Blacksky Algorithms

Exciting news! On 5 June, we’re hosting the very first edition of the #OpenSocialAwards. 🎉 During this evening, we celebrate the people, projects and ideas shaping a different future for social media. A future beyond Big Tech platforms like Meta and X. One that is open, democratic, sustainable and community-driven. From decentralized platforms to new ideas about ownership and governance online; these pioneers are building healthier ways for people to connect online. Expect inspiring talks by Rudolph Fraser (Blacksky Algorithms), Lauren Challis (Internet Society Netherlands) and Moktar Nabil (Garage Noord). And of course: the announcement of 5 honorable mentions and 3 award winners, selected by an independent expert jury. Meet the jury: - Laurens Hof (Open Social Web Society) - Johannes Ernst (FediForum & Dazzle Labs Inc.) - Robin Berjon (Supramundane Agency IPFS Foundation) - Audrey Tang (Taiwan’s Cyber Ambassador & Civic Hacker) - Melanie Bartos (Universität Innsbruck) Curious about the future of open social media? 🎟️ Get your free ticket via the link in the comments 📅 FRI 5 JUNE, 20:00 📍Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam Evening developed by Faezah Mohammadi and Paulien Dresscher. Moderator: Evita De Roode. This evening is part of the PublicSpaces Conference 2026: Technology for Democracy. | New_ Public Waag Futurelab

🎉🎉 We’re excited to announce that Rudolph Fraser, Founder of Blacksky Algorithms, will be the opening keynote speaker at our upcoming Open Social Awards ceremony! It’s difficult to think about community-driven innovation on the Open Web without thinking of Blacksky.  Blacksky prioritizes community safety and self-governance by putting internet tools in the hands of community members. Recently, they launched Acorn, bringing the tools of Blacksky to any community looking to build their own social networks on the open web. (If you’re thinking that there’s a connection to “Parable of the Sower” by Afrofuturist author Octavia Butler, you’d be right.) 🖤 We’re looking forward to celebrating next month at the PublicSpaces Conference in Amsterdam. RSVP in the link in comments to join us 🎉

Excited to announce that I will be giving the opening keynote for New_ Public + PublicSpaces Open Social Award Show in Amsterdam next month at Pakhuis de Zwijger! My keynote will discuss how we do community governance at Blacksky Algorithms Best of luck to all applicants and hope to see you there! #OpenSocial #Governance #Community #Fediverse https://lnkd.in/divGX_my

After building Blacksky, a safer online space for Black folks, friend of New_ Public Rudolph Fraser and the Blacksky team are now sharing their tools! They’re sharing this infrastructure with any community that wants to build on the open social web, regardless of technical background. The new project, Acorn, helps anyone build their own social networks with social media toolkits that  include starter packs for new members, customized feeds, and moderation tools. https://lnkd.in/g86KhYgi

One of our most exciting releases since the founding of Blacksky Algorithms. Multi-community support via our new platform, Acorn. Acorn lets people form communities on Blacksky itself, which turns Blacksky into the substrate for a federation of communities rather than a single community. To date, Blacksky’s focus has been on building tools to provide a safer online space for members of the Black Twitter community to move to. With Acorn, Blacksky is providing access to these same tools to other communities that want to build their own spaces on the open social web. --- Octavia Butler published Parable of the Sower in 1993, but it is set in a version of America in 2024 with a dangerous demagogue at the helm of the country and community all but broken down. She was prophetic. The protagonist, Lauren Olamina, develops Earthseed – a philosophy that worships change as the only true constant force in the world. The adherents of Earthseed worship by paying deep attention to the world around them, understanding the way that it changes, and learning to shape that change itself. This vision and the constant acts of care Lauren displays builds a community capable of adapting to the hostile world around them. She calls that community Acorn. Our platform is named Acorn as an homage to this vision. #OpenSocial #Atproto #Fediverse #OpenSource #BlackTwitter https://lnkd.in/eN2vhxha

Today, I launched Disperse: an experimental sharesheet for the Atmosphere. Disperse is a website, bookmarklet, linkable service, and (soon) a browser extension that allows you to share in several different formats across the Atmosphere all at once. It uses the unique account and data ownership of Atmospheric accounts, and helps people discover apps in the ecosystem beyond Bluesky. As a huge fan of Buffer, the thought behind Disperse was “What if we build a service like Buffer from the ground up for the Atmosphere?” In short, it would mean not having to directly integrate with other services, automatically adopting new services that speak in the same formats, and - most importantly - giving the user a view of all of the different destinations they can share to without needing to create multiple accounts. At launch, it supports seven services: Bluesky Social, Blacksky Algorithms, Semble, Margin, Rabbithole, Kipclip, and Sill. Disperse is also open source, and you can find the code on Tangled, Blacksky Forge, and GitHub. I hope you enjoy using it as much as I did building it, and that you learn about some new Atmosphere apps you didn't know about. A link to the app and the launch blog post is in the replies. #atproto #atmosphere #bluesky #blacksky #socialmedia #opensocialweb

Really excited to be speaking at All Things in Moderation 2026 on behalf of Blacksky Algorithms !!!!

If you're interested in online communities OR sovereign social media, you can't miss this. I felt privileged last month to meet Rudolph Fraser, founder of BlackSky Algorithms, the single best example of building resilient social media (see 1st comment). Last night he announced multi-community support: "Your community deserves its own platform: The feeds you want, the moderation your community needs, and the people you trust — all under your brand." https://lnkd.in/eA4vgjX2 cc Snezha Kazakova, Susanne Szkola, PhD, David Mair & Coralia Catana