Bluesky is a new social platform that’s been making the headlines for quite some time now. Especially after Elon Musk took over Twitter, which today is called X. What makes Bluesky worthy of attention is that it was founded by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Interestingly, Bluesky actually started as an internal project in Twitter in 2019.
But Dorsey’s Bluesky is not like a regular social platform. It’s a decentralized platform that claims to be at the forefront of reshaping social media.
Bluesky made a significant stride in February. It enabled users to host their own data and liberate their data from the company’s servers. This move empowers users with full data control. The implementation of federation network in Bluesky is still in its early stages. Meanwhile, CEO Jay Graber, in an interview with The Verge, heralded federation as the future of social media.
Bluesky wants to form the future of social media
Graber said Bluesky’s initiative to let users host their data allows them to control their identity and where the data is hosted. Additionally, Graber noted that when more users intend to self-host the data, the ecosystem can move in that direction. Thus, users don’t feel betrayed when a platform shuts down its API.
Bluesky CEO added that implementing the federation network has been quite seamless so far, with several team members starting to self-host their data. “Nobody notices that people are running on their own servers, and it’s still just all one experience in the app,” Graber said.
Moreover, Graber noted the Bluesky team is spending much of its time trying to communicate the vision of decentralized platforms. And the company has also started a grant system to give money to fund some projects just to boost the ecosystem. The CEO also believes social media has stagnated because it’s consolidated in a few companies.
Bluesky’s approach to content moderation diverges from that of Meta and Twitter. With users able to self-host their data, Bluesky advocates for users to be responsive to their legal jurisdiction. In a move to bolster user trust, Bluesky has also welcomed former Twitter trust and safety co-lead Aaron Rodericks to its team.
