Bluesky
The architecture of Bluesky is similar to that of Twitter rival Mastodon.
(Photo: dpa)
San Francisco The text messaging service Twitter is getting a new competitor after the takeover by billionaire Elon Musk. Bluesky is the name of a social network funded by former Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. In the USA, the network has been able to attract a number of celebrities as well as people from politics, the start-up scene and the arts over the past few days.
The platform announced on Thursday that it had experienced the largest rush of new users in one day since its inception. Among the well-known newcomers were the US MP Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the US writer and comedian Dril and the model Chrissy Teigen.
What is Bluesky?
At first glance, Bluesky looks very similar to Twitter. Users can create profiles and share texts and images. The difference lies in the underlying technology.
A decentralized architecture is in the foreground. In contrast to portals such as Twitter or Facebook, the platform wants to offer a contact point where users have the long–term freedom to take their profile with them – across different networks.
How big is the user base of Bluesky?
Compared to well-known portals such as Twitter, Bluesky still has a low user base. Bluesky CEO Jay Graber told the Bloomberg news agency that around 40,000 users have currently been activated for the platform.
Who is behind Bluesky?
The beginnings of Bluesky date back around four years. Bluesky has always been closely associated with Twitter. The then Twitter CEO Dorsey first reported about the project in 2019. The platform was conceived as an independent organization, and it is planned to “build an open community around it, including companies and organizations, researchers and leading representatives of civil society”. Although Bluesky was founded as a separate entity, it was funded by Twitter until February 2022. Since then, IT expert Graber has been the head of Bluesky.
Is Elon Musk involved in Bluesky?
It is not known if Musk is involved. Bluesky was already self-employed before Musk first publicly expressed his interest in buying the text messaging service Twitter.
What is the difference between Bluesky and Mastodon?
Like Bluesky, Mastodon is a text messaging service that relies on a decentralized approach. Mastodon is an older social network that has been developed by Eugen Rochko and Mastodon gGmbH, founded by him in Jena and based in Berlin, since 2016. Bluesky is significantly younger, and many details about the platform are not yet public.
How do I get access to Bluesky?
Access to the network is by invitation only. Anyone can get on a waiting list on the company’s website. Existing Bluesky users can share one invitation link per week. The interest seems to be very high. So big that many people have already installed the apps from Bluesky without even having access to the platform.
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The application has been downloaded from the Apple App Store 375,000 times so far, the portal calculated data.ai off. For the Google Play Store, the number is around 100,000 downloads. Twitter is moving in completely different dimensions. The text messaging service reported more than 200 million daily active users last year, before Musk completed his acquisition.
What is to be considered at Bluesky?
The data protection activist Ashley M. Gjövik has pointed out particularly far-reaching rules with regard to the terms of use of Bluesky. The network grants itself comprehensive rights in this. “Bluesky’s privacy policy states that they track everything that users do on the site, but also what users do before they get there and what they do after,” Gjövik wrote on Twitter.
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