Bluesky is a new social media platform developed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey that aims to challenge Twitter’s dominance in the social media space. The service, which is still in its early stages, has been gaining traction among Twitter power users and prominent personalities such as US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Bluesky has many similarities with Twitter, including a text-focused service that allows users to post short messages of up to 300 characters, along with images. However, Bluesky has no support for videos or direct messages at this time. The platform is built on a decentralized framework similar to the social network Mastodon. This allows users to create independent social media experiences and join specific “servers” with unique rules, interests, and participants.
Bluesky’s core framework allows for various customizations, which sets it apart from Twitter. In the words of the company, “Instead of one site running the network, you can have many sites. It means you get a choice of provider, and individuals and businesses can self-host if they want.”
Bluesky began as a project within Twitter in 2019 and was set up as an independent company in 2022. As of April 2022, it had raised $13 million from Twitter. Jack Dorsey, Jeremie Miller, the inventor of the communication protocol Jabber/XMPP, and Jay Graber, chief executive of Bluesky, serve as board members.
While Bluesky’s user base is still relatively small, the company reports that it had more than 40,000 users as of May 2022. The platform began to sign up users on the waitlist earlier this year and announced its biggest single-day jump last week. Bluesky has attracted many power users, including writer and comedian Dril, who have become frustrated with Elon Musk’s management of Twitter and the recent changes to the platform.
