Use 'Bridgy Fed' to Connect Mastodon and Bluesky
lifehacker.com
Users on Mastodon can't really talk to users on Bluesky, both of which are increasingly popular alternatives to X. It wasn't possible before Bridgy Fed, anyway. This is a beta service that makes it possible for Bluesky and Fediverse-compatible applications, such as Mastodon, to interact.

The Great Twitter Exodus of 2022 is still happening. It’s just a little…fractured. A lot of X power users migrated to Bluesky early on, which paved the way for a flood of folks to join that service in 2024. Meanwhile, a lot of technically inclined individuals are still hanging out on Mastodon (at least, that’s where I hang out).

Bluesky and Mastodon are both decentralized services, in theory, but users of one service can’t really talk to users on the other—or it wasn’t possible before Bridgy Fed, anyway. It’s a beta service that makes it possible for Bluesky and Fediverse-compatible applications, such as Mastodon, to interact.

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This is where Bridgy Fed comes in. With this service, individual users of either service can opt in to “bridging” their accounts. I tested this out with my friend and Lifehacker alumni Eric Ravenscraft, who hangs out on Bluesky more than me. It worked well—we can now see each other’s posts, like each other’s posts, and even talk to each other, cross-network.

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While this solution works well, there are a few hangups. Chiefly, it only functions if both people bridge their accounts. This means I can’t see any comments from Bluesky users unless they also are bridged, and vice versa: During our little test, a few other Mastodon users responded to my conversation with Eric, but Eric could not see those replies. This make sense if you know how the system works—only comments from bridged users are bridged—but it’s hardly ideal, and can lead to asymmetrical conversations. Unfortunately, the opt-in nature of the bridging service makes this inevitable.

If you are already using Bridgy Fed, how is it working out for you?

  • WistfulEnglish
    20•1 month ago

    So you can’t interact at all, or see bluesky comments or anything. It’s basically as if you subscribed to an RSS feed. Pretty useless no?

    Never really understood the appeal of twitter-like platforms anyway.

    • flamingos-cantEnglish
      17•1 month ago

      You can, it’s just that individual accounts need to opt into the bridge.

      Mastodon reply from a briged Bluesky user replying to the official Bluesky account, also bridged

      • WistfulEnglish
        5•1 month ago

        So all 3 people on the whole bluesky who even know they can do that or give any fuck about mastodon.

        • @[email protected]English
          20•1 month ago

          So y’all just pissing in cherrios today?

          This is a brand new, opt in interoperability tool between 2 small-ish social networks. No shit its not heavily used yet. People who are using it can ask their friends to bridge, which will bring growth over time, just like any social networking experience.

          What exactly are you complaining about? That someone else did something cool you don’t care about? That other people may enjoy something you don’t?

          • WistfulEnglish
            5•1 month ago

            Well I don’t use either of those platforms, I was just curious. I just shared what I observed, I guess it does sound like a complaint.
            Mostly disappointed that there even is a need for such a thing.