Threads, Twitter (X) or Blue Sky?

:joy:

No worries, I’m sure that will be banned too.

Although, I hear this is already having a positive effect of creating some ad hoc cultural exchange between US and Chinese users. Maybe it is not such a bad thing.

You are apparently completely uninformed how social media in China works.

Just FYI, the content titok algorithms push in China are very different from the ones in the rest of the world. The app in China is called Douyin and users on Douyin cannot communicate with TikTok users.

2 Likes

I’m referring to the reported initial interactions between Chinese users with the new US users that somehow managed to download and join the alternative Chinese apps.

Besides the point. If you believe that Chinese users can freely and openly communicate on social media and thereby contribute to a meaningful “cultural exchange”, you are very naive. I occasionally have the opportunity to speak to some Chinese colleagues face-to-face and they tell me freedom of speech is like in the PRC.

Of course, they might exchange advice how to best shop on Temu and Shein if this is what culture means today.

I was responding to Gaburko.

A few random interactions via some temp technical loopholes are hardly “cultural exchange”.

Isn’t a cultural exchange simply an interaction with a different culture that you experience? It doesn’t require some kind of formal set-up.

There were examples of Americans learning some Chinese and Chinese learning English.

Even Duolingo has seen a big uptick in interest in learning Mandarin:

In my mind, interacting with people and learning the language, etc. arethe basic elements of cultural exchange. Maybe others have a different definition.

I think I’ll have a slightly different opinion. None, nobody actually cares about your opinion - learned that quite a long time ago :slight_smile: Don’t get me wrong - I do like to discuss but reality very few people actually want to discuss, more often they want to be reassured they are correct. You can only lose in this social media game - job background checks.

I recommend only using messaging apps like signal, element ( matrix ) or simplex

2 Likes

Rapid rise in US users on Red Note:

The Chinese-language app had about 3.4 million daily active users across both iOS and Android devices in the United States as of Monday, up from fewer than 700,000 the day prior, and around 300,000 the week prior, according to the Similarweb estimate.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/chinese-app-rednote-gained-millions-us-users-this-week-tiktok-refugees-joined-2025-01-16/

Many Chinese users on RedNote welcomed the newcomers and responded eagerly to questions on topics such as popular Chinese dishes, city tourist sights and even China’s birth policies, although there were also signs that U.S. users were testing limits established by Beijing’s censors.

I can’t imagine the CCP being too happy with more and more Americans having a direct line to Chinese users.

1 Like

The return may even be faster given that their issue is not about them being silenced or banned, but rather that other people they disagree with are not being restricted enough to their liking.

BI also characterises it as a cultural excahnge:

Cultural exchange on a mass scale

It’s a mass cultural exchange on an unprecedented scale.

International users typically have little incentive or opportunity to dive into Chinese social media apps, which cater to local audiences and are often locked behind strict user requirements that align with Beijing’s government standards.

Cross-border interactions on RedNote have been mostly friendly, at a time when US-China tensions have dominated global politics.

“It’s so amazing to have you here,” said one Chinese user in a viral post. “For so long, we haven’t been able to connect or talk to each other like this. But now we finally can, and it feels so special.”

His video, titled “American friends please stay here,” received over 174,000 likes.

Some users began hosting “cultural exchange” livestream audio chats, inviting young American and Chinese people to discuss their lives and befriend each other. One such livestream, seen by Business Insider, was watched by 70,000 users, with hundreds tuning in at a time.

And rightly so. Any form of communication is better than no communication between groups of people that politicians want to antagonise.

Fine. Its “cultural exchange”. A miracle that happened on monday and is likely to die by next week, but ok…

Yes, I would be amazed if this isn’t shutdown by either the China or US.

1 Like

My perception of bluesky is that its audience leans liberal, which I do as well, but I don‘t want just one-sided views.

Thanks again for all your views. Happy Fasnacht, everyone.

I may be falling for confirmation bias, but this is precisely my experience in geoscience. Article from Nature journal.

Bluesky’s science takeover: 70% of Nature poll respondents use platform

Roughly 6,000 readers answered our poll, with many declaring that Bluesky was nicer, kinder and less antagonistic to science than X.

Journalists and influencers can keep twitter :wink:

3 Likes

True. As much as Twitter leans right. If you manage follows well and create a balanced list, both work fine. I use it for news and opinions mainly. Don’t get into arguments - Blue MAGA is almost as bad as Red MAGA. And yeah, no ads on Bluesky which is a big plus.

1 Like

With only 30 million bsky users that can’t be representative for academia at large. Given the politicised nature of the issue the respondents are likely to be skewed pro-bsky to begin with.

You’d need the equivalent data from X users, too, with particular emphasis on former bsky users and those who took a peek but stayed.