super interesting thread. if twitter can pull this off, it would be pretty huge. https://t.co/rwlTPAWgJ7

— drew olanoff (@yoda) December 11, 2019

Finally, new technologies have emerged to make a decentralized approach more viable. Blockchain points to a series of decentralized solutions for open and durable hosting, governance, and even monetization. Much work to be done, but the fundamentals are there.

— jack ??? (@jack) December 11, 2019

Third, existing social media incentives frequently lead to attention being focused on content and conversation that sparks controversy and outrage, rather than conversation which informs and promotes health.

— jack ??? (@jack) December 11, 2019

The big trend in 2019 is social media companies saying we can't solve the social problems on our platforms so we're going to punt on them. https://t.co/W28kp1uo5H

— Dare Obasanjo (@Carnage4Life) December 11, 2019

I am so pleased that @jack and the Twitter team are looking into this. Having been there when "we took a different path for reasons that were reasonable at the time", I have long wished that Twitter had been built after Bitcoin not before it https://t.co/J0jmFEcJnE

— Fred Wilson (@fredwilson) December 11, 2019

This seems interesting and important. https://t.co/Md3COYcufe

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) December 11, 2019

It’ll be a lot more like https://t.co/Ko5Xt9YBuz if I had to speculate.

— rabble (@rabble) December 11, 2019

Second, the value of social media is shifting away from content hosting and removal, and towards recommendation algorithms directing one’s attention. Unfortunately, these algorithms are typically proprietary, and one can’t choose or build alternatives. Yet.

— jack ??? (@jack) December 11, 2019

Jack, ignore the haters. i think this is a wonderful experiment. its bold and (incredibly) difficult. if it works, it’ll probably work in ways we cant even imagine, which is something that tends to bring out trolling snark and criticism. Ill be watching with earnest!

— Greg Ferenstein (@ferenstein) December 11, 2019

The path ahead for @bluesky is full of uncertainty and challenges, which will be difficult but energizing for the right team. Some of the hurdles we can predict include:

— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) December 11, 2019

2. Twitter has always believed in the principles of a democratic, open Internet — we believe the future of our industry rests in community-focused initiatives & direct engagement with emerging innovators. We look forward to continuing this public conversation next year.

— Vijaya Gadde (@vijaya) December 11, 2019

This thought from Twitter's CTO, charged with figuring out their Totally New Decentralized Protocol, is deeply troubling. The vast majority of the internet is powered by protocols which were achieved via consensus.

This feels like laying groundwork for TwitterPub™. https://t.co/Won6ypZzKn

— Mastodon (@MastodonProject) December 11, 2019

For example, what happens if different people on the same thread are using different apps that hide different tweets? What if someone creates a client that makes abuse easier? Or more likely? What if that’s just a by-product? Does @jack start banning clients?

— Benedict Evans (@benedictevans) December 11, 2019

Recently we came across @mmasnick’s article “Protocols, Not Platforms” which captures a number of the challenges and solutions. But more importantly, it reminded us of a credible path forward: hire folks to develop a standard in the open. https://t.co/1kH7UcaNKO

— jack ??? (@jack) December 11, 2019

I’m incredibly excited for Twitter to kick off @bluesky, a new independent effort to develop a decentralized standard for social media. Please see @jack’s thread for more context. I have the privilege of finding a lead for this team. https://t.co/KvpYe7ptXh

— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) December 11, 2019

We’re calling this team @bluesky. Our CTO @ParagA will be running point to find a lead, who will then hire and direct the rest of the team. Please follow or DM @bluesky if you’re interested in learning more or joining! ???

