Maybe, but not unrealistic. Bluesky has already begun their shift toward enshittification, changing their default sorting algorithm to one that favors the quantity of engagement over the quality. Usually when you see a platform making moves that are meant to drive user activity without adding anything substantially positive to the user experience, it’s a sign that they’re about to start monetizing the platform.
The sorting algorithm is really splitting hairs. It depends on what you follow and engage with, for me, most of my feed is furry stuff, so it doesn’t matter what the sorting looks like. Now, for someone using it for politics or news, sure, then it matters, but just interacting with an overall positive community, it doesn’t matter
I’m referring to Bluesky’s new reply sorting, which will put comments with more likes higher by default. Pretty much every platform that does this kind of sorting by default, does so because it drives up engagement. People are more likely to like/heart/favorite/whatever a comment if 100 other people have liked it than if just 1 liked it. And the more likely you are to like somebody’s comment, the more likely you are to open their profile and see the content they post. It’s a dark pattern designed to keep you scrolling.
Whenever a developer wants to encourage you to use their platform more and add your +1 to as many items as possible, it’s because they’re about to start serving you ads or trying to sell you something. The more times you refresh a page, the more ads you get served. You see this on Meta platforms, Reddit, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok… basically everything that sorts the “hottest” comments to the top.
A paid BSKY+ service is right around the corner, count on it.
Maybe, but not unrealistic. Bluesky has already begun their shift toward enshittification, changing their default sorting algorithm to one that favors the quantity of engagement over the quality. Usually when you see a platform making moves that are meant to drive user activity without adding anything substantially positive to the user experience, it’s a sign that they’re about to start monetizing the platform.
The sorting algorithm is really splitting hairs. It depends on what you follow and engage with, for me, most of my feed is furry stuff, so it doesn’t matter what the sorting looks like. Now, for someone using it for politics or news, sure, then it matters, but just interacting with an overall positive community, it doesn’t matter
I’m referring to Bluesky’s new reply sorting, which will put comments with more likes higher by default. Pretty much every platform that does this kind of sorting by default, does so because it drives up engagement. People are more likely to like/heart/favorite/whatever a comment if 100 other people have liked it than if just 1 liked it. And the more likely you are to like somebody’s comment, the more likely you are to open their profile and see the content they post. It’s a dark pattern designed to keep you scrolling.
Whenever a developer wants to encourage you to use their platform more and add your +1 to as many items as possible, it’s because they’re about to start serving you ads or trying to sell you something. The more times you refresh a page, the more ads you get served. You see this on Meta platforms, Reddit, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok… basically everything that sorts the “hottest” comments to the top.
A paid BSKY+ service is right around the corner, count on it.
Why it doesn’t matter