Blue Skies for Blue Sky? So far, so good

Blue skies smiling at me
Nothing but blue skies do I see

Blue birds singing a song
Nothing but blue skies from now on

The invitation came right out of the blue. It was totally unexpected, even shocking. It was frankly, unwanted, and eventually refused. Who would have expected a request from such a person, on BlueSky Social of all places, someone whose attitude and behaviour I abhor.

But there he was, or there they were—one person with one name, or an entire team of social media trolls or responders, all named “Elon Musk,” the arch organizational efficiency tzar, hopefully one day to blast into space, though for now the pyramidal icon of that social network that was once XYZ, bedfellow of the US president-elect, creator of the Tesla branded lifestyle and second only to Donal Trump narcissist of the century.

Elson Musk invited me to follow him on Bluesky. I demurred; I pushed back; I refused; I blocked my newest potential socialite. Surely he should be elsewhere, somewhere else in online orbit, on whatever his network is called; The Beaverton just can’t get the letter right. I guess “the letter is in the mail”; wait, that won’t work; the mail isn’t working presently. Maybe that’s because of Elon Musk, mom and pop aficionado, doing his thing, even in the Canadian north. He’s here; he’s there; he’s everywhere except TBTG in my list of followers.

So who do I follow? Andrew Coyne; National Public Radio (NPR); The Guardian; Clearwater Mayor Merlin Blackwell; Rev. Michael Coren; Bill Sundhu; Pop culture and theology; Daily brain rot; The Washington Post (got a screamer subscription deal); Elwira from Kamloops; and more. It’s fun building up a fellowship—there’s 20 million and counting additional possibilities—that’s a lot of conversational opportunities, but only a smattering compared with both Threads and the other one now known as “formerly.”

Early days for sure, and we will see how things go as Bluesky (BS) develops over time. They only employ 20 staff right now (remember that Apple started with two garage buddies) but as they grow and advertising creeps in we shall see if the present clean, uncluttered interface remains. Remember Facebook before it became a publicly traded online entity. Ahh, the good old days.

Do I need another social platform in my life and daily routine? Not really, but it gives me another platform to plug my fast growing blog audience. I enjoy the broad media access and bleats (once tweets) from friends and colleagues. I notice that some are posting old material just to attract online interest; I have a fair bit of fresh content if that matters to readers. I don’t really need another way to waste a huge amount of time, but as someone who lives in a small rural community social media helps me feel connected to issues, personalities, actions, ideas, analysis, and lots of grumbles in a concise form readily accessible to my ADHD mind.

One Bluesky subscribers puts it well. “The big reason Bluesky is so hot right now is that the people who add value to social media – the frequent posters in specific fields – are here now, talking to each other and creating the “spectator value” that draws users and attention.”

If and when I lose my grounding in the wash of social media posts and pastimes perhaps I should turn my attention again to music. Am I blue? Somedays, yes. Bluesky perks my pleasure. Do I miss Blue Skies; certainly in murky and mucky November days, you bet. Bluesky takes me to warmer climes. Does Bluesky itself have a theme song? I’m working on it.

And to Elon, am I lonely this Christmas, without you? Nope. Not in the slightest.