Bluesky doesn't really have federation. It doesn't matter what server you're on, it's really just distributed hosting. Which is cool - but not as cool as federation.
Relay/instance admins can choose which content goes through their relay on either platform
On nostr, your DMs are encrypted. In Mastodon, the admin of the sender and receiver can read them, as can anybody else who breaks into their server
On nostr, a relay admin can control what goes through their relay, but they can't stop you from following/DMing/being followed by whoever you want since you are typically connected to multiple relays at once. As long as one relay allows it, signal flows. Nostr provides the best of both worlds: moderated "public squares" according to your moderation preferences, autonomy to follow/dm/be followed by anybody you want (assuming that individual user hasn't blocked you).
On mastodon, your identity is tied to your instance. If your instance goes down, you lose your follow/followee list, DMs, etc. On Nostr, it's not, so this doesn't happen. Mastodon provides some functionality to migrate identity between instances but it's clunky and generally requires to have some form of advanced notice.
Both have all the same functions as twitter: tweet, reply, re-tweet, DM, like, etc.
And you can transfer your account to another instance and it retains your followers so that user i wrong too. But i still like that your account isn't tied to an instance feature of nostr.
@leraje@muntedcrocodile The architecture of their protocol is highly incompatible with the way ActivityPub works.
With their protocol you have got the PDS (Personal Data Storage) that stores your data. Your handle is a hostname, but normally it will not be the hostname of your PDS. In fact you can use any hostname that you have control of. Your account itself is described via the DID that will never change - and that doesn't contain a hostname. This means that you can move between different PDS without people noticing it at all.
In ActivityPub the data storage is on the same host like your handle and your account's URL will always point to the host where your data is located. Moving your account is by far not as smooth and highly depends on the system that you are on.
The move will allow anyone to run their own server that connects to Bluesky’s network, so they can host their own data, their own account and make their own rules.
The growing interest in federation stems from consumer demand to have more control over their personal data — something that gained more attention after billionaire Elon Musk bought Twitter, rebranded it to X and changed its focus to become an “everything app” with a focus on payments, creators, video shows, AI...and more lax moderation.
After a somewhat lengthy time in private beta, the company launched to the public earlier this month and now has over 5 million registered users, according to an official tracker.
It notes that Bluesky users will be able to participate in the global conversation, instead of the one dictated by the community they join, as aspects of how your experience differs from others is in your control thanks to other features, like custom feeds and composable moderation.
“There are some guardrails in place to ensure we can keep the network running smoothly for everyone in the ecosystem,” Bluesky’s blog post notes.
Once alternatives are established, Bluesky will recommend its service as the default to new users, but they’ll be able to change to another at any point, without losing their data.
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