What is Bluesky? Social media platform considered alternative to X

Social media platform Bluesky became the talk of the town after several celebrities and journalists announced quitting X (formerly Twitter).

The platform gained prominence after a number of prominent people including Hollywood celebrities and journalists in the United States said that they were quitting X over what they alleged was the increasing far-right content, hate speech, racism, harassment, and crypto scams among others.

With Elon Musk’s social media platform witnessing a mass exodus, Bluesky has emerged as one of the top alternatives to X.

The social media platform is similar to X in functionality as users post, reply, and message others.

The project was launched by then Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in 2019 with the aim of creating an “open and decentralised” social media platform.

The social media platform went on to become an independent company in 2021 with Jay Graber serving as its CEO.

While the functions of Bluesky are considered similar to X, one major difference between the two platforms is its structure.

Bluesky has a decentralised structure allowing users control over their data and interactions, while Elon Musk’s X is centralised, meaning that the company has more control over the users’ data.

The rival to X allows users to have more control over their timeline as they can choose how they want to see content.

As per reports, Bluesky has witnessed a significant increase in its users as it now boasts around 16.7 million users as of November 2024, compared with 9 million in September.

Among the prominent Hollywood celebrities who have migrated over to Bluesky include James Gunn, John Cusack, Ben Stiller, Kumail Nanjiani, Dionne Warwick, Colson Whitehead, Mara Wilson, Kashana Cauley and Megan Amram among others,

It is worth mentioning here that several Hollywood figures, including Matt Reeves, Edgar Wright, Christopher Miller, and Ryan Reynolds have active Bluesky accounts, however, they have not recently posted on the site.