X rival Bluesky hits 2 mn users, 'federation' coming early next year

NEW DELHI: Jack Dorsey-backed social media network Bluesky, an alternative to Twitter/X, has reached 2 million users despite remaining an invite-only app.

The company said it will launch a public web interface by the end of this month that will help users view posts on Bluesky without being logged in on an account.

This will make posts on Bluesky much more accessible, which will be especially useful for real-time commentary and breaking news.

“Exactly one year ago, on November 16, 2022, the first post on Bluesky was created. Fast forward a year later, and we’ve just crossed two million users after opening the app to users around February,” said the platform.

The company said it is launching federation early next year, which is one of the core features of Bluesky that makes it “billionaire-proof”.

“You’ll always have the freedom to choose (and to exit) instead of being held to the whims of private companies or black box algorithms. And wherever you go, your friends and relationships will be there too,” the company informed.

Bluesky is a public social network so posts and likes have always been publicly accessible through the API.

The platform has introduced some much-requested features like mobile push notifications, general user lists, email verification, advanced feed and thread preferences, media tab for user profiles, Likes tab on your own profile, suggested follows and accessibility improvements.

As Meta-owned Threads decides not to push news on its platform, Bluesky last month invited journalists and news organisations to come and self-verify themselves by setting their website directly as their username.

The company said that the size of its user base is rapidly growing, and they include people who follow political news, sports, entertainment and more.