Bluesky, the decentralized social media platform born out of Twitter’s legacy, has introduced a long-awaited feature: private bookmarks, branded as “Saved Posts.” The update allows users to discreetly save content without broadcasting their preferences to the public—marking a subtle but significant shift in how online interactions are designed.
Until now, Bluesky users had only one main method of content acknowledgment: the “like” button, which is publicly visible to everyone. Unlike platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), where liking a post can double as both engagement and private bookmarking, Bluesky offered no such middle ground. Users were often forced into awkward workarounds, like replying with emojis or maintaining off-platform lists to track posts they wanted to revisit.
The new “Saved Posts” section addresses this gap, offering a dedicated space within the app where users can privately store and access bookmarked content.
How It Works
The update adds a bookmark icon alongside the usual interaction tools. Tapping this icon sends a post to the “Saved” section, visible only to the account holder. According to the company, this marks one of the first features deliberately designed to operate outside the AT Protocol, Bluesky’s decentralized framework.
This decision stems from a limitation in the protocol itself, which currently does not support private data handling. By implementing bookmarks separately, Bluesky ensures that user privacy is preserved, even if it comes at the cost of complete interoperability.
The introduction of private bookmarks may appear modest compared to algorithm overhauls or content moderation debates, but it reflects a growing trend: privacy-first social design.
In practice, the feature empowers journalists tracking sensitive sources, researchers cataloguing data, or everyday users who wish to save controversial or personal material without fear of exposure. It reframes engagement not just as a public act of affirmation, but also as a personal act of curation.
For Bluesky, the move may improve user retention. Allowing individuals to personalize their use of the app without broadcasting every interest could deepen long-term engagement, even if it does not directly expand the platform’s user base.
Why It Matters
The feature also exposes structural challenges in the AT Protocol. If one of the platform’s flagship features must operate outside its core system, it raises questions about the protocol’s readiness for mainstream adoption. Critics may see this as a sign that decentralized platforms are still finding their footing in balancing privacy with openness.
Bluesky’s private bookmarks highlight a broader conversation in the tech world: the tension between visibility and privacy. In an era where every digital interaction is increasingly public by default, small design choices like this can reshape user expectations of what a social platform should provide.
As platforms compete to capture user trust, the ability to control not just what one shares, but also what one quietly saves, may become a defining frontier in the evolution of social media.
Talking Points
In Africa, where social media is deeply political and sometimes even dangerous, private features aren’t just conveniences—they can be tools of safety. A student activist saving an article or a journalist bookmarking sensitive posts shouldn’t have to worry about government surveillance or public exposure.
Bluesky’s experiment should spark a wider demand for privacy-centered design across platforms Africans use daily.
Social platforms profit from making everything public: likes, comments, retweets. This maximizes engagement, but it also strips users of quiet agency. By offering private bookmarks, Bluesky challenges this model—but let’s not be naive.
If Big Tech finds privacy reduces profit, they’ll resist it. Users must demand it, or risk living in digital echo chambers where everything is performance.
The fact that Bluesky had to step outside its much-hyped AT Protocol to enable private bookmarks exposes cracks in the dream of decentralization. If the infrastructure doesn’t support privacy at scale, then is “decentralization” just another buzzword?
Africans considering decentralized platforms must weigh the hype against reality: are these tools truly built for them, or for Silicon Valley’s ideological games?
