Bluesky, the decentralized alternative to Twitter/X, has reached a milestone of 2 million users, marking a growth of one million users since September, despite maintaining its invite-only status. The company has outlined its upcoming goals, including the launch of a public web interface by the end of the month and the introduction of federation in early next year.
Federation is a key feature that sets Bluesky apart from X, enabling it to function as a more open social network akin to Mastodon. This allows users to select and switch between servers freely, making Bluesky, as the company claims, “billionaire-proof” in a subtle reference to Elon Musk’s ownership of Twitter (now X). Bluesky emphasizes user freedom and the ability to choose and exit, avoiding dependence on private companies or opaque algorithms.
The federation aspect, facilitated by the AT Protocol developed by Bluesky, allows users to run their own service and connect with others following the same protocol. However, the challenge lies in Bluesky’s choice of protocol compared to Mastodon’s use of the well-established ActivityPub. While ActivityPub has gained traction, Bluesky’s AT Protocol may need to find a way to interoperate with it to broaden its reach in the long term.
Bluesky is set to make its service more accessible with the upcoming launch of a public web interface, enabling anyone to view Bluesky posts without an account. However, this move raises concerns about user privacy, as Bluesky currently lacks an option to set profiles to “private,” unlike Twitter/X.
Despite Bluesky’s growth, its decision to retain its invite-only status has allowed competitors like Instagram Threads to gain traction. Mark Zuckerberg announced Threads’ monthly active user base of nearly 100 million, with plans to reach a billion users in the coming years. Threads aims to interoperate with ActivityPub in the future.
Bluesky faces competition from Threads, which has rapidly introduced features to compete with X, such as a chronological feed, like viewing, search, an edit button, a web version, polls, GIF support, topic tags, and a developer API. Mastodon has also capitalized on Twitter’s acquisition, launching a more user-friendly version. Despite these efforts, Mastodon’s monthly active users are still smaller than Threads.
In addition to the user milestone, Bluesky highlighted new features, including mobile push notifications, shareable user lists, email verification, advanced feed and thread preferences, a media tab on user profiles, a Likes tab on user profiles, suggested follows, and various accessibility improvements. Originally a Twitter project, Bluesky received $13 million for R&D after being spun out from Twitter. This year, it raised an $8 million seed round led by Neo and transitioned from a public benefit LLC to a public benefit C Corp. Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s former CEO, sits on Bluesky’s board.