— jack ??? (@jack) December 11, 2019

I am extremely unclear on how decentralisation addresses the problems described in this thread or Twitter's other problems https://t.co/1YbTjEkM4Q

— James Titcomb (@jamestitcomb) December 11, 2019

won’t solve the nazi problem tho https://t.co/EVAPT4LGF4

— Mike Murphy (@mcwm) December 11, 2019

I am very curious as to how one could reduce the flow of disinformation and toxic abuse on Twitter while also fragmenting and decentralising the user experience

— Benedict Evans (@benedictevans) December 11, 2019

twitter was so open early on that many saw its potential to be a decentralized internet standard, like SMTP (email protocol). For a variety of reasons, all reasonable at the time, we took a different path and increasingly centralized Twitter. But a lot’s changed over the years…

— jack ??? (@jack) December 11, 2019

My quick writeup on @jack's protocols announcement this morning... https://t.co/K4yQu8sLua

— Mike Masnick (@mmasnick) December 11, 2019

First, we’re facing entirely new challenges centralized solutions are struggling to meet. For instance, centralized enforcement of global policy to address abuse and misleading information is unlikely to scale over the long-term without placing far too much burden on people.

— jack ??? (@jack) December 11, 2019

this twitter account @bluesky is something else https://t.co/zE8nz9hMUt pic.twitter.com/gtyyHSZiiY

— Tracy Chou (@triketora) December 11, 2019

Jack... https://t.co/EolwJZagCj

— Mastodon (@MastodonProject) December 11, 2019

Interesting. Plenty have tried but everyone ran up against the big problem: twitter existed. https://t.co/Zp230aKuIy

— Matthew Panzarino (@panzer) December 11, 2019

I'd like to see Twitter do this in a different way.

You already have the bugs and scaling issues solved for a global notification network.

Let's add a few APIs and create a new universe.

It'll happen a lot faster with much better results imho.

— Dave Winer (@davewiner) December 11, 2019

Why is this good for Twitter? It will allow us to access and contribute to a much larger corpus of public conversation, focus our efforts on building open recommendation algorithms which promote healthy conversation, and will force us to be far more innovative than in the past.

— jack ??? (@jack) December 11, 2019

When I look at Twitter’s challenges, I don’t think to myself “They would be so much better off if Tweets could never be deleted and every participant in the system had 100% visibility into everybody’s interactions with no possibility of data protection.” https://t.co/3BTFKXKugz

— Alex Stamos (@alexstamos) December 11, 2019

Very excited about this. One tiny deet: Twitter should make @bluesky an independent B-Corp from day 1. https://t.co/onWjalEUE0

— Miguel Ríos-Berríos (@miguelrios) December 11, 2019

1. Apart from the technical elements outlined by @jack here, this is fundamentally about openly exploring the fullest and most participatory vision of our Twitter. In 2020, we will be using our voice to more prominently support and foster the values of a free and open internet. https://t.co/4BWY5RCJX4

— Vijaya Gadde (@vijaya) December 11, 2019

Hi chaps, we may be able to save you a lot of effort, as we already have a set of open standards developed by the #indieweb community and standardised through w3c - micropub, webmention, websub and more in development with microsub too https://t.co/ePOzrtakPb for more

— Kevin Marks (@kevinmarks) December 11, 2019

This is how shit happens in tech. There were people who said the same kind of thing to the W3C when they embarked on an NIH approach. ;-) pic.twitter.com/E2bjK8e9Jk

— Dave Winer (@davewiner) December 11, 2019

Lest we forget that early Twitter supported XMPP thanks to @blaine and others...

I'm curious what lessons it might offer today.https://t.co/YsvRkknDmc https://t.co/5gGDcXpHXG

— Chris Messina (@chrismessina) December 11, 2019

This is really exciting for many reasons but my favorite is: it tries to return us to how the internet originally got built - completely in the open. https://t.co/rtruHE5kbv

— Sriram Krishnan (@sriramk) December 11, 2019

lo https://t.co/Yr1Bwjd4mA

— bluesky (@bluesky) December 11, 2019

this whole thread is super interesting way to look at platform abuse

highly doubt Facebook would ever support a solution that supports the open web but it’s a reminder that Facebook still wants to be *the* internet, and puts at least some pressure on them https://t.co/aFIBEA11KX

— rat king (@MikeIsaac) December 11, 2019

This is about tech companies removing themselves from the community of the web, creating an alternative set of web standards, and making it harder for anyone to ever compete in the same way they did. https://t.co/0eK93RAT4w

— Aram Zucker-Scharff (@Chronotope) December 11, 2019

I see this as Jack’s response to Zuck’s “pivot to privacy”, but one that fits Twitter’s public content model better. Both companies want to be out of the “controlling what people say” business. Celebration by Twitterati who often call for more speech control seems premature.

