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Jacob Borzycki / | Norphoto | Getty Images
Bluesky is the buzziest social media platform on the internet – but you need an invite to catch a glimpse of it.
The decentralized version of Twitter is in beta, and invites are rare. Twitter is full of people asking others for Bluesky access tokens to avoid being put on a waiting list.
It has become the latest platform to be touted as a potential Twitter replacement to some after Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media app.
While the Bluesky beta was announced in February, buzz surrounding the platform grew in April as more Twitter users began posting about streaming there. As of Friday, politicians like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. Celebrities like Chrissy Teigen took to the stage.
Here’s what to know about the platform some are touting as the next Twitter.
When was it launched?
Bluesky’s idea I grew up on Twitter in 2019, but became its own public benefit company in 2022 — with the backing of former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
Dorsey, who co-founded Twitter in 2006 He will step down as CEO in 2021-Now works on Bluesky board. The platform clarified its relationship to Twitter in a long thread in April 2022where it noted that former Twitter software engineer Jay Graber was also brought in to help launch the new platform.
Although the Bluesky app has many similarities to Twitter, its main difference is that it is organized around a decentralized system. This means that user data can be stored on independent servers rather than those owned by the company, and that in the future, users will be able to develop their own servers that they can use with the communities of their choice.
“People have been saying for years that it would be great if users owned their data and their relationships; if we had transparent algorithms and algorithmic choices; if there could be more accountability and user control over how social platforms are moderated,” Graber wrote in a blog post last month. “We have now designed and built a system that we believe achieves the above goals.”
The platform allows users to post text and images to a central feed, follow other users, and repost (similar to a retweet). The look and feel is almost identical to Twitter, and people’s feeds might already be filled with memes and jokes. Users don’t have the ability to message each other or block others — at least not yet.
buttresses, Or “skeets” as some of Bluesky used to call them, max 300 characters. There are currently no video capabilities, but users can post photos.
How can you register?
For now, the best way to beat Bluesky is to beg.
Bluesky started letting people off its waiting list this year and has been distributing invites in waves.
Difficulty getting to the platform led to a group of half-jokes memes From those who hope to get an invitation code. One person claimed to be selling Bluesky invite codes for more than $190 on eBay.
Bluesky has yet to announce a broad public release date.
Graber wrote on her blog in March that the platform is working to “finish pieces that we think are important,” such as a content moderation system.
So, who is it?
The Bluesky app has achieved 375,000 iOS downloads worldwide as of Wednesday, according to analytics firm Data.ai. The app was recently released on Android, but no Android download data has been collected as of Friday.
The site is dominated by a number of journalists, internet personalities, tech experts and some celebrities. Ocasio-Cortez and Teigen seem to be the most popular names on the platform so far.
Jordan Uhl, a progressive activist with more than 271,000 followers on Twitter, joined Bluesky on April 14. He said the app appears to have the potential to be the first real alternative to Twitter.
“There’s been this massive influx of people who are fed up with the way Twitter is going and haven’t found a viable alternative, and this seems to be what they think the next Twitter might be,” he said.
However, there is still no verification process on Bluesky, which means that impersonators have already started popping up. As of Friday, accounts of trolls impersonating writer JK Rowling and Twitter owner Elon Musk have appeared on the platform.
Why has he apparently become so popular already?
Since Musk acquired Twitter, the social media platform has been plagued with bugs, bugs, and sweeping changes. Recently, Twitter Old verification has been removed, which led to further departures. As Twitter became more anarchic, users sought a new platform.
In the past year many said they chose to join sites like mastodon, a decentralized microblogging platform; Post. news; Substack Notes and other Twitter alternatives. But some, like Mastodon, were deemed too complex to navigate due to the server-based nature.
Bluesky’s exclusive nature is currently proving to be in her best interest. On Sunday, the platform became a trending term on Twitter.
With a limited number of people on the platform, Bluesky appears not to have been hacked by conspiracy theorists.
That may change in the future. Bluesky will likely open the app once it has a more robust modding system in place, Graber wrote in her blog.
“We want to enable people to have a safe and enjoyable experience, so we’re curating growth and building moderation tools as a first-rate feature, not an afterthought,” she said.
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