There’s a reason journalist and Bluesky board member Mike Masnick calls the platform “the most interesting experiment going in social media.” Originally launched as a project within Twitter in 2019, Bluesky has since become an independent company intent on making social more like the web. What does that mean, exactly, and why does it matter? Bluesky founder and CEO Jay Graber says social media is stagnating because “we're in this trap where users are locked in and developers are locked out.” It’s time to open things up again, she states, like in the innovative early days of the internet. Highlights of this conversation:• Bluesky’s origin story • The case for decentralization — and Bluesky• Developer activity and other “wacky experimentation” • Workings of identity online and DIDs (decentralized identifiers)• Bridging AT Protocol and ActivityPub•  Bluesky’s exciting cultural momentsMentioned in this episode:Hard Fork podcast episode featuring Jay Graber🔎 You can find Jay at @jay.bsky.team✚ You can connect with Mike McCue at @mmccue.bsky.social and at @mike@flipboard.social💡 To learn more about what Flipboard's doing in the fediverse, sign up here:  https://about.flipboard.com/a-new-wave/