How to Try Bluesky, a Decentralized Twitter Clone
Twitter is no longer the same . If you’re tired of seeing your “For You” feed fall apart and want to get away from the latest blue-tick drama , Twitter clones are waiting for your membership. However, one of those clones actually looks a bit like Twitter’s cousin: Bluesky, created by co-founder and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, first launched on iOS back in February . Now it is also available for Android .
What is Bluesky Social?
In fact, Dorsey wanted Bluesky to be a Twitter protocol , but that’s not surprising after opening the app. At first glance, you might confuse Bluesky with Twitter, or at least the Twitter client. There’s a feed for viewing messages from people you follow, and a tab for viewing accounts you don’t follow. You can like, repost or comment. It’s all very, well, Twitter.
But of course it is not. Aside from the fact that it’s not really Twitter, the big difference here is that Bluesky is decentralized like Mastodon. Most social media platforms are based on a single, centralized organization that each user is tied to. With Bluesky, you don’t need to be part of the Bluesky network to chat and post with other users who may or may not be on your network as well. It uses an authenticated transfer protocol , in which different servers connect to each other to create one decentralized network.
According to The Verge , decentralized networks like Bluesky are a bit like email. No one is required to use the services of one e-mail organization. You can have Gmail and your friend can have Yahoo!, but you can send messages to each other as much as you like. The same goes for users on different servers using Bluesky. That was the Internet, and hopefully that’s what it’s coming back to.
This type of social media has some big advantages over the traditional platforms that most of us are used to. Since there is no centralized network owning the platform, there is more protection of user data and open discussion. It is much more difficult to meaningfully hack or disrupt users on a decentralized network, since those users are scattered across different servers.
However, there is a Bluesky host provider that you can join. (This is the default option when you sign up.) This may be the easiest option for most new users.
How to join Bluesky
At the time of this writing, Bluesky has not yet been officially launched and is still in beta testing. However, the platform already has a growing active community. To join, you either need an invitation code from a user already registered with Bluesky, or you need to register on a waitlist. If you don’t have a friend in Bluesky, you’d better sign up for the waiting list.
To continue, visit the official Bluesky website . Enter your email address, click “Join Waiting List” and wait. Once you’re in, enjoy your time exploring and sharing a freer internet.