Thoughts on social scoring
Trying cred.blue's Bluesky credibility score, and some thoughts on why social ranking should reward genuine interaction over the loudest voices.
This is an older piece, kept as a record. It reflects the tools and versions of its time — check the dates before relying on any specifics.
Tried @cred.blue and it seems like a healthy score of 431!
Some thoughts:
I'm not a huge fan of "Klout" style scoring on social media, but it's something that people do want. People love rankings, they love metrics, and they love to see their place in the world. What they don't want is unfairness, particularly when bigger accounts get boosts by merit of being richer people in real life, louder voices, or more abrasive and obnoxious personalities.
I think it's really cool that this scoring system provides a lot of context to the score. It explains factors like ALT text, activity, and encourages AT Proto involvement (still figuring that out!).
Social media feels like a really complex and multi-faceted beast these days, with tendrils digging into every aspect of our lives, politics, health, and environment. But fundamentally, I believe there's a very basic core principle we should try to boost: reward people for genuine interactions.
Whether in joy, jest, anger, fear, or doubt, as long as it's genuine and you're not chasing some elusive crown as the "winner" of social media or seeking wealth, then your interaction adds to something meaningful. That's far from an easy task, but I think solving it is key to making social media healthier.
2026 update cred.blue is still going, and its scoring has kept pace with Bluesky's own growth — the network cleared 30M+ accounts through 2025. The AT Protocol side has matured too, so "still figuring that out" is a lower bar now than it was: third-party clients, feeds and custom domains are all routine.
I help content-rich organisations understand their data and pull it back into one place. Tell me what specific problems you're having and I'll be happy to talk solutions with you.
Tell me what specific problems you’re having and I’ll be happy to talk solutions with you.