— Alex Stamos (@alexstamos) December 11, 2019

Very much worth reading @mmasnick's thoughts about the Twitter announcement https://t.co/ZzbpoafIO2

— Kevin Webb (@kvnweb) December 11, 2019

Twitter is funding a developer team, dubbed Blue Sky, to establish a decentralized standard for social media, said Twitter CEO @Jack Dorsey on the social media platform he helms. https://t.co/KSblFRDTjs

— Mike Dudas (@mdudas) December 11, 2019

Twitter is funding five developers to build decentralized standards for social mediahttps://t.co/jLrdvVYoFk

— The Block (@TheBlock__) December 11, 2019

Giant move from Twitter. Very interesting to see how this plays out. Email and SMTP has stood the test of time for communication. Let’s see if there is room in social. Needs a huge commitment to allow multiple clients though https://t.co/jafE7chvaC

— Josh Elman (@joshelman) December 11, 2019

Many have responded to @Jack by citing Mastodon/ActivityPub, which are federated systems w/ gatekeepers and are limited to a few narrow uses. The decentralized identity community is working on more robust, decentralized options, like Encrypted Data Vaults & personal hub protocols https://t.co/7lOhiMYYqu

— Daniel Ƀ (@csuwildcat) December 11, 2019

It is super exciting that one of the largest social networks in the world is working on this. Check out our article on some of the challenges!

(note: I don't entirely agree with our article's title; it's possible. but lots to figure out)https://t.co/wO1I3iMypt

/cc @paragA https://t.co/IT1GWoq1QD

— Neha Narula (@neha) December 11, 2019

Decentralized social networks have failed because they force user to do a ton of chores. Jack's focus on the philosophy instead of usability could doom Twitter's Blue Sky https://t.co/PZjnaxzjKy

— Josh Constine (@JoshConstine) December 11, 2019

Jack... https://t.co/EolwJZagCj

— Mastodon (@MastodonProject) December 11, 2019

This is great Jack ?? https://t.co/HSFLvI9f7J

— Sarkodie (@sarkodie) December 11, 2019

decentralization of social media is the worst fucking idea i've ever heard. https://t.co/LOY2fBYz0h

— needlessly obscenity-laced (@randileeharper) December 11, 2019

Congratulations @jack ??

This is the wise ‘decentralised’ approach we need for a better future for social media

If your team @bluesky is looking for ‘decentralised scalebility’ than they should definitely check @avalabsofficial and @el33th4xor https://t.co/zn9wmSifNT

— Erkan Öz (@_ErkanOz) December 11, 2019

Long have we waited for an open standard for social media where users can choose their own clients and curation filters. Even if it doesn't work out, you gotta respect @jack for giving the idea a serious try. He's not afraid to disrupt his own business model. https://t.co/iw7pfxvsgq

— Hasu (@hasufl) December 11, 2019

Sooo... It's like #Steem but you're in charge? https://t.co/RrKbFshbCE

— Steem (@SteemNetwork) December 11, 2019

I think @urbit is in a good position for existing protocols. social networks would be protocols and users would be able to dictate who can access this data, instead of having a prop. server manage this data.

Access would now become a protocol controlled by the user. https://t.co/Z79zoshvdu

— ??‍?Code Ninja - #NaijaHacks2019? (@koolamusic) December 11, 2019

Do not ignore this quoted tweet.

There are layers and layers with this. I think @jack is likely moves ahead here.

Don’t let your frustrations with current Twitter and it’s Terms of Service or Trust & Safety issues blind you to what is likely to be the fate of social media. https://t.co/YWsObdLVE3

— Eric Weinstein (@EricRWeinstein) December 11, 2019

Cool to see Twitter investing in protocols (not platforms).

