Explainer: With Bluesky, Jack Dorsey has another go at Twitter-like service

Bluesky Digital Assets

01/05/2023 17:28

May 1 (Reuters) - Jack Dorsey is taking another whack at
a Twitter-like service with a new social media platform called
Bluesky.
    The service is gaining traction among Twitter power users,
attracting prominent personalities including U.S. Congresswoman
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 
    Bluesky, which bears similarities to the blue bird platform,
is the latest in a long list of apps that are looking to steal
Twitter's thunder after Elon Musk's chaotic takeover of the
company. 
    Here are some details on the service:
    
        What is Bluesky?
  
    It's a text-focused social media service launched for select
users in February. Users can post short messages of up to 300
characters, and pictures. There is no support for videos and
direct messages, or DMs, so far.
    Bluesky runs on a decentralized framework, similar to social
network Mastodon. It allows users to build independent social
media experiences and users can join a specific "server", which
has its own unique set of rules, interests and participants.
    
    How does it compare to Twitter?
    Bluesky offers a similar experience to Twitter - people
create profiles and post short messages with text and images. On
the timeline, Bluesky has "What's hot" and "Following" feed,
similar to the curated "For You" and the chronological
"Following" feeds on Twitter. 
    Unlike Twitter, Bluesky's core framework allows for various
customizations. "Instead of one site running the network, you
can have many sites. It means you get a choice of provider, and
individuals and businesses can self-host if they want," it said
in a blog post in October.
    
    Who is behind Bluesky?
    It was started by Dorsey as a project within Twitter in 2019
and was set up as an independent company in 2022. As of April
2022, it had raised $13 million from Twitter.
    Dorsey, Jeremie Miller, the inventor of communication
protocol Jabber/XMPP, and Jay Graber, CEO of Bluesky, are its
board members.
    
    Is Bluesky taking on Twitter?
    Too soon to say. The company told Bloomberg News it had over
40,000 users. 
    The company began to sign up users on the wait-list early
this year and announced its biggest single-day jump last week.  
    While its user base is still small, Bluesky has attracted
many power users including writer and comedian Dril, following
frustrations with Musk's management of Twitter and the recent
changes to the platform.
    

 (Reporting by Yuvraj Malik and Samrhitha Arunasalam in
Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)
 ((yuvraj.malik@thomsonreuters.com;))