What is Bluesky? How to Use the Fastest Growing Decentralized Social Network
Bluesky is getting a ton of press right now so we wanted to give a quick rundown on what it is and what you should know.
‘Social media as it should be. Find your community among millions of users, unleash your creativity, and have some fun again.’ That is how Bluesky describes their platform.
So what is Bluesky? How is it different?
Bluesky is a decentralized social media platform developed as an alternative to traditional, centralized networks like Twitter. Initially launched in 2019 as a project within Twitter, Bluesky spun off into its own independent organization in 2021. It has since garnered interest for its vision of reshaping social media and giving users more autonomy.
It is based on the Authenticated Transfer Protocol (AT Protocol), which allows users to own their social identity and data while enabling interoperability between different apps and services on the protocol. This decentralized approach is designed to give users more control over their content and protect against issues like censorship or data monopolization.
You can still share all the same types of content, and the platform works very similarly. It’s just another alternative that is said to be safer and more heavily moderated.
Here are key features of Bluesky:
- Decentralization: It operates on a network where no single entity controls all the data, empowering users to choose which algorithms, content moderation policies, and data practices they prefer.
- Portability: Users can take their content and followers with them to other platforms that use the AT Protocol. So it’s easier to switch and has less platform lock-in like other social networks.
- Algorithmic Transparency: Users have the ability to choose or modify their own algorithms to determine what content is shown in their feed. You can choose between who you follow, a discover tab, and set up news feeds.
- Open Ecosystem: Developers can build apps and services on the protocol, fostering innovation and competition. With all the new users, the ecosystem will continue to grow rapidly.
Why you should care?
- Bluesky just crossed 20 million users!
- It’s a solid alternative to X (Twitter) and other social media platforms.
- You can find new communities blossoming.
- It presents a lot of marketing and SEO opportunities for creators.
- It’s growing rapidly so now is a good time to join.
How did Bluesky start?
According to the Wikipedia page:
Twitter’s then-CEO Jack Dorsey first announced the Bluesky initiative in 2019 on Twitter to explore the possibility of decentralizing Twitter. The stated goal was to find or develop an open and decentralized standard for social media that would give users more control over their data and experience.
Twitter collected a working group of experts in decentralized technology in a Matrix group chat to achieve a consensus on the best path towards decentralization. However, this group did not achieve consensus toward these goals. As a result, Twitter decided to field individual proposals from these experts.
In early 2021, Bluesky was in a research phase, with 50 people from the decentralized technology community active in assessing options and assembling proposals for the protocol. This ultimately led to the hiring of Jay Graber in August 2021 to lead the Bluesky project and the development of the “Authenticated Data Experiment” (ADX), a custom-built protocol made for the purpose of decentralization. Twitter provided $13 million in initial funding to the Bluesky project to begin development.
Where are they now?
According to the Wikipedia page:
In the weeks following the 2024 United States presidential election on November 5, 2024, in which former president Donald Trump was re-elected for a second non-consecutive term, millions of Twitter users from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada joined Bluesky.
By November 13, Bluesky had reached 15 million users, growing by around 1 million users per day and reaching the top of the Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store in the United States.
On November 19, Bluesky officially crossed 20 million users, tripling its userbase within 3 months.
The platform now has over 20 million users and there are no signs up the decentralized social network slowing down. I decided to make a profile to give it a shot, and it’s extremely similar to the original Twitter.
How to Use Bluesky
If you want to give Bluesky a try, here are the steps to create an account and use Bluesky.
- Visit https://bsky.app/ and click ‘Sign Up’
- Fill out all the necessary information.
- Select your username.
- Complete the challenge captcha.
- Your account is now registered, be sure to verify your email so you can post!
How to Create a Bluesky Account
Step by step mini guide to joining Bluesky.
Step 1: Fill in your account information.
Step 2: Choose your username.
Step 3: Complete the challenge.
All the other features are pretty much the same or similar enough to figure out very easily. Have any questions about Bluesky? Leave a comment below and I’ll see how I can help!
