Twitter-Rival Bluesky, Backed By Ex-CEO Jack Dorsey, Surpasses 100,000 Users

Bluesky secured $13 million in funding last year, with Dorsey serving on its board.

Bluesky, a Twitter competitor backed by ex-CEO Jack Dorsey, has surpassed 100,000 users and has accumulated a total of 3.19 million posts, indicating steady growth. Initially launched as an invite-only platform, Bluesky was made available to Android users and was introduced to iOS users in February through a closed beta phase. The app offers a range of new features and aims to provide users with algorithmic choices. It includes basic tools such as tracking likes or bookmarks, editing tweets, quote-tweeting, direct messaging (DMs), using hashtags, and more.

How does Bluesky work? Well, it presents a simplified user interface, where users can create a post of up to 256 characters by clicking on a plus button. Photos can also be included in the posts. While Twitter asks "What's happening?", Bluesky poses the question "What's up?"

Users of Bluesky have the ability to share, mute, and block accounts. However, advanced tools like adding accounts to lists are not yet available. The Discover tab, located in the bottom centre of the app's navigation, offers helpful suggestions on "who to follow" and provides a feed of recently posted Bluesky updates.

Reports indicate that another tab within the app allows users to check their notifications, which include information on likes, reposts, follows, and replies. Similar to Twitter, there are no DMs (direct messages) on Bluesky.

Users can search for and follow other individuals on Bluesky, just as they would on Twitter. The updates from the accounts they follow are displayed in a Home timeline. User profiles on Bluesky contain a profile picture, background, bio, and various metrics.

Bluesky secured $13 million in funding last year, with Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey serving on its board. The platform's growth and promising features have garnered attention and indicate its potential as a competitor to established social media platforms like Twitter.

(With inputs from IANS)