Bluesky (social network) facts for kids
Current logo used in Bluesky's interface branding, introduced December 2023
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Screenshot of the Bluesky desktop interface, featuring the official company account, February 2024
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Type of site
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Social networking service |
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| Available in | 17 languages |
| Founded | October 4, 2021 in Wilmington, Delaware |
| CEO | Jay Graber |
| Key people |
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| Parent | Bluesky Social, PBC |
| Website |
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| Registration | Publicly available since February 6, 2024. Previously invitation-only. |
| Users | |
Bluesky, also known as Bluesky Social, is a new type of social media platform. It's a bit like Twitter, where you can share short messages and updates. What makes Bluesky special is that it's decentralized. This means it's not controlled by just one big company. Instead, it's built on a system that allows many different social networks to connect and share information.
Bluesky is run by a company called Bluesky Social, PBC. This company is a "public benefit corporation," which means it aims to do good for the public, not just make money. Jay Graber is the CEO, and Jeremie Miller, who helped create an early chat system called XMPP, is on its board. You can use Bluesky on its website or through apps on iOS and Android phones.
Contents
Discovering Bluesky: How It Grew
Bluesky started in 2021 with an idea to create a new kind of social network. Imagine a world where many different social media apps could all talk to each other. Each app would have its own rules for what content is allowed and how it's shown. Bluesky wanted to build the basic rules, or "protocol," for this to happen.
In 2022, Bluesky released its first early version of this protocol. It was called the Authenticated Data Experiment (ADX). The idea was that you, the user, would control your own posts and data. Social networks would then help share your posts with others. This was like separating your "speech" (what you post) from its "reach" (how many people see it).
Launching the Bluesky App
In October 2022, Bluesky started a waiting list for its app. The app was first released for iOS in February 2023, but you needed an invitation code to join. People who tried it said it felt a lot like Twitter, but it was still quite new.
The app came out for Android in April 2023. After that, Bluesky quickly grew to about 50,000 users. In May 2023, Bluesky made its software "open source." This means anyone can look at its code and even help improve it.
New Features and Growth
Bluesky added a cool feature called "Custom Feeds" in May 2023. This lets users choose how they see posts. Instead of just one main feed, you can pick different feeds created by others. This helps you see more of what you're interested in.
The platform kept growing fast! By September 2023, it had 1 million users, and by November, it reached over 2 million.
In December 2023, Bluesky got a new logo: a blue butterfly. Many users were already using the butterfly emoji to show their Bluesky accounts, so it was a perfect fit! Around the same time, Bluesky also made it possible for anyone to view posts, even if they didn't have an account.
Finally, on February 6, 2024, Bluesky opened its doors to everyone. You no longer needed an invitation to join!
The Story Behind Bluesky
The idea for Bluesky actually came from Twitter's former CEO, Jack Dorsey, in 2019. He wanted to explore building a decentralized social network. Twitter started a special group to work on this.
Jay Graber was hired in August 2021 to lead the Bluesky project. Later that year, Bluesky became its own separate company, not directly part of Twitter anymore. This was important because it meant Bluesky could develop its ideas independently.
Funding and Independence
Bluesky received some funding from Twitter early on. However, after Elon Musk bought Twitter in late 2022, Bluesky's future funding from Twitter became uncertain. Luckily, Bluesky was a separate company.
In July 2023, Bluesky announced it had raised $8 million from other investors. This money helps them grow their team, run the service, and keep building the technology that makes Bluesky work.
In May 2024, Jack Dorsey, who started the idea for Bluesky, announced he was no longer on its board. This showed that Bluesky was truly independent and growing on its own.
How the AT Protocol Works
Bluesky uses something called the Authenticated Transfer (AT) Protocol. Think of this as the rulebook for how different parts of the decentralized social network talk to each other. It's open source, meaning its code is public for anyone to see and use.
The AT Protocol has a few main parts:
- Personal Data Server (PDS): This is where your own data, like your posts, is stored. You control it!
- Relay: This acts like a giant indexer. It collects all the posts from many different PDSs and puts them into one big stream.
- AppView: These are services that take the data from the Relay and turn it into what you see on your screen, like your Bluesky feed.
This setup allows for a flexible system where users have more control over their data, and different apps can connect to the same network.
See also
- Comparison of microblogging and similar services
- Comparison of software and protocols for distributed social networking
- Diaspora (social network)
- Mastodon (social network)
- Nostr
- ActivityPub
