Twitter has been in chaos mode since Elon Musk took over. In response to this, Twitter’s co-founder Jack Dorsey has created a new platform called Bluesky that is being hyped as a promising alternative to Twitter. Although Bluesky is still in its testing phase and is invite-only, it has already gained significant momentum.
Bluesky looks and feels like Twitter as its backers want users from Twitter to feel at home. However, posts on the app are referred to as “skeets” instead of tweets. The platform is still in the testing phase and is invite-only, with its early adopters being given the opportunity to shape the platform’s development.
Bluesky has been gaining momentum in Silicon Valley, with many people in the know scrambling to secure an invite to join the app. According to Forbes magazine, citing data from Data.ai, the Bluesky app has been downloaded 360,000 times and is currently ahead of some popular platforms such as LinkedIn, Bing, or Zoom in the Apple App Store ranking. Bluesky’s hype came as left-wing Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and fashion model Chrissy Teigen joined the platform, bringing with them millions of followers from Twitter.
A key difference between Bluesky and Twitter is that Bluesky will run on a decentralized network, giving users more control over how their data is stored and how content is moderated. This is in the spirit of Mastodon, which has also been ballyhooed as a potential threat to Twitter, but whose complicated signing-up procedures have so far stopped it from gaining traction. Decentralization is also seen as a way to prevent the kind of moderation problems that have plagued Twitter in recent years.
The hype over Bluesky came as Jack Dorsey used the platform to criticize Elon Musk, saying that he no longer thought that Musk was the right leader for Twitter. Dorsey was responding to user questions, as reported by CNBC. Dorsey said Musk should have “walked away” from the $44 billion deal and that the board of Twitter was mistaken to hold the Tesla tycoon to the acquisition when Musk tried to undo it. Musk’s tumultuous takeover went through in October with Dorsey’s backing, and many users have shopped around for alternatives to Twitter since then.
Bluesky’s decentralized network and user control are being fronted as a potential threat to Twitter. Twitter has been struggling with moderation issues, and many users have been looking for alternatives. Mastodon was seen as a potential threat to Twitter, but its complicated sign-up procedures have prevented it from gaining traction. Bluesky’s similarity to Twitter and its backing by Jack Dorsey makes it a serious contender as an alternative to Twitter.
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