In the last few days, Bluesky has attracted millions of new users. Those that made the move (including me) are delighted at how non-hostile the environment is and, frankly, enjoying how much Bluesky is reminiscent of Twitter in the “good old days”.
However, Bluesky uses a different architecture from traditional social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook, and these differences on how content creators should think about content and their monetisation strategy.
How is BlueSky different from traditional social media platforms?
Traditional social media platforms are centralised structures, with all data and applications hosted on a server controlled by a single entity. For instance, Meta owns and controls the infrastructure underpinning Facebook and Instagram, and determines, unilaterally, which features to implement (e.g., whether the feed is organised chronologically or curated according to commercial incentives), the monetisation mechanisms, and use policies.
Bluesky, on the other hand, is part of the new breed of social media platforms that use a decentralised infrastructure. In the paper “Content Creators at a Crossroads with Decentralised Social Media“, Hamid Khobzi, Mohammad Sadegh Ramezani and I review different types of decentralised social media and their impact for content creators. This blog post builds on that paper.
Bluesky uses an open-source protocol called Authenticated Transfer (AT), which relies on a network (i.e., a federation) of servers that communicate with each other and host different types of information (e.g., user data, activity data, applications…). In an AT protocol, each part of the network can be managed by individual hosts, which opens the way to a personalised experience and the development of niche communities with their own rules.
As a content creator on Bluesky, how can you monetise your content?
Traditional social media platforms offer access to large audiences and, potentially, high visibility and monetary rewards for content. However, these platforms have quite high thresholds for eligibility for their reward programs, which are not particularly appealing to beginners and niche creators. Moreover, the terms of these reward programs may suddenly change, in a unilateral decision by the central platform owners. For instance, in 2022, Instagram changed its terms of services resulting in losses of up to 70% of earnings per view for creators, while YouTube implemented changes penalising content with profanity that also applied to videos that had been uploaded before the new rules were developed.
In Bluesky, for the time being, there are no established mechanisms for generating and sharing ad revenue. So, content creators cannot generate revenue directly on the platform. However, when content creators join or host a service dedicated to a specific topic of interest (e.g., gaming), they will be tapping into the community of interest built on that server. The potential audience is likely to be smaller than on a centralised platform; however, it will be a highly engaged audience. As such, there is the opportunity to establish close relationships with niche communities and to generate revenue by creating sponsored content, selling merchandise, or using crowdfunding.
What about content moderation?
Content moderation rules are enforced by the owner / host of the social medial community, regardless of whether it is centralised or decentralised. However, content creators have expressed frustration over the inconsistent application of moderation rules by centralised social media platforms. In particular, research shows disproportionate removals of content published by marginalized groups, such as members of the LGBTQ+ community or people of colour, when their content focuses on their identities despite following all relevant terms of service in the platform. Their content may also be deprioritised by the platform owner, through algorithms that emphasise clickbait (as is the case of Meta) or specific ideological agendas (as is the case of Twitter).
The key differentiating factor between decentralised and centralised social media platforms is that the policies are clear to all users, are available for examination, and, depending on the platform, they may even have been developed with the users’ agreement. Users can choose to register in a server of the platform that suits them better or even create their own server and have their own governance policies. Moreover, as the algorithms are open-source (as opposed to the proprietary, black-box approach of centralised platforms) they are open to examination, and provide clarity over how content is distributed to other users. This gives content creators a higher level of control over the content that they share on the platform, and how and when it will be seen by their followers.
Is Bluesky safer than traditional social media platforms?
There have been instances of traditional social media platforms being targeted by hackers. For instance, several YouTube creators saw their accounts hijacked, or even sold on to third parties.
In principle, decentralised social media platforms like Bluesky are better than centralised ones when it comes to privacy issues because information is distributed across different servers. This makes data breaches less straightforward than on central ones. Though, ultimately, the security and privacy of users’ data depends on the servers’ hosts using strong security services and protection mechanisms. So, for maximum security, content creators may have to host their own servers.
What about the rest of us?
The prosperity of the content creators and social media platforms go hand in hand. Content creators need social media platforms to disseminate their content, grow their audience base, and generate revenue. However, social media platforms also need users to create content in order to generate value to other users – at the end of the day, the only reason we use social media platforms is to access the content produced by other users.
Thus, understanding the incentives for content creators on Bluesky also helps us understand the experience of other users. Some voices argue that the quality of the user-generated content is higher on decentralised social media platforms than in centralised ones because of the different reward systems. This is promising for Bluesky, content creators and, ultimately, social media users. However, it also brings new challenges, from establishing effective monetisation strategies to ensuring security and robust moderation.
As we continue exploring these platforms, one question remains: will decentralisation be the key to a more inclusive and balanced digital future?
Ana Canhoto 