Twitter rival Blue Sky disables new sign-ups amid new user surge

Bluesky, a decentralized social networking platform similar to Twitter, has temporarily halted new signups due to performance-related challenges.

This decision was prompted by Twitter’s implementation of limits on the number of tweets users can view in a day, which has resulted in increased usage and subsequent issues on Bluesky. While Bluesky still requires an invite code for registration, the influx of new users has strained the platform’s performance.

In a recent announcement, Bluesky stated that they will keep users informed about when invite codes will be reactivated, expressing their enthusiasm to onboard more users to the beta version in the near future.

What is Blue Sky?

Bluesky is an initiative to develop a decentralized social network protocol, and an associated social networking service.

Originally spun out by Twitter, it hired its first employees in 2021, and was incorporated as an independent public usefulness company the same year. Jay Graber currently serves as the company’s CEO, while Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey sits on its board of directors.

It currently operates its own social media network, Bluesky Social, which is accessible via a web browser or an app for iOS and Android. The service is currently in an invite-only beta, though the company has specified plans to open it up to the general public at a later date. The service is described as being Twitter-like.

Other decentralised social projects are Mastodon, as well as Lens and Farcaster, which are both Twitter substitutes built on blockchains.

A lot of these platforms have no algorithms to recommend particular content — a sore point for some Twitter users who complain they’re seeing less relevant content in the “For You” tab of Twitter since Musk took over. They don’t sell ads, and don’t collect and sell user data, which are the classic ways that social networks make money.

It is possible that Bluesky, temporary decentralization could turn to subscriptions to monetize operations, but the team hasn’t given many hints. Bluesky has been mostly sharing updates and some details of its underlying technology infrastructure as opposed to any financial plans, according to recent blog posts.

Right now, social media platforms are ad supported, which means they make their money by keeping users on them for as long as possible. Decentralized platforms have no such incentive, and can give the people who make their livelihoods on these platforms the ability to influence the rules that govern them and how their content is distributed.