3 ms·

Is it all the ways that matter? The author mentions one way, DAU. Sure, that is important but I can think of other things that matter. The number of “creator” a

Is it all the ways that matter? The author mentions one way, DAU. Sure, that is important but I can think of other things that matter. The number of “creator” accounts matters just as much as the number of lurkers. From my experience Bluesky is way better and has respect for the user’s choice front and center. Lists of users to follow is a first-class citizen feature. Their algorithm is a chronological feed, not boosting engagement bait.

willsmith72 2y ago
wouldn't things like creator-lurker ratio be captured within DAU? as in, poor ratio leads to poor DAU?
- luplex 2y ago
  Not necessarily. There could be different types of content that requires different types of creators, like imagine professional video producers vs your friends posting about their day. There could also be a different algorithm/network that allows for a few creators to feed a large number of consumers.
dylan604 2y ago
> Their algorithm is a chronological feed Why does a chronological feed get considered and algo? Do we consider SQL queries with WHERE and ORDER BY clauses an algo now?
- morkalork 2y ago
  It absolutely is. Sure it's the default, but it's the default to measure against and beat. It's like comparing ML algos against the average prediction, or forecasts against the previous known value.
- samatman 2y ago
  What else could it possibly be?
- paxys 2y ago
  fun sum(x, y) { return x + y } Congratulations, you have yourself an algorithm.
- aetimmes 2y ago
  I mean, it's all just quicksort under the hood, right? By extension...
- rty32 2y ago
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm > In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is a finite sequence of mathematically rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Looks good to me. And did you just question "WHERE" and "ORDER BY" in SQL? I wouldn't do that. There are probably a ton of algorithms and optimizations done there. In my very naive understanding, quick sort is at least worth something.
paxys 2y ago
Here's one metric that matters – revenue per user. Bluesky's is, I assume, zero, and soon that will have to change. Threads meanwhile has the largest social media ads and monetization platform in the world behind it ready to make the dollars flow at the push of a button.
- EasyMark 2y ago
  Right, I’m sure they’ll have to bring in ads, but I believe we’ve seen this play before. I’m cool with ads, I’m not cool with promoting hate speech because it “improves engagement”
- r00fus 2y ago
  Explain Twitter then - it made a paltry amount compared to Facebook even pre-takeover (which then got burned to the ground by Elon). Yet it was definitely the place to go and get the latest updates.
- madeofpalk 2y ago
  > largest social media ads and monetization platform in the world behind it ready to make the dollars flow at the push of a button At the direct cost of making a worse product for users. I remain hopeful that Bluesky is able to monetise/fund development without succumbing to working against its users.
  - llm_trw 2y ago
    Hoping that the people who made twitter what it is will somehow create a different outcome when doing the same thing is ... something.
    - madeofpalk 2y ago
      Well, they’re not doing the same thing aren’t they? I’m cautiously optimistic that the open/decentralised nature of these sites can act as a powerful forcing function to keep them in check, keeping their incentives more inline with their users compared to traditional commercial social media sites. Mastodon’s financial (and so far technical) structure seems more inline with this compared to taking on investment, so we’ll see how it goes. I just want a network that’s not going to juice engagement to optimise for page views for ad revenue. I want a reverse chronological feed. I want third party clients that might have different UX ideas It’s free to hope :)

willsmith72 2y ago

wouldn't things like creator-lurker ratio be captured within DAU? as in, poor ratio leads to poor DAU?

luplex 2y ago
Not necessarily. There could be different types of content that requires different types of creators, like imagine professional video producers vs your friends posting about their day. There could also be a different algorithm/network that allows for a few creators to feed a large number of consumers.

dylan604 2y ago

> Their algorithm is a chronological feed Why does a chronological feed get considered and algo? Do we consider SQL queries with WHERE and ORDER BY clauses an algo now?

morkalork 2y ago
It absolutely is. Sure it's the default, but it's the default to measure against and beat. It's like comparing ML algos against the average prediction, or forecasts against the previous known value.
samatman 2y ago
What else could it possibly be?
paxys 2y ago
fun sum(x, y) { return x + y } Congratulations, you have yourself an algorithm.
aetimmes 2y ago
I mean, it's all just quicksort under the hood, right? By extension...
rty32 2y ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm > In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is a finite sequence of mathematically rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Looks good to me. And did you just question "WHERE" and "ORDER BY" in SQL? I wouldn't do that. There are probably a ton of algorithms and optimizations done there. In my very naive understanding, quick sort is at least worth something.

paxys 2y ago

Here's one metric that matters – revenue per user. Bluesky's is, I assume, zero, and soon that will have to change. Threads meanwhile has the largest social media ads and monetization platform in the world behind it ready to make the dollars flow at the push of a button.

EasyMark 2y ago
Right, I’m sure they’ll have to bring in ads, but I believe we’ve seen this play before. I’m cool with ads, I’m not cool with promoting hate speech because it “improves engagement”
r00fus 2y ago
Explain Twitter then - it made a paltry amount compared to Facebook even pre-takeover (which then got burned to the ground by Elon). Yet it was definitely the place to go and get the latest updates.
madeofpalk 2y ago
> largest social media ads and monetization platform in the world behind it ready to make the dollars flow at the push of a button At the direct cost of making a worse product for users. I remain hopeful that Bluesky is able to monetise/fund development without succumbing to working against its users.
- llm_trw 2y ago
  Hoping that the people who made twitter what it is will somehow create a different outcome when doing the same thing is ... something.
  - madeofpalk 2y ago
    Well, they’re not doing the same thing aren’t they? I’m cautiously optimistic that the open/decentralised nature of these sites can act as a powerful forcing function to keep them in check, keeping their incentives more inline with their users compared to traditional commercial social media sites. Mastodon’s financial (and so far technical) structure seems more inline with this compared to taking on investment, so we’ll see how it goes. I just want a network that’s not going to juice engagement to optimise for page views for ad revenue. I want a reverse chronological feed. I want third party clients that might have different UX ideas It’s free to hope :)