From Overreacted · · 3 min
Open Social: How We Reclaim Our Data on the Web
Just as open source liberated code, open social protocols are poised to return data ownership and digital identity to users.
In brief
Just as open source liberated code, open social protocols are poised to return data ownership and digital identity to users. Open social decouples your identity and content from social media platforms, enabling you to own your data repository and switch apps without losing your social graph. Originally reported by…
Open source won the web
Decades ago, critics called open source impossible or even dangerous. Today, it forms the shared infrastructure running the modern digital world.
“Nobody gets fired for choosing open source these days. For much crucial software, open source is now the default.”
The next shift is social
Social media today stands at the same historical crossroads open source faced 35 years ago. A new movement called open social is emerging to reclaim our digital commons.
“I believe we are at a similar juncture with social apps as we have been with open source thirty five years ago.”
Code is free, data isn't
What open source accomplished for software source code, open social aims to accomplish for personal user data.
“What open source did for code, open social does for data.”
How the early web worked
On the early web, publishing meant owning a domain like alice.com. Site owners truly controlled their content and could switch hosting providers at any time.
“Only Alice decides what appears on Alice’s website. Only Bob decides what appears on Bob’s website. They meaningfully 'own their data'.”
Links belonged to logical documents
Hyperlinks connected documents rather than physical servers. If a host turned bad, you moved your site elsewhere, and DNS restored all existing links seamlessly.
“Hosting providers have no real leverage over Alice and Bob... you can just walk away and host it elsewhere.”
The rise of closed social
Today, people publish structured entities like posts, likes, and comments inside corporate databases under app-assigned usernames rather than personal websites.
“We, and the web we create, have become rows in somebody else’s database.”
Why centralized apps won
Storing structured data in a single database unlocked global search, feeds, and notifications. People flocked to shared spaces because humans want to congregate together.
“It’s specifically this social aggregation that blows the 'personal sites' paradigm out of the water.”
The trap of platform lock-in
Centralized apps trapped our social graphs. You cannot leave a platform without abandoning your followers, likes, and post history.
“To leave is to leave it behind.”
Platforms turn on their users
When users cannot walk away, platforms lose all incentive to respect them. They squeeze feeds with ads, alter algorithms, or sell out to corporate acquirers.
“If you can’t leave without losing something important, the platform has no incentives to respect you as a user.”
Data exports are dead data
Downloading a zip file of JSON when you leave an app provides only isolated archives stripped of their living network context.
“Those megabytes of JSON you got on your way out are dead data. It’s like a branch torn apart from its tree.”
Enter the Open Social model
Open social restores user ownership. Instead of an app-allocated username, your internet handle becomes a domain name you control, like @alice.com.
“Your internet handle being something you actually own is the most user-visible aspect of open social apps.”
Data hosted on the web
In open social, your posts, follows, and likes live in your personal data repository, a standard web server, rather than inside a company's private database.
“Alongside her personal site, Alice now has a personal repository of her data.”
A web of hyperlinked JSON
Using protocols like Bluesky's AT Protocol, every data record gets a unique at:// URI. Records link directly across independent repositories.
“This is a web of hyperlinked JSON. Just like every HTML page has an https:// URI... every JSON record has an at:// URI.”
True freedom to switch hosts
You can move your data repository to a new host at any time. Your identity, posts, and incoming links remain fully intact.
“Changing where her repo is being served from doesn’t require cooperation from the previous host.”
Apps become content management systems
Open social apps operate like specialized editors for your repository. When you post or like something, the app writes signed data straight into your repo.
“Each open social app is like a CMS for a subset of data that lives in its users’ repositories.”
Open data by default
Records inside your repository are grouped by application schemas. Anyone or any app can read your public data directly without needing custom platform APIs.
“To avoid naming collisions, the data in the repository is grouped by the format.”
A connected multiverse of apps
Because data lives together in open repositories, apps can seamlessly build on each other's data, sharing avatars, graphs, and interactions across services.
“It starts to feel like a connected multiverse of apps, with data from one app 'bleeding into' other apps.”
Breaking down application silos
New apps no longer need to build social graphs from scratch. They can immediately leverage existing identities and content stored in user repositories.
“Every open social app can take advantage of data created by every other open social app.”
The power of AT Protocol
While open social isn't limited to one system, the AT Protocol provides the most practical implementation today for decentralizing social data at scale.
“I think the AT Protocol created by Bluesky is the most convincing take on it so far.”
Inevitable in retrospect
Decentralizing social media will take years of sustained community effort. But just like open source, open social will eventually feel like the obvious default.
“Good things can happen; all it takes is years of sustained effort by a community of stubborn enthusiasts.”
The takeaway
Open social decouples your identity and content from social media platforms, enabling you to own your data repository and switch apps without losing your social graph.
