Bluesky Mainstream

2024

Date: February 2024 · Place: Bluesky Social, Seattle · Figures: Jay Graber, CEO · Jack Dorsey, board member then critic · AT Protocol · Tags: Platform, Federated, Exodus 01. The Invite Wall Falls Bluesky, the federated social network spun out of Twitter under Jay Graber, drops its invite-only restriction on 6 February 2024 after 18 months of beta. The platform jumps from 3 million to 23 million users by November 2024, accelerating sharply after the US election results that month. Jack Dorsey, original Twitter founder and Bluesky board member, departs the board acrimoniously in May 2024 over moderation philosophy. The platform increasingly resembles 2014 Twitter to its mostly-journalist, mostly-left user base. 02. Atomized Town Square By late 2024 the post-Twitter landscape is settled. Threads carries casual users and Meta's algorithm. Bluesky carries journalists and the political left. X retains the right. Mastodon retains the federated diehards. Meme circulation, which had one substrate from roughly 2009 to 2022, now has four. No memes go fully viral the way Pepe did in 2016. Sources • Bluesky, 'Join Us, Public Sign-ups Now Open' (6 February 2024) • The Verge, 'Bluesky Is Now Open to Everyone' (6 February 2024) • The Atlantic, 'The Bluesky Boom' (24 November 2024)