The Rise of Bluesky: From Twitter Sideproject to Refuge for Fleeing X Users
Bluesky’s evolution from a low-profile initiative within Twitter to a platform with over 18 million users, at the time of writing, highlights the rapidly changing dynamics in the social media world. The company surpassed one million daily new user registrations on November 15 for the first time, adding currently another million every day since then.
Another day, another million new people have joined Bluesky! 18M users? 🙂↔️ 18M friends 🙂↕️
— Bluesky (@bsky.app) November 16, 2024 at 9:43 PM
Originally conceived in 2019 by Twitter’s then-CEO Jack Dorsey, Bluesky aimed to explore decentralization as a way to challenge conventional social media models.
By 2024, a series of events propelled Bluesky into the spotlight as a preferred alternative for users leaving X (formerly Twitter), driven by dissatisfaction with policy changes and platform shifts.
The Roots: A Twitter Offshoot with Ambitious Goals
Bluesky’s journey began in 2019 as an internal project led by Parag Agrawal, then chief technology officer, who collaborated with decentralized tech communities, including developers from Mastodon and ActivityPub. (Agrawal later took over the helm as Twitter CEO when Jack Dorsey resigned, only to be fired by Elon Musk once he completed his acquisition of the company on October 27, 2022.)
Curious fact: Parag Agrawal himself has only 2.5K followers on Bluesky and no public posts on the platform. His account on X has been abandoned, understandably.
Early discussions between Agrawal and contributors, hosted on the Matrix protocol, shaped the blueprint for what would become the Authenticated Transfer (AT) Protocol. This protocol, initially called the Authenticated Data Experiment (ADX), was designed to separate data storage from user interaction, promising more user autonomy over digital content.
The AT Protocol introduced an architecture involving three main components: Personal Data Servers (PDSs), Relays, and AppViews. Each served a distinct purpose: PDSs hosted user content, Relays indexed and distributed this data, and AppViews acted as the user interface.
This structure aimed to give individuals more control over their data compared to conventional social media platforms. However, hosting a PDS independently required technical expertise and resources, creating an initial barrier for widespread adoption.
Independence Amid Twitter’s Transition
In 2021, as Twitter’s strategic focus shifted, Bluesky formally separated from its parent company and became a public benefit corporation. This move was essential for securing operational independence, especially as Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter in 2022 raised questions about future funding.
Fortunately, Bluesky had secured $13 million from Twitter before the transition and, later, $8 million in seed funding led by venture firm Neo. Notable backers like Joe Beda, co-creator of Kubernetes, an open-source container orchestration system for automating software deployment, reinforced confidence in Bluesky’s long-term viability.
Bluesky has received $13 million to ensure we have the freedom and independence to get started on R&D. Former Twitter CEO @jack is on our board, & a former Twitter security engineer has joined the team. https://t.co/S8vzObfc3u
— bluesky (@bluesky) April 25, 2022
Understanding the Technical Foundation
The AT Protocol underpins Bluesky’s decentralized aspirations. Personal Data Servers allow users to store and manage their own content, analogous to having a personal cloud service.
Its Merkle tree structure ensures data is cryptographically linked and verifiable, enhancing data security. A Merkle tree is a type of data structure used to efficiently and securely verify large sets of data. It is particularly useful in distributed systems, like blockchains, where it’s important to ensure that data hasn’t been tampered with.
Relays, acting like digital indexers, gather information from various PDSs to distribute updates throughout the network, while AppViews transform the raw data into usable interfaces, allowing users to interact with the content.
Bluesky’s decentralized identifiers (DID) provide a unique, verifiable identity for each user. Unlike centralized platforms, these identifiers can be managed independently, although Bluesky’s implementation currently depends on its servers, reflecting a hybrid stage in its decentralization journey.
A Surge of Users Amid X’s Changes
Bluesky saw a notable influx of users following controversial changes at X. In September 2024, X policy updates such as altering the block function — enabling blocked accounts to see public posts — and new terms announced in October allowing user data for AI training triggered widespread discontent. Over 1.2 million users joined Bluesky within two days as a response to these shifts.
