Twitter founder Jack Dorsey launches new social media platform Bluesky to rival the bird app

Bluesky, a Twitter alternative which has Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey as one of its, has been launched on the Apple App Store, on an invite-only basis. However, the developers are allowing more users to sign up on the app and granting them access.

Though the programme is still only accessible as an invite-only beta, its appearance on the App Store suggests that a public launch is on the way.

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Bluesky’s primary endeavour is AT or “Authenticated Transfer Protocol,” while the Bluesky smartphone app serves to demonstrate the protocol in operation. AT, like the ActivityPub protocol that powers Mastodon, allows you to build a shared and open social network.

However, some developers, including Mastodon, have criticised the project, pointing out that ActivityPub, a suggested W3C standard, already supports a large and expanding “Fediverse” of interconnected servers.

And the Fediverse has grown in popularity in the aftermath of Musk’s Twitter purchase, as users abandoned the microblogging network in favour of Mastodon, an open-source, decentralised option. The latter has also profited from the efforts of erstwhile Twitter third-party app makers, who have since released polished Mastodon clients such as Ivory and Mammoth.

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Other platforms have also revealed their intentions of joining Fediverse today, Medium, Tumblr, and potentially Flickr, and have also committed to or discussed adopting the ActivityPub standard. It’s uncertain where this places Bluesky’s future.

The Bluesky initiative, which is now a public benefit company, was initially incubated within Twitter beginning in 2019 when Jack Dorsey was CEO. Twitter has also given cash support for years.

Though the business was founded well before its selling to current owner Elon Musk, the two executives had recently explored the concept of an open-source protocol over text messages prior to Musk’s Twitter purchase.

In texts, Dorsey explained to Musk that “new infrastructure is required. It can’t be a corporation. This is why I stopped using Twitter.” Dorsey stepped down as CEO of Twitter in November 2021 but stayed on the company’s board until May 2022.

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Dorsey went to Twitter shortly after stepping down as CEO to openly discuss Bluesky, characterising it as “an open decentralised standard for social media.” That conversation took place around the time Dorsey was discussing Twitter’s choice to ban President Trump from its site.

Bluesky, he thought, would limit the ability of big, centralised platforms, such as Twitter, to wield so much power over which users and communities could participate in speech and who would be responsible for moderating that material.

However, with Musk now at the helm of Twitter, it’s unclear whether or not the two initiatives will stay intertwined. Bluesky announced last year that it had gotten $13 million to guarantee it had the freedom and independence to begin R&D, and that Jack Dorsey was on its board.

Twitter’s funding of Bluesky was also “not subject to any terms except one: Bluesky was to study and create technologies that allow open and decentralised public conversation,” according to the statement.

Today, however, Twitter has severely reduced its expenses, including cutbacks, auctions, workplace closures, and even failing to pay its bills. It’s unlikely that a side endeavour like Bluesky will stay a focus.

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