As a response to growing user dissatisfaction with Twitter under Elon Musk’s leadership, Bluesky, an invite-only alternative to the platform, is rapidly gaining momentum in the social media sphere.
Bluesky, an ambitious project announced by Twitter’s former CEO, Jack Dorsey, in 2019, aims to develop an open, decentralised standard for social media.
The idea was born out of Dorsey’s vision of a more user-centric social media ecosystem where the power is shifted from central entities to individual users.
Dorsey, who co-founded Twitter in 2006 and served two non-consecutive terms as the CEO, has a history of innovative thinking and challenging the status quo.
In 2021, he left his role at Twitter to focus on other ventures, Bluesky being one of them. His departure from Twitter was said to be motivated by a desire to focus on projects such as Bluesky that redefine the status quo.
On April 27, Bluesky announced its “biggest single-day” jump in users, as celebrities and influencers flocked to join the platform ahead of its full public release. But what exactly is Bluesky, and how does it work?
Unlike conventional social media platforms, Bluesky aims to create a decentralised protocol where different social networks, each with their own moderation and curation systems, can communicate using an open standard.
Users interact directly through a peer-to-peer network, instead of through a central server, providing increased user data security.
In this decentralised network, each user has their own “node” on the network, which stores their data and content, rather than a company-controlled server.
This allows users to control which data they share, who has access to their personal information, and ensures less vulnerability to censorship and data breaches.
“Bluesky is about redefining how we perceive and use social media,” said a spokesperson for Bluesky. “It’s about decentralisation, giving power back to users, and enabling a more inclusive and secure online environment.”
Similar to Mastodon, another alternative social platform that gained popularity amid the Twitter exodus, Bluesky allows users to create their own instances or nodes on the network, offering greater control over the content they see and the communities they engage in.
However, joining Bluesky may not be straightforward. As an invite-only platform, one must be invited by an existing user. Given its still-growing user base, scoring an invite might prove challenging.
Furthermore, users should be cautious of potential scams involving the sale of Bluesky invite codes online.
As we await more details about Bluesky’s public release, it’s clear that the platform represents a significant step towards a new era of social networking, focusing on user control, privacy, and decentralisation.
