Former Twitter CEO and founder Jack Dorsey today launched his own social media platform called BlueSky. Bluesky is based on the principle of allowing users to build a shared and open social media platform.
BlueSky, a Twitter alternative featuring Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, has been launched on the Apple App Store on an invitation-only basis. However, the developers are allowing more users to sign up on the app and giving them access.
Although the program is still only available as an invite-only beta, its presence on the App Store suggests that a public launch is on the way.
Bluesky’s primary endeavor is AT, or “Authenticated Transfer Protocol,” while the Bluesky smartphone app serves to demonstrate the protocol in operation. AT, like the ActivityPub protocol that powers Mastodon, allows you to build a shared and open social network.
However, some developers, including Mastodon, have criticized the project, pointing out that ActivityPub, a suggested W3C standard, already supports a large and expanding “fediverse” of interconnected servers.
And Fedverse has grown in popularity following Musk’s Twitter purchase, as users abandoned the microblogging network in favor of Mastodon, an open-source, decentralized alternative.
The latter has also profited from the efforts of erstwhile Twitter third-party app makers, who have since released polished mastodon clients such as Ivory and Mammoth.
Other platforms have also announced their intention to join Fedverse today, Medium, Tumblr and potentially Flickr, and have also committed or discussed adopting the ActivityPub standard. It’s uncertain where this puts BlueSky’s future.
The Bluesky initiative, which is now a public benefit company, initially started within Twitter in early 2019 when Jack Dorsey was CEO. Twitter has also provided cash support over the years.
Although the business was founded before it was sold to current owner Elon Musk, the two executives had recently explored the concept of an open-source protocol over text messages prior to Musk’s Twitter purchase.
In the texts, Dorsey explained to Musk that “new infrastructure is needed. It can’t be a corporation. That’s why I stopped using Twitter.”
Shortly after stepping down as CEO, Dorsey took to Twitter to openly discuss BlueSky, describing it as “an open decentralized standard for social media”. The conversation occurred while Dorsey was discussing Twitter’s choice to ban President Trump from its site.
BlueSky, he thought, would limit the ability of large, centralized platforms like Twitter to limit the ability of users and communities to participate in speech and who would be responsible for moderating that content.
However, with Musk now at the helm of Twitter, it’s unclear whether the two initiatives will remain intertwined. BlueSky announced last year that it had received $13 million to guarantee the freedom and independence to undertake R&D and that Jack Dorsey was on its board.
According to the statement, Twitter’s funding of Bluesky was also “subject to no conditions except one: Bluesky was to study and build technologies that allow for open and decentralized public conversation.”
Today, however, Twitter has severely reduced its spending, including through cutbacks, auctions, workplace closures, and even failing to pay its bills. It’s unlikely that a side effort like BlueSky will remain the focus.
Information Source: firstpost
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