Is the grass greener on the opposite aspect? We’re undecided, however the sky is most definitely bluer. It’s been two years since Elon Musk bought Twitter, now X, main folks to arrange store on different platforms. Mastodon, Put up, Pebble (two of which have already shuttered operations) and Spill have been introduced as potential replacements, however few apart from Meta’s Threads have achieved the pace of development Bluesky has reached.
As of November 2024, Bluesky has surpassed 20 million customers. Its development stems from a number of coverage modifications at X, together with a closely criticized change to the block function and permitting third social gathering corporations to prepare their AI on customers’ posts, which helped the app soar to the prime of the U.S. App Retailer. Bluesky additionally noticed an enormous increase following the outcomes of the 2024 U.S. presidential election (which additionally contributed to an X exodus by Taylor Swift followers). However whereas the quantity is promising, the community has quite a lot of catching as much as do to compete with Threads’ 275 million month-to-month lively customers.
Under, we’ve compiled the solutions to among the most typical questions customers have about Bluesky. And should you’ve made the change, you’ll be able to observe TechCrunch right here.
What’s Bluesky?
Bluesky is a decentralized social app conceptualized by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and developed in parallel with Twitter. The social community has a Twitter-like person interface with algorithmic selection, a federated design and community-specific moderation.
Bluesky is utilizing an open supply framework constructed in-house, the AT Protocol, which means folks exterior of the corporate have transparency into how it’s constructed and what’s being developed.
Dorsey launched the Bluesky venture again in 2019 whereas he was nonetheless Twitter CEO. On the time, he mentioned Twitter can be funding a “small independent team of up to five open source architects, engineers, and designers,” charged with constructing a decentralized normal for social media, with the unique aim that Twitter would undertake this normal itself. However that was earlier than Elon Musk purchased the platform, so Bluesky is totally divorced from X.
As of Could 2024, Dorsey is now not on Bluesky’s board. Bluesky is now an impartial public profit company led by CEO Jay Graber.
How do you employ Bluesky?
Upon signing up, customers can create a deal with which is then represented as @username.bsky.social in addition to a show title that seems extra outstanding in daring textual content. When you’re so inclined, you’ll be able to flip a website title that you just personal into your username — so, for instance, I’m recognized on Bluesky as @amanda.omg.lol.
The app itself features very similar to a bare-bones X, the place you’ll be able to click on a plus button to create a publish of 256 characters, which may additionally embody photographs. Posts themselves might be replied to, retweeted, favored and, from a three-dot menu, reported, shared by way of the iOS Share Sheet to different apps, or copied as textual content.
You possibly can seek for and observe different people, then view their updates in your “Home” timeline. Beforehand, the Bluesky app would function fashionable posts in a “What’s Hot” feed. That feed has since been changed with an algorithmic and personalised “Discover” feed that includes extra than simply trending content material.
For brand new customers, Bluesky launched a “Starter Pack” function, which creates a curated record of individuals and customized feeds to observe to be able to discover attention-grabbing content material proper out of the gate.
Person profiles comprise the identical kind of options you’d count on: a profile pic, background, bio, metrics and the way many individuals they’re following. Profile feeds are divided into two sections, like X: posts and posts & replies.
There’s additionally a “Discover” tab within the backside middle of the app’s navigation, which affords extra “who to follow” ideas and a working feed of not too long ago posted Bluesky updates.
We’ve additionally put collectively a useful information on tips on how to use Bluesky right here.
Who’s on Bluesky?
By the start of July 2023, when Instagram’s Threads launched, Bluesky topped 1,000,000 downloads throughout iOS and Android. Notable figures like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mark Cuban, Dril, Bizarre Al Yankovic, and even Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva have migrated to Bluesky. It’s additionally dwelling to information organizations like Bloomberg, The Washington Put up, and naturally, TechCrunch! Since August 2024, Bluesky can be now permitting heads of state to enroll and be part of the platform for the primary time.
Does Bluesky work similar to X?
In some ways, sure. Up till not too long ago, Bluesky didn’t have DMs like X, however that has since been applied. Nevertheless, DMs on Bluesky are at the moment restricted to one-to-one messages, not group messages. Bluesky has additionally mentioned it’s considering implementing one thing much like X’s Group Notes function. Moreover, X doesn’t use a decentralized protocol like ActivityPub or AT.
In October 2024, Elon Musk introduced that X’s block function would work in a different way than it has prior to now. The brand new block performance permits customers you could have blocked to view your posts and your profile, however not the power to work together together with your posts. Some customers imagine this replace to be a security concern, resulting in an inflow in Bluesky sign-ups as its block function is extra conventional.
In one other transfer that separates Bluesky from X, the social community mentioned it has “no intention” of utilizing person content material to coach generative AI instruments as X applied a brand new phrases of service that enables the platform to prepare AI fashions on public posts.
Whereas Bluesky was initially kicked off as a venture convened by Jack Dorsey in 2019 when he was CEO of Twitter, the social app has been an impartial firm since its inception in 2021.
Is Bluesky free?
Sure, and it’s now open to the general public.
