I have my own microblogging site, made specifically for me, for my own consumption. But sometimes, I want to share what I do with the world, but I don't feel like opening the Bluesky app just to write "I just saw a bird on my walk home". But who says I have to open Bluesky? Just do it right from my own app!

ATproto makes bridging content between platforms way too easy, because you don't have to reach out to multiple external sites to do so. And most of the time, this is completely fine— actually, not even fine, marvelous! What do you mean I can easily cross post to Bluesky without having to pay for "API" usage and I get a free database to store things into? This is awesome!

But also… when I scroll through my Grain feed (which for those not in the know, it's an app similar to Instagram, in the sense that you share photography), I don't expect a review of a movie, that mind you, links to an external service. I want to see photography!

Actually, does it even make sense to bridge movie and book reviews to Grain? Why is this showing up here?

Why are there microblogs here too??????? Oh no, they are breaching containment…

It's Not Necessarily a Problem

But it's definitely something to think about.

Bridging is nice because it's a win-win scenario for both services… when it's done right. Posting something that looks alien in one service and not in the other, and simultaneously including a link to that service, makes both services look bad from a user experience standpoint.

It's like going into Bluesky to find wholesome content, because you saw that the site says it's the website where you can "have fun again". Only to realize that the median Bluesky user prefers dog piling other people if they think slightly different than them.

When you plan to bridge content to another platform, one must first see what content is even shared there, what is deemed acceptable and what would undoubtedly be "weird". For instance, let's take that microblogging example that was shown one paragraph ago.

Does it make sense for it to be in a platform that positions itself as an "Photo-sharing service"? It depends on whether the post contains, for instance, a photograph.

But images are photographs too, right? What would be a reasonable boundary in this context?

It's hard to know what makes sense to bridge to another service, because these boundaries of what looks good or not are loosely defined.

Usually, services that share a similar premise (microblogging to microblogging, for example) play along well because the shape of the content is generally the same. But different shapes require different holes (or adapters), you can't fit everything inside the square hole (well, you can, but you shouldn't anyway.)

You Could Let the User Decide

Make sure to also include a preview of what it would look like on that platform!

Or You Should Reconsider

But most of the time, bridging is not necessary.

Even though you could do it, sharing content should be left to the user to do it manually. Whether that be via copying the content to the clipboard, or via a shareable link, the user should be able to have a choice to do so.

In my opinion, bridging content with different modalities should never be automated, ever.

And even if it is, the user should always know what it looks like on the other side.

And If You Are Ingesting from Other Services

Make sure to transform the content appropriately!

The fun thing is that you can include or exclude parts of this content to make it fit alongside a slew of other content, whether that be enhanced embeds for articles, galleries from image-sharing services, and so on. But above all, it should look like it belongs inside the app (also sanitise the content!!!)

I'm Actually Fine with External Content

So, don't take this piece very seriously, have it with a grain of salt. But it's something that I've been thinking about for a while, even before I started building my site.

When I log something to my journal, I think about whether it would look fine on my Bluesky profile because I don't want it to look off with the general vibe I give.

It's why I made the option to bridge content a toggle. I knew that even if I bridged everything, there are going to be times where I didn't want it to be completely public, but still visible on the journal.

I actually plan on bringing more things from other platforms into my own site! But in a more discrete manner. I'll write about it when the time comes, though :)

Anyway, to conclude, please bridge your content when it makes sense to do so!