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we have an idea for communities in the app that we're calling "spaces" — places where people can gather around shared interests or social groups. here's a peek at some early prototypes. these are explorations, not polished or final. looking for feedback, esp from community builders 👀

you can create a space with a few taps. give it a name, choose who can join, and you're in. after creating it, you can customize further — choose a cover image, an accent color, and more.

you choose the handle for your space, like "yourspace.bsky.space" this doubles as a link you can send to invite people to your space. it comes with a unique landing page. would you want to customize this page? what else would you want to see here?

inside a space, you post like you do on Bluesky: short posts with photos, links, and replies, visible only to members or people who can join the space. are Bluesky-style posts what you want inside spaces? or something different like long-form posts, forum-style (non-branching) threads, or chat?

for post reactions, we're considering two options: classic likes (like on regular Bluesky posts) and emoji reactions (like in group chats). with emoji reactions, you choose which ones are suggested by default. which reaction type would you prefer? or is there something else you'd want instead?

you decide who can join instantly: anyone, people you follow, people who follow you, or nobody. anyone else can request access. you decide who gets in. people who can join can read posts inside the space. after joining, they can post into the space.

spaces could live in a drawer right below your feeds, so you can hop between them easily.

creating a space can help you build a more direct connection with your audience or social group. when people join your space, they could be notified about new conversations by default. they can turn this off by pressing the bell button.

there could be a new "My Spaces" feed where you see all the new posts from spaces you've joined. these posts could also be sprinkled into your Discover feed.

if you want new people to find and join your space, you could choose to make it discoverable. if you do that, new potential members could find it by searching or browsing.

spaces are part of the Atmosphere just like Bluesky, so you could create a totally custom app/site for your group with any features you want. this could be on your own domain. the same content would appear there and in the Bluesky app. so if it's public, new people could discover it on Bluesky.

similarly, if your group uses multiple Atmosphere apps (like Bluesky for posting and @grain.social for sharing photos), it would automatically show up in all those apps for the people in your space. this is a big part of what would make spaces different. do yall find that part interesting?

if you're interested in building a community or social group, does this feel like an exciting way to do it? would you create a space like this? or would you prefer something different? thanks all for the feedback :)