Protocols are much harder (scaling them, upgrading them, they even slow innovating in some ways) but they have nice properties around fair use, promoting good behavior, and lowering barriers to entry for newcomers. https://t.co/rgDfAPntxi

— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) December 11, 2019

Jack Dorsey may understand the future better than any entrepreneur on the planet right now. https://t.co/L7rsUsCvx9

— Pomp ? (@APompliano) December 11, 2019

We agree with @jack that a small teams, working in the open on open permissionless protocols is the future.

Innovative companies will be able to earn value in a positive way from these protocols.

Locking customers into proprietary centralized systems is a dead end. https://t.co/fInKLgdpbQ

— Global Mesh Labs (@GlobalMeshLabs) December 11, 2019

Hey @jack! This is a fabulous words never publicly stated.
I think a decentralized social media already exists but not released yet: Sky-messenger now known as DMSG (Decentralized or distributed messenger) built by the @Skycoinproject. The #Skycoin ecosystem is incentived https://t.co/iYTEXvthHD pic.twitter.com/MwhkdNJSJu

— Frahane (@Frahane1) December 11, 2019

We built this standard at the W3C; it's called ActivityPub, there are ~3.5 million registered users on the network. Will Twitter work with us or reinvent? https://t.co/idfk5RgdlU

— Christopher Lemmer Webber (@dustyweb) December 11, 2019

A tech CEO that understands Bitcoin and decentralized social networks.

Facebook is trying to start Libra.

My guess is Jack will prefer to extend existing open crypto networks instead. https://t.co/u5p0hn6rZ5

— Muneeb (@muneeb) December 11, 2019

Can Twitter shift from platform to protocol?

Only time will tell. https://t.co/ER6YQIL5pR

— Kairon (@Kairon01) December 11, 2019

This is brilliant.

It ensures Twitter will never be credibly accused of being a publisher instead of a platform, and provides the ultimate pushback against the endless meddlers who want to police free speech.

Twitter saves a fortune and supports freedom.

Kudos. https://t.co/aVefTl3Yx9

— Stefan Molyneux (@StefanMolyneux) December 11, 2019

I like this. https://t.co/1HaqrIhCjg

— Tim Soret (@timsoret) December 11, 2019

Jack Dorsey Funds Development Of Decentralized Social Media Standard https://t.co/hU8biSAI5Y

— Bob Moneybags ⚡ (@FakeCoinExpert) December 11, 2019

Jack Dorsey : 트위터가 소셜 미디어를 위한 분산 표준 개발 https://t.co/1e9b01QjDT
• "이 팀은 소셜 미디어의 분산 표준을 개발뿐만 아니라 기업이나 조직, 연구자, 시민 사회 지도자 등 그 결과에 대해 깊이 생각하는 오픈 커뮤니티를 구축하는 것을 기대하고 있습니다"라고 도시는 썼습니다.

— editoy (@editoy) December 12, 2019

I’m excited to see how this plays out and happy to see recognition for ⁦@mmasnick⁩’s thinking about creative ways to address the challenges that have come with the centralization of online speech and its regulation. https://t.co/QWXcQvPfit

— Annemarie Bridy (@AnnemarieBridy) December 12, 2019

Really good analysis from @techdirt of @jack’s announcement that Twitter will fund development of an open and decentralized standard for social media.
As @mmasnick says, it has the *potential* to presage a long-term shift in how the online world workshttps://t.co/hMtIraUE0D

— Ross Dawson (@rossdawson) December 11, 2019

I knew @mmasnick's open protocol approach was brilliant the first time I read it. This is such a huge deal and a major innovative step forward on the content moderation front. Seeing Twitter get behind this is exciting. More from @techdirt here: https://t.co/LaQPAaF4vC https://t.co/JCQ3LLXwXv

— Jess Miers (@jess_miers) December 11, 2019

ICYMI: Twitter is funding five developers to build decentralized standards for social mediahttps://t.co/jLrdvVYoFk

— The Block (@TheBlock__) December 12, 2019

The social media giant will also focus on building open recommendation #algorithms that can "promote healthy conversation"#socialmarketing #Blockchain #decentralizedhttps://t.co/bjcWTWtyuQ

— Crypto Truth Digger (@Rebecca32528601) December 12, 2019

https://t.co/lI3QiQfeHV

Keep an eye on the fact that @jack is developing together both financial services and social media. When will he finally link the two? Tipping for tweets soon?

