I pulled back a few years ago from posting on X once the platform under Elon Musk became more toxic and as it turned from fighting the spread of election disinformation to becoming a main vector for it. I still posted there occasionally, and all of the ELB blog post links are automatically sent to X.

I will keep those automatic posts going up on X, for those who want to get ELB content there. But I’m going to be visiting X even less and not engaging or posting original content there in ordinary circumstances.

The question was whether I would use any platform to engage instead. I have been sending my posts to Threads (@rickhasen1) and Bluesky (@rickhasen.bsky.social) but not engaging in much there either.

Threads deprioritizes news and I can rarely find what I need there. It doesn’t provide much benefit to me as a consumer. I’ll still send ELB post links there, but don’t plan to engage in substance there.

Bluesky now looks more promising, with an influx of people leaving Twitter after the 2024 elections. My two main concerns are: (1) will there be enough news content to follow there so that I no longer need to look at X for breaking news and election law tips? (2) Will Bluesky become a boring, left-leaning echo chamber?

I’m much more confident about the first answer—Bluesky seems to be gaining a critical mass of news posters, especially as some power users leave X or cross-post. The answer to the second question remains to be seen. I would like to see a diversity of voices engaged in reasonable conversation and not just an echo chamber.

In the meantime, I’m giving Bluesky a real try. Maybe I’ll see some of you at the site.