Is the grass greener next door? I'm not sure, but I'm sure the sky is bluer.It's been over a year since then Elon Musk buys Twitternow ×leading people to set up shop on alternative platforms. mastodon, post, pebble (already Shutter operation) and spill is presented as Potential replacementsbut few Apart from the meta thread We achieved the growth rate that Bluesky achieved.
After being invite-only for almost a year, Bluesky is now Anyone who wants to participate can participate. Within a day, Bluesky almost made a profit 800,000 new users The total number of registered users is expected to exceed 4 million. While these numbers are encouraging, the network has a lot of catching up to do before it can compete with Threads' network. 130 million monthly active users or Mastodon's 1.8 million people. And while X users flock to Bluesky all the time; Mr. Musk doesn't bring about much positive change.the platform can still be hit Top of US App Store.
Here we answer the most common questions about Bluesky Social.
What is Blue Sky?
Bluesky is a decentralized social app conceptualized by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and developed in parallel with Twitter. This social network features a Twitter-like user interface with algorithmic selection, federated design, and community-specific moderation.
Bluesky uses the AT protocol, an open source framework built in-house. This means that people outside the company are transparent about how the framework is built and what is being developed.
Dorsey introduced the Bluesky project in 2019, when he was still Twitter CEO. At the time, he said Twitter would fund “a small, independent team of up to five open source architects, engineers, and designers” responsible for building decentralized standards for social media, adding that He said the goal is for Twitter itself to adopt this standard. . But that was before Elon Musk acquired the platform, and as of late 2022, Bluesky is completely divorced from Twitter. Mr. Dorsey even used Mr. Bluesky to express his dismay with Mr. Musk's leadership.
Twitter is funding a small, independent team of up to five open source architects, engineers, and designers to develop open, decentralized standards for social media. The goal is for Twitter to eventually become a client of this standard. 🧵
— Jack (@jack) December 11, 2019
How do I use Blue Sky?
When signing up, users can create a handle, represented as @username.bsky.social, and a display name, which is displayed prominently in bold. If you feel like it, you can turn your domain name into your username. So, for example, on Bluesky, I'm called: @amanda.omg.lol.
The app itself functions a lot like basic Twitter, with the ability to create 256-character posts by clicking the plus button. Posts can also include photos. The post itself can be replied to, retweeted, liked, reported from the three-dot menu, shared to other apps via the iOS share sheet, or copied as text. Masu.
Search for and follow others to see their latest updates on your Home timeline. Previously, the Bluesky app featured popular posts in the “What's Hot” feed. That feed is then replaced by an algorithm, Personalized Discover feed Not just trending content.
There's also a Discover tab at the bottom center of the app's navigation, offering more Who to Follow suggestions and a running feed of recently posted Bluesky updates.
Image credits: Natalie Christman
Who is in Blue Sky?
By early July 2023, instagram thread launched, Bluesky surpasses 1 million downloads Across iOS and Android.famous people such as Neil Gaiman, Drill and chelsea manning I moved to Blue Sky. It is also home to news organizations and journalists such as. bloomberg, washington post and Engadget. Bluesky is currently available to the public, so others may be making the transition soon.
Does Bluesky work like Twitter?
In many ways, yes. However, Bluesky still lacks advanced tools such as DM and adding accounts to lists. Additionally, Twitter does not use decentralized protocols like ActivityPub or AT.
Bluesky originally began as a project convened in 2019 when Jack Dorsey was CEO of Twitter. However, the social app has been an independent company since its founding in 2021.
Is Blue Sky free?
Yes, it is currently open to the public.
How does Blue Sky make money?
Bluesky's goal is to find other means to sustain the network outside of advertising through paid services, and to remain free for end users. On July 5, Bluesky announced additional seed round funding and a paid service that provides custom domains to end users who want to have their own domain as a handle for the service.
Is Bluesky decentralized?
yes. Bluesky's team is developing a decentralized AT protocol that Bluesky is built on top of. In the beta stage, users can only join his bsky.social network, but Bluesky will be federated. This means that an infinite number of independently operated communities can exist within an open source network. So if a developer other than Bluesky builds their own new social app using his AT protocol, Bluesky users can jump to the new app and port over their existing followers, handles, and data. Blue Sky announced in November its intention to launch a federation “early next year.”
“Rather than being bound to the whims and black-box algorithms of a private company, you have the freedom to choose (and back out) at any time. And wherever you go, your friends and relationships will be there, too,” Bluesky's blog post said. explained.
Is Blue Sky safe?
October 2023, Blue Sky Added email verification This is part of a larger effort to improve security and authentication of accounts on our network. This addition is an important step forward in making Bluesky more competitive against larger networks like X with more robust security controls. In December 2023, Bluesky enabled users to opt out of the following changes: Publish your post to the public web Following backlash from users.
Is Bluesky customizable?
yes. In May, Bluesky released custom algorithms, or what the company calls “custom feeds.” Custom His Feed allows users to subscribe to multiple different algorithms that showcase different types of posts that users want to see. You can pin custom feeds that appear at the top of your timeline as different tabs to choose from. Pinned or saved feeds can be found in the app's sidebar under the “My Feeds” menu.
Is Bluesky available on iOS and Android?
yes. Bluesky is Android user It was released on April 20th and was initially released to iOS users in late February.Users can access Bluesky on her web here. Bluesky also released the following third-party apps: gray sky It will launch on iOS and Android.
Are Bluesky's posts really called “skeet”?
Technically, the post doesn't have a name, but Internet users have adopted the name “Skeets,” a combination of “tweet” and “sky.” Despite protests from Blue Sky CEO Jay Graeber and others who don't find the slang term for semen funny, users still widely refer to the posts as “skeet.”
How does Blue Sky deal with misinformation?
After an October update, the app now flags misleading links and warns users. If a link shared in a user's post doesn't match its text, the app will show the user a “potentially misleading” warning that the link may be leading the user somewhere they don't want to go. Warn you that there is.
Image credits: Blue Sky on GitHub
Has Blue Sky had any controversy?
Bluesky has been plagued by moderation issues since its initial launch. The app has been criticized for failing to protect marginalized users and moderating racist content.Continue controversy Frustrated that the app allows racial slurs in account handles, users launch a “posting strike,” and guardrails are established to warn against slurs and other offensive terms in usernames. refused to engage with the platform until further notice.
What is the difference between Blue Sky and Mastodon?
Bluesky's architecture is similar to Mastodon's, but many users find Bluesky more intuitive, while Mastodon may seem less accessible. Mastodon makes choosing which instances to participate feel like an impossible task, and long-time users are very defensive about established posting standards. , it can be scary to participate in the conversation. To stay competitive, Mastodon recently simplified the sign-up flow and made mastodon.social the default his server for new users.
Who owns Blue Sky?
Jack Dorsey has provided funding to Bluesky and is on the company's board, but he is not involved in day-to-day development. Bluesky's CEO is Jay Graber, who previously worked as a software engineer for the cryptocurrency Zcash and later founded an event planning site called Happening.
If you have any FAQs about Bluesky that aren't covered here, please leave a comment below.