live their lives without them just fine. If you don’t absolutely need to use one, perhaps to survive in capitalist society, I would urge you not to use any no matter how good it is.
There is a pattern in my life of investing heavily in something and then dropping it suddenly. The first example that comes to mind is when I stopped playing Netrunner after six years. Every time this has happened I find I neither miss what I’ve given up, nor do I regret the time I spent.
Social media is up near the top of the list of such things. I stopped using Twitter the day they took away TweetDeck, and it was the last social network I was using. I planned to setup some alternative based on ActivityPub, but there was never any urgency. Life is fine with nothing.
As good and refreshing as Bluesky may be I highly recommend using nothing at all. If, like me, you don’t miss social media either, great.
Unlike me, you may find there are people important to you that you have lost all connection with. You may find there is information important to your life that you can’t get from other sources. If these are the case, so be it. I would recommend making a list of those things you are missing. Then go back to social media and follow only those things. Much like the grocery store, it is best to get what is on your shopping list and avoid impulse purchases.
As for me, there are some platforms I’ve already invested in. Mostly YouTube, Reddit, and Discord. These will be the last platforms I ever invest in. I’ve learned my lesson. I’m going to follow the POSSE model very strictly. I will publish my own things on my own site, and use other places only for syndication.
You may find me on Bluesky, or other platforms, camping my usernames. The only content you can ever expect to see from me there are links to my own sites where my actual content will be posted.