by SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Angry It has emerged as an alternative for those looking for a different vibe, one that’s lighter and friendlier and less influenced by Musk.
What is Bluesky?
Promoted by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Bluesky was an invitation-only space until it opened in February. This invitation-only period gave the site time to develop moderation tools and other features. The platform is similar to Musk’s X, with a “Discover” feed and a chronological feed for accounts that users follow. Users can send direct messages and pin posts, as well as find “starter packs” that provide a curated list of people and custom feeds to follow.
Why does Bluesky grow?
Bluesky announced in mid-November that its total number of users had increased to 15 million from about 13 million at the end of October, as some X users sought an alternative platform to post their thoughts and talk to others online. The post-election surge in users isn’t the first time Bluesky has benefited from people leaving X. The platform gained 2.6 million users in the week after X was banned in Brazil in August – 85% of which came from Brazil, the company said. About 500,000 new users signed up one day in October when X signaled that banned accounts could see a user’s public posts.
Across the platform, new users — including journalists, left-wing politicians and celebrities — have posted memes saying they’re looking forward to using a space free of advertising and hate speech. Some said it reminded them of Twitter’s early days more than a decade ago.
Despite Bluesky’s growth, X announced after the election that it had “dominated the global conversation about the US elections” and set new records.
Beyond social networks
However, Bluesky has bigger ambitions than replacing X. Beyond the platform itself, the company is building a technical foundation – a so-called “public conversation protocol” – that could make social networks work across platforms – also known as interoperability. such as email, blogs or phone numbers.
It is currently not possible to switch between social platforms to leave a comment on someone’s account. Twitter users must stay on Twitter and TikTok users must stay on TikTok if they want to interact with accounts on those services. Big Tech companies have largely surrounded their online offerings with protective moats, helping them support their advertising-focused business models.
Bluesky is trying to rethink all of this and is working on interoperability.