— Kevin Chou (@KevinChou) December 11, 2019

The standard "won't be developed overnight," according to Jack Dorsey's tweets. https://t.co/qCMY7CpGtL

— Adweek (@Adweek) December 11, 2019

Speaking of social networks and data, Twitter seeks to innovate (outside of company) with a decentralized network. Ht @ChrisSaad https://t.co/4FwjgNRWWj

— Jeremiah Owyang (@jowyang) December 12, 2019

Dorsey suggesting the creation of a decentralized standard for social media, alongside the development of an open community.

Existing centralized counterparts are taking part in decentralizing the whole social media architecture. #TryCrypto https://t.co/x3ojjGTsBK

— Sumit Gupta (CoinDCX) (@smtgpt) December 12, 2019

Twitter CEO: Twitter plans to fund teams to create decentralized social media standards to address existing challenges in the field.https://t.co/iqIuNHQW4q@Cointelegraph #aax #cryptoiscoming #bitcoin #crypto #blockchain #CryptoNews

— AAX (@AAXExchange) December 12, 2019

An important step forward by Twitter's @Jack to build a #Decentralized #OpenSource social media protocol. In the #DWeb community @scuttbutt @matrixdotorg & others have been working on this for 5 years. Time to join hands? https://t.co/VzelaaXHZP

— Internet Archive (@internetarchive) December 11, 2019

This announcement from @jack about decentralized content moderation and ranking is exciting! 1/ https://t.co/Go8fGV6nIl

— Daphne Keller (@daphnehk) December 12, 2019

Don’t develop it, invest in the efforts that exist. Have the courage to listen to the community first this time. https://t.co/Z4kUXdI9tG

— Anil Dash ? (@anildash) December 11, 2019

This is exciting. A major social media player committing to building or adopting a decentralized protocol will be a positive force for the ecosystem. https://t.co/kv7oosDb3N

— Jay Graber (@arcalinea) December 11, 2019

OH @aphyr, currently in Twitter jail: “v telling that they're looking for engineers and designers and not sociologists or historians” https://t.co/Gl3igNEC6F

— Marc Hedlund (@marcprecipice) December 12, 2019

Major rethinking underway in @Twitter, it seems.

Much remains unanswered though.

For example, will Twitter move to this new platform?
Will the content then belong to the subscribers?

And many more.

As of now, this just seems like an experimental approach.

But kudos, anyway! https://t.co/wKy9OhJXAB

— ϽΓΣⱤẛ∁ (@CholericCleric) December 12, 2019

Great news... maybe 8 years to late, but great news https://t.co/QZOsQw6ZgX

— Daniel Zavala (@Siedrix) December 11, 2019

OPEN SOURCE, FOR YEARS: let's put a lot of work into developing a decentralized social media protocol

JACK, HIGH ON HIS BREAKFAST OF PURE NITROGEN: let's ignore all of that and build it on top of bitcoin https://t.co/JApbBR12Ui

— ?? eevee ?? (@eevee) December 11, 2019

What is Jack up to here? I predict it is not good for Patriots.... https://t.co/E9DPDXUItU

— CJTRUTH (@cjtruth) December 12, 2019

Where are the community experts in this? The Policy & Safety folks? https://t.co/HA0ZppmPqX

— Tara Jingle Brannigan ? (@kindofstrange) December 12, 2019

.@Jack take a look at the work @MattSpoke and the team at @OpenAppNetwork are doing to solve for the unintended consequences of platform problems. https://t.co/EqAWkBCXti

