Only a few weeks after mocking Twitter CEO Elon Musk over the app's major outage, Jack Dorsey made a return to the social media realm with an alternative in hand, Bluesky.
Backed by Dorsey the former Twitter CEO, Bluesky Social was launched on February 28 for iOS. The launch of Bluesky Social, of which Dorsey is a board member, comes at a time when Twitter has seen massive global outages and layoffs under Musk's leadership.
Available on the Apple App Store on an invite-only basis, Bluesky Social is currently in its testing phase. What is Bluesky and how does it stand against Twitter? What services does it offer? Here’s what we know
What is Bluesky? Where is it available?
Currently available only on iOS, Bluesky is a social media platform, developed by Bluesky PBLLC with the objective to decentralise social media. Only limited users can try the Beta version of the app as of now, as it requires an invite code to create an account.
Image Credits: Bluesky on App Store
Jay Graber, CEO of Bluesky on March 1 asked people to DM her on Twitter to get an invite.
A Twitter user asked if the Android version was ready too, to which Jay replied, “noo, so sorry!”
While the Bluesky team last shared an update on the app in October 2022, encouraging users to join the waitlist to try the beta version, it is not clear when the app will be opened up to the larger public.
Image Credits: Bluesky Website- “Join Private Beta” Page
How are Twitter and Bluesky related?
The advent of Bluesky was announced by Twitter back in 2019 when Jack Dorsey was the Twitter CEO, as an initiative that Twitter would fund to create an open and decentralised standard for social media. It was formed in late 2021 with the initial funding provided by Twitter. The board members included Jack Dorsey, Jeremie Miller, the inventor of Jabber/XMPP, and Jay Graber, CEO of the Bluesky company.
In September 2021, Jack Dorsey alluded to Bluesky as the “future of Twitter.” Even after stepping down as CEO, Jack continued to discuss Bluesky’s objectives publicly on Twitter. On February 7, 2022, Bluesky CEO Jay Graber announced the formation of Bluesky PBLLC, a Public Benefit LLC that will implement that vision as an independent organisation.
What to expect from Bluesky?
Image Credits: Bluesky on App Store (iPhone Screenshots)
As seen in the images shared by the app developers on the App Store and by users on social media platforms, the interface of Bluesky is quite similar to Twitter with features such as reposting, following and likes. The timeline also shows updates of the feeds/profiles that one follows, like Twitter.
Where does the difference lie then? According to Jack Dorsey’s tweet in 2021, Bluesky intends to act as a decentralised open-source social media protocol, not owned by any single company or organisation. He added that Bluesky will help increase innovation around business models, recommendation algorithms, and moderation controls which are in the hands of individuals, rather than private companies. This will allow people to experiment with a market-based approach. Will Bluesky successfully achieve all of this?