Bluesky Now Available to All – How to Join the Social Network

Excited to explore the Twitter-esque social platform? Here's your step-by-step guide to get started.

The microblogging platform Bluesky has bid farewell to its invite-only model, welcoming all users to sign up freely. Championed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, Bluesky aims to construct an open framework for the social internet, fostering a self-moderated and targeted social atmosphere.

Furthermore, Bluesky has unveiled its interoperability strategy, enabling users to seamlessly transfer their social connections, including friends, followers, and data, across various competing social networks.

What Is Bluesky?

Bluesky stands as the closest counterpart to the original Twitter experience, reminiscent of its earlier days rather than the modern iteration.

With a user-friendly interface reminiscent of Twitter's classic design, Bluesky offers all the familiar features you'd expect, including posts, feeds, and a mute button. Additionally, its linear timelines can be customized using lists and content filters, granting users greater control over their feed content. Although direct messaging is not yet available, the platform assures users that it's in the pipeline.

Operated as a public benefit entity, Bluesky boasts nearly 40 full-time employees, with half dedicated to moderation and user support. According to CEO Jay Graber, the platform boasts 1.6 million monthly users and hosts 25,000 customer feeds.

Joining Bluesky: A Step-by-Step Guide

Before Tuesday, aspiring Bluesky members had to score an invite from existing users, part of a deliberate strategy to cultivate exclusivity and grant the platform ample time for feature and moderation tool development. With Bluesky now primed and polished, membership gates have swung open to all.

Since its inception last year, the app has garnered a staggering 3 million sign-ups, boasting an even larger count of downloads. The aspiration is for this accessibility shift to catalyze download conversions into active engagement, transforming Bluesky into a widely embraced conversational hub.

Embarking on the Bluesky journey is now as effortless as visiting https://bsky.social, hitting the 'sign up' tab, and crafting an account.

Interoperable Plans Ahead

The company boldly claims that Bluesky could mark the final frontier in social account creation, touting plans for an innovative interoperable framework dubbed 'federation'. This visionary approach promises seamless migration of friend circles, followers, and vital data across rival social platforms.

Meta's Threads has already dipped its toes into this paradigm, enabling users to share content on Mastodon via the decentralized ActivityPub protocol. Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, expressed enthusiasm last December, envisioning enhanced user autonomy and expanded content reach.

In a departure from the norm, Bluesky adopts an exclusive federation algorithm dubbed the Authenticated Transfer Protocol, setting itself apart as the sole pioneer in this domain.

Accessible across desktop and major app stores, Bluesky beckons to all, promising a dynamic social experience.