— Aion Mike (@AionMike) December 11, 2019

Why isn't @jack the @TIME person of the year? Look at what he is doing for the future good of humanity. Already done so much but picking up momentum now. https://t.co/zBu1jV93RR

— Dan Tapiero (@DTAPCAP) December 11, 2019

Happy to see this conversation continuing @jack; look forward to chatting again. (Challenge is not just to open up data transport, but to open up defining the AI behavior users want) https://t.co/5t27ZxcASO

— Stephen Wolfram (@stephen_wolfram) December 11, 2019

Watch this space...I cannot understate the importance of this announcement. It has profound implications for how we interact with the internet and current business models. https://t.co/4q8qoA3K03

— Brian Kelly (@BKBrianKelly) December 11, 2019

As long as y’all can let us Trend Tacha in Peace, we good Uncle Jack ✌? We Support Twitter! ??????? https://t.co/wPTuWkVCAy

— Kendra_Wang ? (@KendraWang19) December 11, 2019

Well this is interesting https://t.co/uJAQzFI6ls

— Jean Burgess (@jeanburgess) December 11, 2019

Strange reading. You kinda have to cut through the tech speak and Silicon leaderese to see where this is headed. There are reasons for hope as well as despair in this thread. https://t.co/4F2zryZB21

— Doves (Elizabeth Hamilton) (@dovesandletters) December 12, 2019

For the love of God, please use a known open standard. We have ActivityStreams. Don't pull a Google and implement a broken, untested and insecure one. https://t.co/hZJSAWeO8u

— jacky is being serious (@jackyalcine) December 11, 2019

Some morning thoughts on this the day after. Great idea. Love it. Decentralization seems intuitively like a good direction, but as it’s currently not explored at this scale, what unintended consequences will it bring and how will care for these be built into the standard? https://t.co/Vmc4TckERW

— ? Brie Code ?? (@briecode) December 12, 2019

Boom! The beginning of mass decentralisation#crypto #twitter #blockchain https://t.co/d2LcjmJNW9

— Nischal (WazirX) ⚡️ (@NischalShetty) December 11, 2019

It's also more than a little tone-deaf: Lots of groups have been working on lots of standards like this over the years, a lot of them engineered without any of the biases that are inherent to a large company like Twitter. https://t.co/nm41U8i9Gy

— Wogan (@WoganMay) December 12, 2019

@MayaErgas spoke to the head of @MastodonProject about @jack's decentralized Twitter announcement https://t.co/gFIcbw5uUM

— Mathew Katz (@MathewKatz) December 11, 2019

Twitter's bid for a social network standard draws skepticism https://t.co/hfDvJjsGli

— Eater of Souls (@EaterSouls) December 12, 2019

@MayaErgas spoke to the head of @MastodonProject about @jack's decentralized Twitter announcement https://t.co/gFIcbw5uUM

— Mathew Katz (@MathewKatz) December 11, 2019

"Eugen Rochko, the CEO of @MastodonProject, told @DigitalTrends he found it “amusing” that when Mastodon launched in 2016, it was labeled a “clone,” Twitter, but decentralized.

“Now, it sounds like Twitter is making a Mastodon clone,” he said."https://t.co/BZ2d32b4Ef

— Fabio Chiusi (@fabiochiusi) December 12, 2019

Jack Dorsey : 트위터가 소셜 미디어를 위한 분산 표준 개발 https://t.co/1e9b01QjDT
• "이 팀은 소셜 미디어의 분산 표준을 개발뿐만 아니라 기업이나 조직, 연구자, 시민 사회 지도자 등 그 결과에 대해 깊이 생각하는 오픈 커뮤니티를 구축하는 것을 기대하고 있습니다"라고 도시는 썼습니다.

— editoy (@editoy) December 12, 2019

Twitter is under pressure to better crack down on bots, hate speech and misinformation, but it is unclear how its plan to fund a new open source network standard will help address any of these issues. https://t.co/X2aSSfj8Ko

— Axios (@axios) December 12, 2019