What is the Atmosphere?

Intro and TLDR: What is the Atmosphere

The Atmosphere is an ecosystem of social networking apps that all use Atmosphere accounts so that:

One account logs you in to all Atmosphere apps

Apps can seamlessly integrate with each other

Apps cannot lock you in and extract you for profit

Currently, Bluesky is the flagship social network in the Atmosphere but many exist and are growing! Start using any of these today by logging in with your Atmosphere/Bluesky account.

Atmosphere Accounts

Your Atmosphere account (also called a PDS) is:

Your handle/username

A place that stores the content you create on the apps and the people you have relationships with (follows, followers, mutuals, etc.)

If you're curious about what this looks like, go to PDSLS and search for your handle. You'll be looking at a big data dump of your content. Click around and you'll see everyone you follow and all the posts, likes, reposts, etc you've ever made on Bluesky!

If you use other Atmosphere apps, those will show up here too!

How do I make an account?

Your Bluesky account IS an Atmosphere account! You can (and should) use it to log into any Atmosphere app!

If you don't want to make your account on Bluesky, you can also create one on some other Atmosphere apps like Tangled, Surf, Blacksky, and Pckt.

A note about your content

You own your account! Not the app you made the account on. Only you can create and change things in it. However, anyone can read and see those things.

Work is being done on private content, but for now think of your content as living in a glass house.

This enables a lot of cool things (which we'll get into), and blocking and moderation tools exist, but it's worth just keeping in mind.

Why is the Atmosphere so good?

Unified Log In

Once you've made an Atmosphere account, use it for ANY Atmosphere app. It's so convenient!

If you made an account on Bluesky, that's an Atmosphere account. Just use the handle you made there to log into Leaflet, Semble, Tangled, or anywhere else.

Check out this video to see what I mean:

View post on Bluesky

Interoperable apps

All the data is public. That means Atmosphere apps can pull from content from ALL the other apps.

This post is written in Leaflet, a newsletter platform. But I can mention anyone on Bluesky right in line! Look, this is me
➡️ @cozylittle.house

And in Standard Reader, you can read posts written in not only Leaflet, but other blogging and newsletter platforms like Offprint and Pckt too!

On Bluesky, you'll notice that links to Leaflet, Offprint, and Pckt posts have a fancy special card.

And if you log into Sill, you can see the links and articles that your follows on Bluesky have been posting about.

True freedom of choice

Legacy social media companies seem amazing at first, but once they get enough users, it's all about profit extraction. They're no longer making a product in your best interest. You want to leave but they've locked in all your friends and content, so you're stuck. Twitter/X and Instagram stand out as recent examples.

But in the Atmosphere, all your data is public. Let's say an app stops serving you, gets bogged down in ads, changes its algorithm, or supports questionable causes. A competitor will emerge and you can just start using that app instead. Your same content and your same friends, no starting over again. Just totally seamless.

It's already possible today!

Bluesky is popular, but maybe you'd rather not patron US companies. Or maybe you NEED that edit button. Then use Europe based Mu Social.

Maybe you'd prefer to hear more black voices, in a safe space for black community. Try out Blacksky.

If you want a totally new experience that's mysterious and mindful, maybe Anisota is more for you.

All your posts, follows, and followers are just there. In fact, give it a try right now. Just log into any of these alternatives with your Atmosphere account. If you don't like them, just head back to Bluesky!

Let's sum it up!

The Atmosphere is an ecosystem of apps that use Atmosphere accounts.

An Atmosphere account exists outside of any single app. It consists of a username and a big folder of all the content and relationships a person has. It's public!

Atmosphere apps use this folder to create social experiences like blogging, tweeting, and sharing. Because everything is public, Atmosphere apps can create uniquely seamless experiences between themselves!

Finally, if an app fails to meet your standards, you can always leave the app without leaving your connections and your content.

The Atmosphere! Greener pastures await!

Note: This post was written as an easy intro and contains generalizations for the sake of simplicity. To learn about the Atmosphere in more detail, here's some recommended reading!

General audience

Atmosphere 101: Do I need to make an account? by @pckt.blog

A quick explainer on how accounts and handles work

Interlinked Part One and Part Two by @joebasser.com

An in-depth exploration on what's wrong, how we got here, and how the Atmosphere can fix it

Rather technical

A Social File System by @danabra.mov

A total banger, if you only read one, make it this one!

A detailed breakdown of how ATProtocol works and and what it's value is. Though it's technical towards the end, the intro is very accessible!

The ATProto Docs by @atproto.com

For those looking to make a app on the Atmosphere

Publishing on the Atmosphere with Standard Site by @piccalil.li

On the subset of the Atmosphere for social blogging and publishing.

Credits: All drawings are done by me, thanks to everyone who responded to my Bluesky post and to the rest of the Leaflet team for your feedback!