I'm kind of nonplusses (inside joke) by the number of people responding to Expert Plus 🍀 (npub1apq…h2ku)' poll from yesterday (See https://mementomori.social/@ExpertPlus/112378207140452837) that they have no idea what Bridgy Fed is. Like they've been living under a rock for the past six months... But that's a mean thing to say,. and I apologise. I guess I just move in different circles on the Fediverse.
So for those who don't know, Bridgy Fed is a project by Ryan Barrett (npub1ytx…28uf), announced at the beginning of the year, which would allow Fediverse users to interoperate with Bluesky users. Its announcement coincided with Bluesky announcing that they intended to launch multiple servers which would federate with each other in a similar way to the Fediverse. The caveat for us is that Bluesky uses a different protocol to the Fediverse, so they're not natively compatible.
Bridgy Fed was intended to be an "integration layer", if you will, between the two, enabling people on the Fediverse to follow and interact with people on Bluesky, and vice versa.
It's been fraught with controversy since the beginning, though, with some Fediverse users wanting nothing whatsoever to do with any other networks, and other people wondering how to block the bridge, and still other people concerned that the initial draft would've included everyone by default, and required them to opt out.
Well, Bridgy Fed's Bluesky bridge is now here (having been soft-launched this week, so expect some teething issues and minor bugs)! It's opt-in on both sides of the bridge, meaning if you're a Fediverse user who wants to make themselves visible to Bluesky and available to be followed, you need to follow Bridgy Fed for Bluesky (npub1pqr…2sck) on the Fediverse, and if you're a Bluesky user who wants to make themselves visible to the Fediverse and available to be followed, you need to follow @ap.brid.gy on Bluesky.
I hope that clears it up. Did I leave anything out, Ryan Barrett (npub1ytx…28uf)? :-)