Bluesky
Plenty for users Stage 1
Bluesky offers a good deal: no ads, a chronological feed by default, custom feeds anyone can build, and an open protocol (AT Protocol) that lets you move your account and followers elsewhere. That portability is the strongest structural defense against lock-in in social media today. The risk is the cap table: over $100M in venture funding and a new CEO focused on scaling. Watch for ads and paid reach. For now, Stage 1.
- Since
- 2023
- Function
- Social
- VC-backed
- Yes
- Public
- No
Rating checklist
The stage follows from these criteria under the published method. Extraction and decline count only with a dated source from the last 3 years.
- Alignment 1 of 3
-
- A3 Open and portable
- Lock-in 0 of 4
- None
- Extraction 0 of 7
- None
- Decline 0 of 3
- None
Result: An alignment criterion, no lock-in, and at most one extraction criterion, so stage 1.
News signals
More in Social
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Discord
3Strong real-time product for communities, but your social graph and server history are deeply embedded—switching means rebuilding social capital elsewhere.
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Facebook
4The canonical enshittification case: a feed that once showed your friends now serves ads, recommended posts, and AI content to an ageing, shrinking audience.
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Instagram
3Photo sharing turned short-video storefront: Reels, ads, and shopping crowd out the people you follow, while Meta's AI and ad systems mine every interaction.
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LinkedIn
3The default résumé graph for many industries, increasingly monetized via feed ads, recruiter tools, and upsells—users are the inventory.
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Mastodon (fediverse)
1Federated microblogging with no single owner; rough edges, but user surplus and exit to other instances is real.
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Reddit
3Mature platform shifting value toward advertisers, mods as unpaid labor, and product changes that prioritize engagement over quality.
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TikTok
3The most effective attention machine yet: a recommendation feed that pays off for viewers while ads, TikTok Shop, and creator payout swings shift value to the platform.
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X (Twitter)
4API paywalls, algorithmic feeds, verification products, and ad load shift surplus toward the operator and advertisers—classic extraction on a still-central public square.
