What is Bluesky?
Bluesky is a social app that is designed to not be controlled by a single company. We're creating a version of social media where it's built by many people, and it still comes together as a cohesive, easy-to-use experience. We've done this by building Bluesky on the AT Protocol, an open source toolbox for building social apps that can all talk to each other.
We want modern social media and public conversation online to work more like the early days of hte web, where anyone could put up a blog or use RSS to subscribe to several blogs. We believe this will unlock a new era of experimentation and innovation in social media. Researchers and communities will have the ability to jump in to help solve the problems social networks currently face, and developers will be able to experiment with many new forms of interaction.
Traditional social networks are often closed platforms with a central authority. There’s a small group of people who control those companies, and they have total control over how users can use the platform and what developers can build. On these platforms, as a user, if you try to leave, you have to start over from scratch without the connections you built there or the content you made. As a developer, if you try to build a new app, you have to overcome network effects to rebuild the social graph from scratch, and if you try to build on the APIs of these companies they can cut you off and kill your company in the blink of an eye. As a creator, you might spend years building an audience only to lose access to it when the platform changes the rules on you.
What is the AT Protocol?
The AT Protocol is a protocol for public conversation and an open-source framework for building social apps, meaning people have transparency into how it is built and what is being developed. It creates a standard format for user identity, follows, and data on social apps, allowing apps to interoperate and users to move across them freely. It is a federated network with account portability.
An analogy to explain this: every time you create an account on a social platform, it’s like moving to a new city. You make friends and create posts, which is like filling your house with furniture you made. But on centralized social platforms, if you leave, it’s like leaving all your friends behind with no way to contact them, and leaving your house behind without being able to take anything with you. Leaving a centralized site and starting over from scratch is very hard.
The AT Protocol essentially lets people move between cities. Creating a standard format for identity and data is like giving people a passport, cell phone, and property rights. If you don’t like the city you first moved to, you can relocate and take all your belongings (data) with you. Your friends will still be able to find and stay in touch with you at the same name and number (identity & follow graph).
This feature of “account portability” is one of the most important differences between apps built on the AT Protocol and other sites, but we are also working on algorithmic choice and composable moderation, which you can read more about in the linked blog posts.
What is the corporate structure of Bluesky?
Bluesky, the company, is a Public Benefit LLC. It is owned by Jay Graber and the Bluesky team. Jack Dorsey and Jeremie Miller serve on the board, along with Jay. Find past public statements we have made about Bluesky PBLLC’s governance and structure in our original announcement, other posts on our blog, and on social media.
What is the relationship between Bluesky and Twitter?
Bluesky was initially a project kicked off by Jack Dorsey when he was CEO of Twitter in 2019. Jack chose Jay to lead Bluesky, and Twitter paid Bluesky services income to build an open social protocol for public conversation that it could someday become a client on. Bluesky has been an independent company since its formation in 2021.
In late 2022, Twitter chose to sever the service agreement with Bluesky, and Bluesky agreed. The Bluesky PBLLC has continued to pursue its original founding mission to “develop and drive large-scale adoption of technologies for open and decentralized public conversation.”
How many people are on the app?
As of March 2024, Bluesky has over 5.2 million users.
How do I join Bluesky?
Sign up for Bluesky at bsky.app. (No invites required!)
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