Could Bluesky Supersede Twitter as the Key Real-Time Social App?

While Elon Musk’s adjustments at Twitter have actually been greatly slammed by lots of, according to Twitter’s numbers, use of the system has actually not decreased consequently.

Certainly, while Twitter has actually renewed a variety of formerly outlawed customers, consisting of neo-Nazis, false information peddlers, transphobic spokespeople, as well as even worse, while Twitter’s softened its regulations around web content eliminations, possibly placing even more individuals in danger of misuse, while its adjustments to confirmation have actually opened up the application up for even more manipulative habits, as well as it’s switched over up tweet position, to ensure that paying customers obtain top priority. In spite of every one of this, Twitter asserts that use is really getting to brand-new document highs.

Why is that? Well, partly, there’s an attraction with conflict, as well as maybe that even more individuals want seeing just how these adjustments play out. Yet the major variable is that there’s no place else that uses the exact same experience – there’s absolutely nothing like Twitter that uses a real-time stream of updates from several of one of the most significant individuals in the world, in addition to high-level reporters damaging information, in addition to individuals as well as accounts that you’ve been following for years, who are still sharing key updates via the app.

But the tide could be changing – and ironically, it’s because of the man who once labeled Elon ‘the singular solution’ to getting Twitter back on track.

While he was still in charge at Twitter, Jack Dorsey launched a new social platform project called ‘Bluesky’ which is focused, essentially, on creating a better version of Twitter, free from the various impediments that Dorsey believed had stymied his vision for his original app over time.

Built around decentralization, the main aims for Bluesky, according to Dorsey, are:

• To facilitate enhanced efforts to address abuse and misleading information, without overburdening staff
• To enable users and the broader community to have more input into platform algorithms
• To improve conversational health by giving people more input into platform rules

Based on the way that other decentralized social projects have gone, Bluesky has seemed like a similar pipe dream, a utopian vision for how a social platform can coalesce, like a natural organism, and rely on the power of the collective – while in reality being utterly unusable for regular people who don’t have a background in computer science.

Yet despite this, Bluesky is actually, seemingly working, for regular people as well as more tech-aligned types. And it’s now attracting some big-name users, a key step in facilitating mass adoption.

As reported by Decrypt:

“Among the big names joining the platform are Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who has over 13 million followers on rival platform Twitter, and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ director James Gunn, who’s recently taken charge of DC Comics’ film output. Others who have actually joined the invite-only platform include model Chrissy Teigen, ‘Mission: Impossible’ director Christopher McQuarrie, ‘Silicon Valley’ and ‘The Eternals’ star Kumail Nanjiani, Edgar Wright, director of ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and ‘Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World’, and ‘Moon’ director Duncan Jones.”

The migration of influential users is significant, and what’s led to big changes in the social media landscape in the past. Vine, for example, was shut down not because Twitter failed to manage the platform properly (as per the now pervading narrative), but because its top creators demanded more money from Twitter to keep sharing their content in the application. When Twitter refused, they switched to YouTube and Instagram instead, which was the beginning of the end for Vne, as their legions of fans gradually stopped paying attention to the app as a result.

Could the same now be happening to Twitter – and could Twitter be killed off by its own decentralized project, which the company itself invested millions in?

When the Bluesky project was first launched in 2021, Twitter invested $13 million into what would eventually become an independent entity. Dorsey has continued to fund Bluesky since October, when it effectively separated from Twitter – i.e. Musk and Co. cut off Twitter’s funding, while as part of the Musk takeover, Dorsey also rolled over his shares of Twitter into Bluesky, giving it more runway to keep building. Yet in essence, right now, Bluesky is separate from Twitter – though given Musk’s angst around OpenAI, another project that he funded in its early stages, that’s now making money without him, I suspect that Elon will be none too pleased if Bluesky does emerge as a legitimate threat.

Which is still, to be clear, a long way off. Bluesky’s currently operating on an invite-only basis at this stage, which significantly restricts its capacity to see mass adoption and take-up.

But it is growing, fast. According to data.ai, Bluesky Social is currently the 8th most-downloaded social media app.

The hype around Bluesky seems to already have superseded Mastodon, the other big Twitter alternative, and with a UI that’s virtually the same as Twitter (minus DMs and some other functional elements), it does seem like Bluesky, at least right now, is offering some communities a better experience than the changed Twitter feed.

Bluesky also offers a range of content control options which can lessen the impact of an expanded user base, as a broader range of people set up profiles in the app.

To be clear, Bluesky still has a lot of challenges to overcome, as well as those challenges compound with every thousand or so more active users. It’s not going to be a simple scaling – hence the steady, invite-only process. But there are signs that Bluesky could be legit, and could be the real Twitter alternative that people have been seeking.

It’ll be interesting to see how Musk responds – as noted, he has a growing track record of attacking anything that he deems a threat, with more specific venom for projects that he’s had actually prior association with.

I suspect, as the hype grows, Musk will look to punish links to Bluesky, or ban references to it – though at that stage, it could be too late, especially if big-name users continue to switch across, as well as start posting exclusively on Bluesky instead.

That’s a more significant next step, as most customers still seem to be posting on both Twitter as well as Bluesky concurrently.

But there are some signs that this could be the thing, which could be a large problem as Musk continues to alienate components of Twitter’s customer base.