Previously, Bluesky gained traction in Brazil after the Supreme Court suspended X for failing to comply with local regulations. This decision led millions of Brazilian users to explore other social networks, pushing Bluesky to the top of download charts and expanding its user base to over 10 million by September 2024.
The platform’s international reach also grew, particularly in Japan, where influential figures like Ui Shigure, a Japanese illustrator, manga artist, light novel character designer and VTuber, endorsed Bluesky. This surge resulted in Japanese-language content surpassing English on the platform for a period, underscoring Bluesky’s global adaptability.
Features That Set Bluesky Apart
Bluesky’s design includes innovative features such as domain-based handles, which enable users to verify their accounts through DNS records. This functionality, similar to Mastodon’s approach but with added customization, supports user identity control without third-party involvement.
💡 Tip: You can set your website as your username on Bluesky! This is one form of self-verification, and we especially encourage official organizations and brands to do this! Examples include @npr.org @react.dev @duolingobrasil.com.br. Here’s our guide for how to do this:
— Bluesky (@bsky.app) November 15, 2024 at 11:04 PM
Bluesky´s Custom Feeds give users the flexibility to create or choose algorithms that shaped their timelines. This approach countered algorithmic content curation seen on other platforms and offered users more autonomy over what they viewed.
Multimedia Expansion
In September 2024, Bluesky rolled out video functionality, allowing users to upload videos, with caps on daily uploads and total video size. Each post can include one video up to 60 seconds long, supporting formats like .mp4, .mpeg, .webm, and .mov, with auto-play enabled by default (modifiable in settings).
Users can upload up to 25 videos or 10 GB per day, and attach subtitles to enhance accessibility. Safety measures include email verification for uploads, content scanning via Hive and Thorn, and moderation tools to report and manage content that violates community guidelines. Deleted videos are promptly removed from Bluesky’s infrastructure to ensure user control over shared media.
Bluesky now has video! Update your app to version 1.91 or refresh on desktop! We’ve begun gradually rolling out the ability to post video. Thanks for your patience! Estamos gradualmente implementando a capacidade de postar vídeos. Obrigado pela sua paciência!
— Bluesky (@bsky.app) September 11, 2024 at 7:11 PM
Open Data Initiatives
Bluesky has emphasized transparency and openness through its commitment to open-source development, which is a fundamental principle of the project. In May 2022, Bluesky released the early code for its foundational Authenticated Transfer Protocol (AT Protocol) under the highly permissive MIT License. This decision to adopt the MIT License reflects Bluesky’s dedication to fostering collaboration and trust within the broader tech community.
The MIT License allows developers to freely use, modify, and distribute the code, provided they maintain the original copyright notice and permission statement. This permissiveness encourages external contributions, enabling developers from around the world to participate in improving and expanding the AT Protocol without facing restrictive legal barriers.
Bluesky says it wants to be “a social app that is designed to not be controlled by a single company,” creating “a version of social media where it’s built by many people, and it still comes together as a cohesive, easy-to-use experience.“
By making the protocol open-source, Bluesky invites contributions but also ensures that the development process remains transparent. This openness is crucial for building trust among users and developers alike, particularly in an era where concerns about data privacy, algorithmic transparency, and corporate control over online identities are prevalent.
The AT Protocol itself is designed with decentralization at its core, allowing users to switch between service providers without losing their data or social connections.
Financial Sustainability and Future Directions
Despite rapid growth, Bluesky’s financial sustainability remains a topic of doubt. Currently, its main revenue source comes from the resale of domain-linked usernames. CEO Jay Graber, known for her background in cryptocurrency projects, has yet to disclose comprehensive revenue plans, which raises questions about how the platform will fund its increasingly resource-intensive infrastructure.
The next chapter in Bluesky’s story will be telling. If it can harness its innovative technology and passionate user base to develop a sustainable path forward, Bluesky won’t just be a refuge for those fleeing other platforms—it could very well become the blueprint for the future of social media.