If you’ve been on the internet recently, chances are you’ve heard of Bluesky. It’s the latest post-Elon Musk Twitter alternative to crop up — and it seems to be gaining some traction.
Public figures and politicians such as U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York are among the first to join the service, with many others looking to do the same.
What is Bluesky?
At its core, Bluesky is a microblogging site not unlike Twitter. It lets users post text and photos, and has the usual share and reply functions you’d expect.
The new social media platform is being funded by one of Twitter’s founders, Jack Dorsey. Dorsey has long been interested in social media decentralisation, and looks to be basing Bluesky off of this.
The goal is to provide users, developers, and creators control through the openness of decentralised protocols, according to Bluesky’s Jay Graber.
While conventional social networking companies take a proprietary walled-off approach, Bluesky wants to create a system where users can build out individual communities, have algorithmic transparency, and eventually utilise an entire “plugin ecosystem” of services.
How do I join Bluesky?
Currently, Bluesky is invite-online. This means you have to receive an invitation from a user who has already signed up to the platform to gain access to it. The official website says the social network will “launch soon” in a more accessible manner.
In the meantime, you can join the waitlist to try out the beta here. More information on the the platform can be found on the Bluesky Blog.
It’s hard to say whether Bluesky will take off as a viable Twitter competitor in the long run. We’ve seen newfound interest in alternative sites like Mastadon ever since Musk’s takeover of Twitter, and the various policy changes that have followed.
Source: Bluesky
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