The Great Twitter Exodus of 2022 is still happening. It’s just a little… broken. A lot of Twitter power users have ended up on Bluesky. A lot of tech-savvy folks are still hanging out on Mastodon (at least that’s where I am).

These are two decentralized services in theory, but users of one service can’t actually talk to users of the other. That wasn’t possible before Bridgy Fed anyway. This is a beta service that allows Bluesky and Fediverse-compatible applications like Mastodon to interact. I tested this with a friend and it works: we can now see each other’s posts, like each other’s posts, and even talk to each other.

Let’s back up a bit. Mastodon is part of the Fediverse, a collection of services that connect using the same protocol. Threads, another place where many Twitter users ended up, is starting to connect to the Fediverse; WordPress blogs can connect as well. All of this points to a future where people can use any social network they want and follow people who prefer to use another, with one problem: Bluesky, despite being decentralized, is not part of this network.

This is where Bridgy Fed comes in. The service allows individual users of both services to choose to “bridge” their accounts. I tested this with my friend and Lifehacker alumnus Eric Ravenscraft, who hangs out on Bluesky more than I do. It worked well.