Interview with Science Magazine about academic Bluesky

I really enjoyed this interview:

The lack of an algorithm could also reduce some of the negative effects of social media, says Jay Van Bavel, a psychologist at New York University. “For instance, it won’t incentivize posts that drive conflict/comments, which were prioritized by the algorithm on X.” That could have a tremendous effect over time, says Mark Carrigan, a digital sociologist at the University of Manchester. “One of the things that’s so destructive about an algorithmic timeline is that the incentive is not to win the esteem and approval of your existing network. It’s to get a reaction,” he says. He hopes moving away from this type of discourse could contribute to improving academic culture.

Users may be in the honeymoon phase now, but the experience is likely to get worse over time, Carrigan says—not just because Bluesky is likely to grow further, but because there will be pressure to make money eventually. Ideas including selling subscriptions or services, such as certain domain names, have been discussed. But the company is likely to eventually switch to advertising, he says, creating the same incentive that operates on other platforms: to keep people online as long as possible. “Just because Bluesky is at the earliest phase, before enshittification has started, doesn’t mean it won’t be enshittified.”