Jack Dorsey back in social media game with Twitter alternative Bluesky

Jack Dorsey, a co-founder of Twitter and a former CEO, has re-entered the social media fray with the release of Bluesky, a Twitter competitor that is currently in beta testing on the Apple App Store.

According to TechCrunch, the Twitter-funded microblogging network is currently in invite-only testing and is about to be made publicly available.

The Bluesky iOS app launched on February 17 and had received about 2,000 installs during the testing phase, according to app intelligence company data.ai. The software has a straightforward user interface where you can click a plus button to add a 256-character post that supports images. Bluesky queries “What’s up,” whereas Twitter queries “What’s happening?”

Bluesky users can share, mute and block accounts, but advanced tools, like adding them to lists, are not yet available, according to the report.

The discover tab in the bottom centre of the app’s navigation is useful, offering more “who to follow” suggestions and a feed of recently posted Bluesky updates.

“Another tab lets you check on your Notifications, including likes, reposts, follows and replies, also much like Twitter. There are no DMs,” according to the report.

You can search for and follow other individuals, much like on Twitter, then view their updates in a Home timeline. User profiles contain a profile pic, background, bio and metrics.

The Bluesky project originated with Twitter in 2019, but the company was established in 2022 as an independent company focused on decentralized social network R&D. After leaving Twitter, Dorsey spoke about Bluesky, describing it as “an open decentralised standard for social media”.

In October last year, Dorsey posted on Twitter that Bluesky intends to be “a competitor to any company trying to own the underlying fundamentals for social media or the data of the people using it”. Bluesky last year received $13 million in funding with Dorsey on its board.

“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 and a former Twitter security engineer has joined the team,” it had tweeted.

Bluesky was formed to research and develop technologies that enable open and decentralised public conversation.

“It’s rare for a project to be set up like this. We’re using our freedom to focus on building, and will work towards our vision of a durable protocol for public conversation no matter what happens,” said the company.