BLUESKY

Jack Dorsey announced in 2019 that Twitter was funding an independent team to develop a decentralized social media protocol. The project was called Bluesky.

Jay Graber, a developer with experience in decentralized systems, was hired to lead it. When Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022, Bluesky separated completely from Twitter/X.

The app launched as an invite-only beta in early 2023, creating massive demand (invite codes were selling for hundreds of dollars). It opened to the public in early 2024 and quickly grew to 30+ million users, driven largely by waves of users leaving X.

Bluesky is a decentralized social media platform built on the AT Protocol — an open protocol that allows anyone to build on or migrate away from the platform (in theory, you could take your followers and data to a competing app). Revenue model is still developing — currently free, with plans for premium subscriptions and optional features.

The platform does not run ads.

Bluesky Social (microblogging platform), AT Protocol (decentralized social protocol), Custom feeds (algorithmic choice), Starter Packs (user-curated onboarding), Moderation services (decentralized)

Continue growing the user base through organic migrations from X. Develop premium features that users will pay for.

Build the AT Protocol ecosystem so that third-party developers build on Bluesky's infrastructure. Maintain the open, decentralized positioning as a differentiation against X, Threads, and Mastodon.

Sustainable monetization. Bluesky has no ads, a small team, and modest funding.

Building a business model that supports the infrastructure costs of a growing social network without compromising the decentralized ethos is the core challenge. Also, decentralized moderation is incredibly difficult — content that is legal in one country may be illegal in another.

Blockchain Capital, a]capital, Neo, Dorsey (initial funding)