The previous CEO of Twitter has a brand new app that appears quite a bit like Twitter

(CNN) – The brand new social media app proper now seems to be so just like the Twitter app that it’s laborious to inform the 2 aside. The profiles, schedules, and colours are practically equivalent. Even the creator is similar.

However beneath the floor, Bluesky, developed by Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, may be very completely different.

The app, which launched in closed beta on iOS in February and on Android this month, runs on a decentralized community that offers customers extra management over how the service operates, shops information and moderates content material.

In current days, it has gained traction amongst journalists, politicians, and celebrities, from Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to mannequin Chrissy Teigen and ’90s idol Eve6.

That is what you must know:

What’s BlueSky?

Bluesky calls itself “a brand new social community for microblogging”. With the app, customers can put up and comply with brief updates on a timeline, identical to they do on Twitter, albeit with some variations. There are at the moment no hashtags, which is a necessary function on Twitter, and no direct messages.

Bluesky was fashioned independently of Twitter whereas Dorsey was CEO, however was funded by the corporate till it turned an impartial group in February 2022. In a tweet pitching the concept in 2019, Dorsey mentioned it additionally plans to “construct an open group round this, together with This consists of corporations, organizations, researchers, and civil society leaders,” however warned, “This is not going to occur in a single day.”

In a tweet final yr, Dorsey mentioned, “The largest downside and most remorse is that [Twitter] It turned an organization.” He then defined that if a service is a protocol, “it can’t be owned by a state or an organization.” “

If the concept of ​​a decentralized social community sounds acquainted to you, it’s possible due to Mastodon, one other Twitter various that additionally gained consideration late final yr.

Why do individuals be part of it?

Like Mastodon, Bluesky attracts quite a few Twitter customers who’re pissed off with the platform’s management below Elon Musk, its proprietor. Within the six months since Musk took over Twitter, he’s made quite a few controversial adjustments to its options and insurance policies, together with eradicating blue ticks from premium customers.

A few of the identical high-profile customers now testing Bluesky have additionally been vocal critics of Musk’s strikes on Twitter.

In response to information.ai, the corporate previously often known as App Annie, Bluesky has been downloaded greater than 375,000 instances from Apple’s App Retailer and the queue remains to be flooded with registration requests. On the Google Play Retailer, Bluesky is described as having been downloaded greater than 100,000 instances. (For comparability, Twitter reported greater than 200 million monetizable each day lively customers final yr earlier than Musk accomplished the acquisition.)

Bluesky didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

It’s unknown if Bluesky has endurance or if he’ll lose his power like a mastodon. Nonetheless, the early shift towards bluesky is a optimistic, mentioned Mark Bartholomew, a college professor at Buffalo Legislation College who writes about on-line privateness, as a result of it offers social media customers extra selection about the place they spend your time.

“The competitors can really assist customers discover the product options they need, like higher privateness protections, portability, and extra moderation of significant content material,” he mentioned. “Social media platforms have options that customers don’t like, however nonetheless really feel obligated to embrace with a view to be in an internet area the place everybody else is.”

All it took, he mentioned, was for Musk to take motion to “sabotage his personal platform.”

Can I register for an account?

In the mean time, entry to Bluesky is invite solely because it will increase help for community deployment. Current customers get an invitation code to share with somebody each two weeks on the app. Not surprisingly, the sensation of exclusivity solely added to the joy of becoming a member of Bluesky.

As Eve 6 wrote on Twitter: “Bluesky invite codes are the brand new blue ‘manufacturers’”.