Bluesky, an open-source Twitter alternative, is closing its waiting list and opening its decentralized platform to everyone. The service, which opened in beta last spring, currently has a little more than 3 million users, though that number could grow very quickly now that prospective users don't need an invitation to join.
It's an important moment for Bluesky, which began as an internal project at Jack Dorsey's Twitter (Bluesky ended its partnership with X after Elon Musk bought the company. Jack Dorsey is on Bluesky's board.
The company is part of a growing movement for decentralized social media, which proponents say could address many of the weaknesses of centrally controlled platforms like Facebook, X and TikTok.
"We truly believe that the future of social networking is and should be open and decentralized," said Bluesky CEO Jay Graber. "This is something that we think is good for the public debate as a whole."
For those unfamiliar with Bluesky, the service is functionally similar to X and Threads. His posts – referred to as “skeets” – come on a timeline, although users can follow many other algorithmic feeds created by other users.
The service is still much smaller than most of its peers and does not yet feature instant messaging. But it has become a haven for several once-high-profile Twitter users and others looking for more Twitter and less Elon Musk.
Just like Mastodon and other services in the fediverse it is built on the ActivityPub protocol. Bluesky runs on its own open source standard called the AT Protocol. Right now, only Bluesky is the version of the service created by Bluesky, the company. But that will soon change, as the company plans to start experimenting with fediverse, which will allow other developers and teams to create their own Blueskys.
