by Bluesky’s chief executive has said rival Twitter will not go overboard with ads as the social media network opens up to more users.
Until now, the platform only accepted invited users – but the hub is now allowed to sign up from the Joe community.
It means potential users no longer need to be the proverbial son of a user (or save a member’s life) and can simply download the app or register on the website.
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey was on the team behind the launch of Bluesky in October 2021 and was founded around the time Elon Musk was running what is now known as X.
Jay Graber is the chief executive from the outside and announced last week that he would be opening his doors to the masses.
Alas, you could argue that Bluesky missed the boat by restricting access to its platform for so long. Yes, Twitter is still as problematic as it always was under Musk, but the noise around it has died down in recent months.
Meanwhile, Facebook owner Meta has stripped off some of Bluesky’s sheen with the launch of Threads. The social platform gathered 100 million users in a record time, proving that there was room for a real Twitter competitor.
But Graber says Bluesky has merits that make it worth your while.
She told Wired: “It’s really fun and chaotic. Especially in the last year, we had a very high poster-to-pledger ratio. On most social apps, people are just looking at content. Here, a lot of people are posting and talking.”
Another advantage is that it will introduce ads at a fairly slow rate – and won’t, as she put it, “cheat” the network.
“There will always be free options, and we can’t clutter the network with ads,” she said.
“This is where a federation comes in. Because anyone can host themselves and anyone can contribute to the software, we won’t be able to degrade the user experience in a way that makes people want to leave.”
What is Bluesky?
Bluesky appeared on Apple’s iPhone App Store in February 2023 and an Android version was released in April.
Until now, the only way to access the platform was to join a waiting list or by receiving an invitation from someone who had already registered.
In terms of its design, screenshots on the Bluesky App Store page show an interface very similar to that of Twitter. There are likes, “reposts” like a retweet, and comments on posts.
The app’s new user base has even coined a phrase for Bluesky’s posts: skeets. This is a combination of the words “tweet” and “sky”. It also has a very NSFW meaning that we won’t share here.
The phrase has a badge of irreverent mood on the app; one article describes it as an alternative to LinkedIn’s professional networking platform.
However, the way the network works behind the scenes is very different from its competitors.
Bluesky is a decentralized social application, meaning it operates out of multiple servers run by multiple entities, rather than controlled by a single company. It uses a piece of technology called the AT Protocol to store your account details, effectively connecting these “decentralized” elements.
If you’ve tried Mastodon, a Twitter alternative, you’ll already have experience with a decentralized social network.
Who is on Bluesky?
After its launch, the platform quickly caught the eye of several celebrities who were highly regarded by Musk’s divisive management on Twitter.
His current top luminaries include US Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has more than 13 million Twitter followers; model Chrissy Teigen, who mocked Musk’s Twitter blue ticks; and Mission: Impossible — Dead reckoning director Christopher McQuarrie.
They will be joined by The Eternals star Kumail Nanjiani, Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright, and Moon director Duncan Jones.
Why did Bluesky use invitations?
Bluesky CEO Jay Graber previously claimed that 1.2 million people were on the waiting list after Musk took over Twitter.
At its peak, invitations were being given away on Twitter, where those eager to use Bluesky were fleeing. An r/blueskyinvites subreddit was also established, and the r/BlueskySocial subreddit had an invitation thread.
One seller even tried to offload Bluesky invitations on eBay for £155 each, before their listing was removed.
Bluesky’s rollout has been slow, with the service estimated to have reached 20,000 users last April. But this is partly to generate the hype that comes with scarcity, and to ensure that the service’s servers don’t collapse due to rapidly increasing demand.
Is Bluesky a good Twitter alternative?
At first glance, this may seem like the former CEO of Twitter Jack Dorsey responding to Musk handle Twitter. However, Dorsey announced Bluesky in December 2019, to try to address issues with social media that existed years ago.
One aim was to give the user more control, including the content recommended to them, while reducing the power of the platform holder.
Bluesky is said to have started with a team of five and spun off into its own independent company in 2022, with Dorsey on board. It is not clear what his involvement is with the day-to-day running of the company.
He described the Bluesky app as a “web browser” that lets you explore the AT Protocol network. This is where we find the issue that Mastodon managed to turn off the Twitter alternative.
It asks you to join a separate server, which makes it seem less simple and more like a geekier online community like Reddit. Right now, it’s unclear how friendly Bluesky will be to a less techy crowd, although the screenshots are at least promising.
Bluesky Controversy
Last July, Bluesky came under fire for temporarily allowing users to register accounts that contained racial slurs.
Bluesky previously banned an offending account within 40 minutes of being reported, and the company says “the code that allowed this was patched that same evening”.
Many racist, ableist and transphobic slurs were also removed from its flagship word list in a controversial update in July.
It comes amid wider concerns about racism and moderation on the platform.
“You have a very bad anti-depression problem on your platform,” wrote Scott Hirleman, host of the Data Mesh Radio podcast on a LinkedIn post addressing Bluesky’s executive team. “If you don’t want to run a social media platform, split the company in half and focus on the protocol and fund the platform with another team that cares.”
Bluesky’s community guidelines emphasize that it does not allow behavior that “targets people based on their race, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, disability or sexual orientation.
“Our community guidelines reflect our values: racism and harassment have no place on Bluesky, and we will continue to take action to uphold these policies,” wrote Bluesky’s official account on the platform.
