Bounce: Seamlessly Move Your Following Between Bluesky & Mastodon

A Significant Advancement in Open Social Networking

A noteworthy development demonstrating the potential of the open social web was revealed on Thursday during the FediForum online conference.

The creators of Bridgy Fed, a tool facilitating connections between decentralized social networks such as Mastodon and Bluesky, have unveiled a new project named Bounce.

Introducing Bounce: Account Migration Across Networks

Bounce will empower users to transfer their social network followings across platforms utilizing different protocols.

This represents a crucial advancement in establishing the open social web as a viable alternative to the walled-garden ecosystems of major tech companies – Meta, Snap, Google, TikTok, and X.

Currently, leaving these centralized platforms often means losing access to your network, despite the ability to export data.

Current Account Portability Limitations

Existing social services like Mastodon and Bluesky, operating on ActivityPub and the AT Protocol respectively, permit account migration within their respective protocol networks.

For example, a Mastodon user can relocate their account to another Mastodon server.

Similarly, Bluesky allows users to transfer their accounts and data between Personal Data Servers (PDS), although full reversibility is still under development.

The Challenge of Inter-Network Migration

However, until now, it has been impossible for users to move their accounts and maintain their established followings when transitioning between different networks.

Now, under the leadership of the nonprofit A New Social, the team behind Bridgy Fed has engineered technology to enable this type of migration.

How Bounce Facilitates Migration

The technology leverages Bridgy Fed to allow users to effectively “move” their Bluesky account to a bridged account on their Mastodon profile.

This bridged account mirrors posts from Mastodon to Bluesky, ensuring visibility for Bluesky followers.

Subsequently, the bridged account can be “moved” to the user’s primary Mastodon profile.

The underlying mechanics are complex due to differing migration handling approaches on each platform.

Therefore, Bridgy Fed functions as an intermediary, utilizing dedicated servers designed for bridging and account transfers.

Beta Launch and Current Limitations

Currently a proof-of-concept, the technology is slated for a beta launch in the coming weeks, initially targeted towards technically proficient users.

“We wanted to demonstrate the feasibility of this concept,” explains Anuj Ahooja, CEO and executive director of A New Social.

Several limitations exist at present.

Returning to Bluesky’s PDS is currently unsupported, as the network has not yet implemented this functionality.

Furthermore, interactions with the “moved” account from Bluesky users who are not bridged will not be visible on the Mastodon side.

However, the team is developing a notification feature to alert users of such off-bridge interactions.

Future Vision and Broader Support

Bounce also informs users about the number of their followed accounts that are not yet bridged, enabling easy re-following once bridging is established.

The ultimate goal is to abstract the underlying technology from the average user.

Users should be able to seamlessly select their preferred app and initiate a simple migration process for their following.

Currently supporting Bluesky, Mastodon, and Pixelfed, the long-term vision is to extend support to any open social platform and protocol.

This includes long-form blogging platforms like Ghost, and networks utilizing protocols like Nostr or Farcaster.

Simplifying Movement Across the Open Social Web

“We aim to provide an interface for the open social web to manage these complex movements,” Ahooja elaborated.

“If you’re dissatisfied with Bluesky, or simply prefer a platform on the ActivityPub side, Bounce could facilitate a quick and easy transition.”

A New Social’s Expanding Toolkit

Bounce is the third project from A New Social, following Bridgy Fed and a settings page designed to streamline the bridging preparation process.

This settings page also allows users to configure a custom domain for their account.

Empowering Users, Not Platforms

The overarching objective of A New Social is to redistribute power within social networks, shifting it from platform operators to individual users.

This is achieved by providing tools that enable account and following migration, allowing users to leave platforms that no longer meet their needs.

The organization’s motto, “People not Platforms,” is prominently displayed on merchandise – tees, hoodies, hats, cups, and stickers – which helps fund their efforts, alongside their Patreon campaign.