blueskyArchitecture/BlueskyArchitecture.org

Bluesky Architecture compared to other social media services

• Introduction
• General social media architectures
• Federated social media services
• Bluesky
• Bluesky – Identities

Introduction

Boo!

General social media architectures

Simplistic view 1/2 – overview

file:structurizr-1-001-GenericSocial-01.png

Simplistic view 2/2 – services

file:structurizr-1-002-GenericSocial-02.png

• Social media user access the app
• The app interacts with the API
• The API is the gateway for the database of posts, responses, likes, etc.

More realistic view 1/4 – overview

file:structurizr-1-003-RealisticSocial-01.png

More realistic view 2/4 – basic services

file:structurizr-1-004-RealisticSocial-02.png

• Social media user access the app
• The app interacts with the API
• The API is the gateway for the database of posts, responses, likes, etc.
• The API also captures data for building profiles of users for targeting purposes
• The algorithmic feed generator guides the API on what posts to place into the app's feed

More realistic view 3/4 – the algorithm

file:structurizr-1-005-RealisticSocial-03.png

• Social media user access the app
• The app interacts with the API
• The API is the gateway for the database of posts, responses, likes, etc.
• The API also captures data for building profiles of users for targeting purposes
• The algorithmic feed generator guides the API on what posts to place into the app's feed
• Algorithmic feeds are created by the service administrator, using an app only they have access to

More realistic view 4/4 – content moderation

file:structurizr-1-006-RealisticSocial-04.png

• Social media user access the app
• The app interacts with the API
• The API is the gateway for the database of posts, responses, likes, etc.
• The API also captures data for building profiles of users for targeting purposes
• The algorithmic feed generator guides the API on what posts to place into the app's feed
• Algorithmic feeds are created by the service administrator, using an app only they have access to
• Moderation is also performed by a member of the service's staff, using a dedicate app and services the the user doesn't have access to

Federated social media services

Federated services 1/8 – overview

file:structurizr-1-007-FederatedSocial-01.png

Federated services 2/8 – internal, administration and content moderation services

file:structurizr-1-008-FederatedSocial-02.png

• Same as before, the user access the service through an App that uses an API
• As federated services are small, the administrator and the moderator are the one person

• No algorithmic feeds, though

  • not popular in the fediverse community
  • difficult to implement in a federated environment.

Federated services 3/8 – federation 1

file:structurizr-1-009-FederatedSocial-03.png

• Same as before, the user access the service through an App that uses an API
• As federated services are small, the administrator and the moderator are the one person

• No algorithmic feeds, though

  • not popular in the fediverse community
  • difficult to implement in a federated environment.
• Federation service to push activity out to the federated network
• Federation API to take in activity from other nodes
• A logical database of inbound federated posts
• Federation using ActivityPub standard

Federated services 4/8 – federation 2

file:structurizr-1-010-FederatedSocial-04.png

Federated services 5/8 – federation 3

file:structurizr-1-011-FederatedSocial-05.png

Federated services 6/8 – federation 4

file:structurizr-1-012-FederatedSocial-06.png

Federated services 7/8 – federation 5

file:structurizr-1-013-FederatedSocial-07.png

Federated services 8/8 – federation 6

file:structurizr-1-014-FederatedSocial-08.png

Bluesky

Basic Bluesky 1/2

file:structurizr-1-015-BlueskyBasic-01.png

Basic Bluesky 2/2

file:structurizr-1-016-BlueskyBasic-02.png

• User interfaces with an app hosted by the AppView
• The AppView includes an API (allowing for bot-like interactions)
• The AppView stores and reads data from the Personal Data Server (PDS)
• Bluesky resolved user identities using "DIDs" (Distributed IDs)
• The Bluesky admin uses a separate service for preparing algorithmic feeds
• The Bluesky moderator applies labels and actions to posts for trust and safety through a dedicated service

Bluesky – Identities

Bluesky Identities 1/4

file:structurizr-1-017-BlueskyIdentity-01.png

• User's typical Bluesky ID is @<user-handle>.bsky.social

  • e.g. @theauldsthretch.bsky.social

• Users can set up their own handle, @<user-handle>.<domain>. E.g. (and these are all real IDs) …

  • @astrokatie.com – a cosmologist
  • @eibhear.gibiris.org – the author
  • @wyden.senate.gov – a U.S. Senator
• User must control the domain or be a legitimate member of the domain's community

• Domain-based handle resolves to a DID, either by DNS or .well-known:

    $ dig _atproto.eibhear.gibiris.org TXT
    ...
    ;; ANSWER SECTION:
    _atproto.eibhear.gibiris.org. 3600 IN	TXT	"did=did:plc:23mysztmt7dh3l5lzhinzafi"
  
    $ curl https://theauldsthretch.bsky.social/.well-known/atproto-did
    did:plc:avzdf5esd7xpbgsgh7lx4kzq

Bluesky Identities 2/4

file:structurizr-1-018-BlueskyIdentity-02.png

Bluesky Identities 3/4

file:structurizr-1-019-BlueskyIdentity-03.png

Bluesky Identities 3/4

file:structurizr-1-020-BlueskyIdentity-04.png