Bluesky, the social media alternative backed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, has finally ditched its invite-only model and opened its doors to all users. The X (formerly Twitter) alternative has over 3 million users and the social media network mimics many of the features found on the original Twitter site, with the exception of the direct messaging feature.
Bluesky is also planning to launch its own open-source AT protocol called “federation” by the end of this month which is touted to allow anyone to create their own social network using Bluesky technology.
The idea behind AT Protocol is to allow users to move their friends, followers and other data to competing social media companies and stay true to the company’s idea of helping users create “the last social account” they’ll ever need to create.
The rollout of AT protocol will help third-party developers create a server with their own rules. Bluesky CEO Jay Graber while speaking to The Verge said, “I think we’re going to start off with a sort of slow roll, rate limit things, make sure that the network doesn’t change overall overnight.”
According to a Bloomberg report, the idea of Bluesky first came to light when Jack Dorsey was still very much a part of Twitter (nox X) and it was aimed at building a new kind of social network which was not controlled by any single corporation. Back then, it was thought Blluesky will create a social networking protocol which would later be adopted by Twitter, allowing users to take their Twitter profile and posts to other that adopted the protocol as well.
The report notes that the idea of creating a decentralized social media platform has gained traction in recent times with event Meta’s Threads app also using an open-source protocol called ActivityPub that allows posts on Threads to be available on other rival networks using the same protocol including Mastodon.
Twitter/X alternatives grow:
A lot has changed at Twitter (including changing its name to X) since the company was acquired by Elon Musk in a $44 billion deal at the end of 2022. The changes brought in by Musk have left many users frustrated with the social media platform and looking for alternatives, as evidenced by the large influx of users on Threads when the app launched in mid-2023.
However, Bluesky poses a unique challenge to X, as it not only looks more or less like the old Twitter, but also aims to introduce new features that could, in the long run, free users from the grip of a single large company.
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Published: 07 Feb 2024, 03:07 PM IST