Jack Dorsey, co-founder and former CEO of Twitter launched his app, BlueSky, on Android two months after its launch on iOS. After leaving Twitter, he has been working on a microblogging site alternative. BlueSky looks quite similar to Twitter and is currently in closed beta, only available to a limited number of users by invite-only. With years of experience and a good history of innovating in social media, BlueSky is also backed by prominent investors, including Union Square Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz.
The app already has over 5,000 downloads and a user base of over 25,000. This will be a decentralized social network, meaning there won’t be any single company or organization that has control over the platform. This is aimed at offering better control over users’ data and experience. It offers similar functionality to Twitter but is said to be an alternative, featuring end-to-end encryption and privacy settings to control who can view your tweets. It also allows users to create their own communities and moderation tools controlled by the community.
BlueSky is currently in invite-only beta [JOIN WAITLIST HERE]
The app is still in its early stages of development, so only a limited number of users are enrolled. If you want to try BlueSky, you have to sign up for beta access to join the waitlist on the BlueSky website or get an invitation from someone already using BlueSky. Since the app only has a limited number of users, it has a more positive atmosphere, and the content shared is not toxic or harmful to anyone.
We’re calling this team @bluesky. Our CTO @ParagA will be running point to find a lead, who will then hire and direct the rest of the team. Please follow or DM @bluesky if you’re interested in learning more or joining! 🌐💬💙
— jack (@jack) December 11, 2019
For always, a shorter character limit has been one of the differences for Twitter, and it will still be one of the ways that BlueSky is different from Twitter. A shorter character limit forces users to be more thoughtful about what they will share and the most important information. It is too early to say if a shorter character limit will make any difference. With the recent update, this app has a limit of 265 characters compared to Twitter, which has increased its character limit to 10,000 for Twitter Blue subscribers.
Apart from this, there is another limitation: users need to wait to send direct messages to anyone, and it is not easy to find and connect with friends on BlueSky. It also looks similar to Twitter and has yet to develop a more unique identity. Talking about the app’s decentralized nature is its strength and weakness. The app uses a composable labeling system to make it more flexible and democratic than other social media networks.
There are three different composable labels that BlueSky is working on. User-generated labels allow anyone to define and apply labels to the content, giving users more control over what content they want to see and how their content is moderated. Another is automatically generated labels, a third-party service or custom algorithm that can automatically generate labels and help identify harmful content more efficiently and quickly.
Lastly, community-generated labels mean any service or individual can contribute to the labeling, determining how these labels are used and how their content is moderated. It could be better, and as it is still under development, it could take some time to become lucrative.
This app does have the potential to compete against social media giants. It still remains to be seen how BlueSky will be able to attract users and how well it will challenge Twitter. The app has a small community, but it will grow as the company starts rolling out invitations to join the platform and will likely become more active. If you have signed up for the app, watch your mail to receive the invitation.
