After Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election, more and more users started to move from X (formerly known as Twitter) to the decentralized social network Bluesky. This platform positions itself as “social media as it should be”.
HBJ columnist Elizaveta Gogiashvili analyzed the platform’s capabilities and what it can offer to the market.
Who is the creator of Bluesky and how did it develop?
Bluesky is a social decentralized platform that was initiated by Jack Dorsey, former CEO of Twitter (now known as X), as part of a research project in 2019. The creation of a standard for decentralized social networks was funded by Twitter with the aim of eventual adoption. However, after Twitter was purchased by Ilon Musk in 2022, Bluesky became an independent organization.
The current CEO position is held by Jay Graeber, an American developer. Other board members include Mike Masnick, founder of Techdirt blog, Kinjal Shah, Blockchain Capital general partner and investor, and Jeremy Miller, creator of Jabber messaging technology. In May 2024, Jack Dorsey left the board of directors. Bluesky’s core team includes only 20 full-time employees.
As of December 3, 2024, there are over 24 million registered users on the platform. About 7 million of them joined in November, expressing opposition to Trump’s policies. According to Roman Sevastyanov, CEO and co-founder of Awesomic, for many Democrats and adherents of liberal values, the switch to Bluesky was a symbolic act of protest.
However, Roman emphasizes that the rapid increase in audience requires caution in balancing growth and community quality. Bluesky continues to evolve, introducing new features, although users may notice the absence of some familiar tools, such as polls.
What does decentralization mean? Key aspects of the Bluesky architecture
Decentralization of the platform implies that the system integrates applications created by different developers and eliminates centralized management.
The architectural features of the platform are described in detail in a research paper co-written by the Bluesky developers and Martin Kleppmann, Associate Professor at the University of Cambridge. This paper explains that all user actions (e.g., postings, likes or subscriptions) are stored in data repositories. These repositories can be hosted either on individual Personal Data Servers (PDSs) or on Bluesky servers.
Repositories are built using the Merkle Search Tree (MST) model. This provides the ability to add or remove data, ensuring that the information remains in the repository of the user who uploaded it, and that deleted data cannot be recovered.
PDSs store user data and provide real-time public access to it. Each user has DNS identifiers (e.g., @example.com) and decentralized identifiers (DIDs) that facilitate data portability. While DNS identifiers can be changed, DIDs remain the same.
Users have the freedom to search the platform and change the moderation services of their choice – moderation is also organized in a decentralized manner. They can block or disable other accounts, complain about inappropriate content, and perform other actions.
“Our goal is to combine two approaches: to create a moderation service that provides a baseline, while also developing an open ecosystem for anyone looking to innovate, “ Jay Graeber told Wired.
A unique feature of Bluesky is its algorithmic marketplace. Users can customize their feeds according to their preferences by choosing algorithms that suit them. For example, you can choose to display only posts from your subscribers or prefer a feed dedicated entirely to cat images or scientist publications. The platform also provides a list of pre-prepared feeds that you can use. The system architecture aims to support a multivariate ecosystem that includes a variety of vendors for hosting, moderation, and indexing.
Key features of Bluesky
On this social platform you can:
- Create your own posts (up to 300 characters), including up to 4 images,
- send private messages to other users, subscribe to them, leave “Likes” or share their content by reposting,
- control the content of your feed – mute other users, filter information and apply individual moderation settings,
- subscribe to personalized feeds that match your interests or create your own,
- transfer your data and social connections between different platforms thanks to decentralization.
The platform also offers an open API that not only allows you to develop your own extensions or applications based on Bluesky, but also allows other users to access your data to train algorithms.
Who is competing with Bluesky and how does it make money?
Rose Wong, who serves as Bluesky’s COO, emphasizes that the platform isn’t interested in being just a replacement for X – its goals are much more ambitious.
At the end of October 2024, Bluesky announced that it had raised$15 million in Series A funding. The investment round was led by Bitcoin Capital, which the platform says is fully aligned with its values. The previous seed round took place in the summer of 2023, when the company managed to raise $8 million. Since then, the social network has significantly expanded its accessibility to users, introduced data storage on its own server base, added private messaging functionality, as well as support for GIF animations and video content.
The platform is completely ad-free and plans to remain free for its audience. To monetize, Bluesky intends to introduce premium options, including high-quality videos and advanced profile personalization tools. However, according to Rose Wong, the platform is not going to offer personalized badges such as the blue check mark to paid users.
In addition to X, UK publication The Times highlights the following Bluesky competitors:
- Fibers – another X rival developed by Meta, which has already amassed 275 million active users,
- Mastodon, a decentralized platform based on a network of independent servers,
- Nostr, which emphasizes privacy and protection from censorship,
- Honey Social, which combines elements of X and Instagram.
How to create an account and subscribe to Bluesky
To register in this social network, go to the website bsky. game or download the Bluesky app for iOS or Android. You will then be faced with the choice of using personal hosting or the hosting services provided by Bluesky. The rest of the procedure is standard: you will need to provide your date of birth, your e-mail address and your preferred nickname, which will become your login on the platform. If you have your own website, its name can be used as your nickname. After that, select your interests, such as art, journalism or cinema, so that the system will offer you a personalized recommendation feed – Discover.
As Roman Sevastyanov notes, the X-style interface makes the platform comfortable for newcomers.
Although Roman himself has not yet used Bluesky, a notable Ukrainian community called “Yellow Cluster in the Blue Sky” has already formed. It includes a Ukrainian-language knowledge base as well as a list of profiles belonging to Ukrainians, particularly from the IT sphere. Ukrainian users may also be interested in the account of researcher and writer Timothy Snyder or another Ukrainian supporter, master of horror stories Stephen King.