What is Bluesky Social?
Bluesky is an initiative that is working to design a protocol for a decentralized social network. It is a non-profit effort that is supported by Twitter. It was first revealed in 2019, and as of 2022, it is now in the research phase. Bluesky is owned entirely by the team that develops it, technically organized as Bluesky Public Benefit LLC, and Twitter does not have a controlling share in the company. Jack Dorsey, Jeremie Miller, and Jay Graber are three of the most influential people in the protocol’s development.
The Bluesky initiative was initially introduced in 2019 by Jack Dorsey, who had previously served as CEO of Twitter. In the beginning of 2020, the company’s Chief Technology Officer at the time, Parag Agrawal, extended invitations to members of the initial working group. Representatives from the decentralized networks Mastodon and ActivityPub joined the expanding group. The chat program known as Element was used by the group to coordinate their efforts. Jay Graber, who is a part of the decentralized social network Happening, was given the task of writing a technical review of the landscape of decentralized social networks by Twitter. In August of 2021, she was selected to take on the role of project lead for Bluesky.
Bluesky is an effort that is working to establish a decentralized social network protocol. The goal of this protocol is to allow various social networks, each of which has its own methods of curation and moderation, to communicate with other social networks through an open standard. An “application” refers to each social network that utilizes the protocol. Bluesky made the announcement in October 2022 on a roadmap and other technical specifics regarding the AT Protocol, which will be used to power applications. Additionally, Bluesky has begun collecting signups for those who are interested in testing an upcoming version of the application.
On October 20, 2022, Bluesky revealed that in just 48 hours after its sign-ups opened on October 18, 2022, it had received more than 30,000 requests for spots on its waitlist. This occurred ten days prior to Elon Musk successfully completing his acquisition of Twitter.
What is AT Protocol?
Authenticated Transfer Protocol, abbreviated as AT Protocol, is a federated network that was developed to make it possible for users to easily connect with blockchain URLs in a manner analogous to email addresses. On the AT social protocol, users will be able to identify themselves by their domain names; however, rather than the lengthy string of encrypted URLs that are currently used, domain names such as (@alice) will be utilized.
Similar to email, a “federated” network is a method by which servers can communicate with one another. It is possible to have multiple sites manage the network rather than a single site. It implies that you have the option of selecting a different provider, and people and companies are free to host their own content if they so choose.
With AT Protocol-based social networks, users’ on-chain identities can be freely transferred across platforms without risk of data loss. AT Protocol claims to have an open algorithm that makes it simple for consumers to regain control of their social feed, which is a safeguard against circumstances in which algorithms influence the content that users are shown on their devices.
For the purpose of supporting social applications on a massive scale, the protocol will be enhanced to have a high degree of scalability. Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced the launch of AT Protocol, which is a federated network that will power the next generation of social media apps.
What is Bluesky Social Relationship With Twitter?
Jack Dorsey, who was the CEO of Bluesky Social at the time, was an early advocate for the project and was the one who originally announced the Bluesky initiative in 2019 on his timeline. In the beginning of 2020, Twitter CTO Parag Agrawal, who would eventually become boss, extended invitations to members of the inaugural working group. Following the successful completion of Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter on October 28, 2022, Parag Agrawal was terminated from his position as CEO of the firm.
Jay Graber, who was previously the project head for the decentralized social network Happening and who later became the lead for the Bluesky project in August 2021, was commissioned by Twitter to do a technical evaluation of the landscape of decentralized social networks. Despite the fact that it contributed financial support to the endeavor, Twitter did not hold a controlling position in the project.
Following Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter and the subsequent departure of Bluesky’s founders from the social media firm, there have been rumors circulating about the possibility that the newly rebranded Twitter will not maintain funding for the project. On the other hand, Bluesky issued a statement on April 26, 2022, claiming that the project will not be impacted by Elon Musk’s then-proposed takeover of Twitter. The statement explained that Bluesky has been independently operating as a public benefit limited liability company since February of that year. Bluesky stated that the project will continue on as planned. This frees Bluesky from the duty to return money to Twitter shareholders, allowing the company to direct its resources toward fulfilling its objective without compromising its integrity.