How does Bluesky earn a living?
Bluesky’s aim is to seek out one other means to maintain its community exterior of promoting with paid companies, so it may possibly stay free to finish customers. On July 5, 2023, Bluesky introduced extra seed spherical funding and a paid service that gives customized domains for finish customers who wish to have a novel area as their deal with on the service. Bluesky has additionally emphasised that it doesn’t wish to “require selling user data for ads” to be able to monetize its platform.
In November 2024, Bluesky introduced it raised a $15 million Sequence A spherical and is creating a subscription service for premium options like “higher quality video uploads or profile customizations.” Bluesky, nonetheless, famous its subscription mannequin is not going to observe within the footsteps of X’s “pay to win” premium choices.
Is Bluesky decentralized?
Sure. Bluesky’s workforce is creating the decentralized AT Protocol, which Bluesky was constructed atop. In its beta section, customers can solely be part of the bsky.social community, however Bluesky plans to be federated, which means that limitless individually operated communities can exist throughout the open supply community. So, if a developer exterior of Bluesky constructed their very own new social app utilizing the AT Protocol, Bluesky customers may bounce over to the brand new app and port over their present followers, deal with and knowledge.
“You’ll always have the freedom to choose (and to exit) instead of being held to the whims of private companies or black box algorithms. And wherever you go, your friends and relationships will be there too,” a Bluesky weblog publish defined.
Is Bluesky safe?
In October 2023, Bluesky added e-mail verification as half of a bigger effort to enhance account safety and authentication on the community. The addition is a vital step ahead when it comes to making Bluesky extra aggressive with bigger networks like X, which have extra sturdy safety controls. In December 2023, Bluesky allowed customers to choose out of a change that will expose their posts to the general public internet following backlash from customers.
Is Bluesky customizable?
Sure. In Could 2023, Bluesky launched customized algorithms, which it calls “custom feeds.” Customized feeds enable customers to subscribe to a number of totally different algorithms that showcase totally different sorts of posts a person might wish to see. You possibly can pin customized feeds that can present up on the prime of your timeline as totally different tabs to choose from. The feeds you pin, or save, are positioned underneath the “My Feeds” menu within the app’s sidebar.
In March 2024, the corporate introduced “AT Protocol Grants,” a brand new program that can dole out small grants to builders to be able to foster development and customization. One of many recipients, SkyFeed, is a customized software that lets anybody construct their very own feeds utilizing a graphical person interface.
Is Bluesky on iOS and Android?
Sure. Bluesky rolled out to Android customers on April 20 and was initially launched to iOS customers in late February. Customers can entry Bluesky on the internet right here.
How does Bluesky sort out misinformation?
After an October 2023 replace, the app will now warn customers of deceptive hyperlinks by flagging them. If hyperlinks shared in customers’ posts don’t match their textual content, the app will provide a “possibly misleading” warning to the person to alert them that the hyperlink could also be directing them someplace they don’t wish to go.
Has Bluesky had any controversies?
Bluesky has been embattled with moderation points since its first launch. The app has been accused of failing to guard its marginalized customers and failing to average racist content material. Following an argument concerning the app permitting racial slurs in account handles, pissed off customers initiated a “posting strike,” the place they refused to interact with the platform till it established guardrails to flag slurs and different offensive phrases in usernames.
What moderation options does Bluesky have?
A December 2023 publish from the Bluesky Security account introduced a big batch of moderation updates.
Bluesky is rolling out “more advanced automated tooling” designed to flag content material that violates its Group Tips that can then be reviewed by the app’s moderation workforce.
Bluesky launched moderation options much like ones on X, together with person lists and moderation lists, the latter of which can be utilized to mute or block many customers without delay. The app can be creating a function that lets customers restrict who can reply to posts.
Some Bluesky customers are nonetheless advocating for the power to set their accounts to personal — a function they’ve an elevated want for after Bluesky introduced it will launch a public internet interface.
In March 2024, the corporate launched Ozone, a software that lets customers create and run their very own impartial moderation companies that can give customers “unprecedented control” over their social media expertise.
What’s the distinction between Bluesky and Mastodon?
Although Bluesky’s structure is much like Mastodon’s, many customers have discovered Bluesky to be extra intuitive, whereas Mastodon can come off as inaccessible: Selecting which occasion to hitch appears like an inconceivable process on Mastodon, and longtime customers are very defensive about their established posting norms, which may make becoming a member of the dialog intimidating. To stay aggressive, Mastodon not too long ago simplified its sign-up stream, making mastodon.social the default server for brand new customers.
Nevertheless, the launch of federation will make it work extra equally to Mastodon in that customers can choose and select which servers to hitch and transfer their accounts round at will.
Who owns Bluesky?
Although Jack Dorsey funded Bluesky, he isn’t concerned in day-to-day growth and now not sits on the corporate’s board. The CEO of Bluesky is Jay Graber, who beforehand labored as a software program engineer for the cryptocurrency Zcash, then based an event-planning web site known as Occurring.
In case you have extra FAQs about Bluesky not lined right here, go away us a remark under.
