Why I left Twitter & why I chose Mastodon over Bluesky
On the beginning of 2025, in line with my new year's aspirations, I left Twitter. I chose Mastodon to be my new microblogging home on the web. I was asked why I didn't go for Bluesky. I wanted to give a comprehensive response to this, and here it is.
1. The Algorithm
Ever since my first exposure to "the algorithm" (which was many years ago when facebook switched from the chronologic feed to an algorithmic one) [1], I did not like the experience. I remember, neither did many people and there was a push against it. Facebook later made that the hard-default [2]. IIRC they later removed the chronological timeline as it hurt their business as people were spending less time on facebook that way. This hurt their business because it relies on maximizing the time you spend there. The latter was quite addictive and it beat the purpose for which I was on social media; to connect with people. Instead it became a tool of media consumption.
[1] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/facebook-news-feed-timeline_b_2821060
[2] https://time.com/3951337/facebook-chronological-order/
Since then our media consumption on social media has been focused on algorithms. Tiktok, reddit, all followed suit. In time, twitter too. I've always felt that this was hindering my right to the content I wanted in my feed. Kudos to BlueSky for sticking with a chronological feed as well.
2. The enshittification
Ever since Musk made his bad purchase of Twitter/X, he has gone rogue to generate revenue from the website. Which is ok I guess, but ads have gotten ever the more prominent there and in time they also succumbed into what I call the short-form-video funnel. You're browsing twitter one second and the other you're swiping videos, you don't even notice. And dare I say it, I despise short form video.
They have also made quite a bit of algorithmic changes. I see a lot of Elon content[3]. Although I don't care for Elon. I blocked him, still getting a ton of content praising him. Its honestly a bit pathetic. It has also caught my attention that my "for you" page was being infested by the U.S. right wing[4]. Which really takes from the experience. I don't want to see that stuff really. Both because I don't like them, and because I don't care about american politics all that much.
[3] https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/14/23600358/elon-musk-tweets-algorithm-changes-twitter
[4] https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/elon-musk-trump-x-algorithm-bias-b2640976.html
3. Decentralization & freedom of control
I don't like the idea of trusting my content & data to a centralized company, with an incentive to use anything I produce there for fiscal gain.
We have way too many billionaires already and they are making money off these platforms, by what? Showing us promoted content, ads, selling our data to the highest bidder. Instead I wanted my social interaction space to be a non-profit.
BlueSky is not that. They are a for-profit organization that you do not pay to use. Which means they are going to rely on ads or data sharing to generate revenue in the future. I'd like them to prove me wrong, but I think thats unlikely.
Mastodon is a non-profit. It is completely decentralized. If I were to be cross with moderation here, I can always spin up my own instance. It can never be killed, it can never be controlled except for by its participants to their own degree of liking. It relies on community pitching in, or individuals shouldering costs. There are no ads, There is no incentive to turn a profit.
I like the idea of a decentralized web where no one is hoarding massive wealth on a community's back. With my move to mastodon I aim to be just one speck in the wave to speed up our transition from Twitter to a federated space because I think that's the direction of the web's progress to freedom.
4. The Protocol
One of the significant factors in my decision was the protocol underlying Mastodon: ActivityPub. ActivityPub is an open, decentralized protocol that powers the Fediverse—a collection of interconnected platforms like Mastodon, PeerTube (for videos), Pixelfed (for photos), and more, older bespoke social spheres around the world have started using ActivityPub to get into the federated space. I think its wonderful, a dream come true. This interoperability means that by being on Mastodon, I can interact with users across a wide variety of services, creating a truly federated and interconnected social web.
As for Bluesky's AT Protocol. While AT Protocol is often touted as innovative, it essentially introduces yet another standard in a world where ActivityPub already exists as a widely adopted and recognized protocol[5]. AT Protocol feels like a reinvention of the wheel—one that risks further fragmenting the decentralized web rather than uniting it.
What’s more concerning is that AT Protocol is controlled by a single company, Bluesky, which is a for-profit organization. This raises questions about its long-term motives. Will it eventually prioritize monetization over the users? Will it remain open and user-centric, or will it gravitate toward control and profit as it scales? The lack of a truly decentralized governance structure leaves these questions unanswered and trust uncertain.
In contrast, ActivityPub is maintained as an open standard with no single entity in control. This aligns with the ethos of decentralization—it’s not beholden to any corporate interest. The fact that platforms across the Fediverse are able to seamlessly interact with one another using ActivityPub demonstrates its effectiveness as a unifying standard for the decentralized web. Introducing yet another standard like AT Protocol seems unnecessary and counterproductive when the goal should be fostering unity and collaboration.