Dorsey’s Social Media Network Gains Traction Following Musk’s Twitter Takeover

(L): Elon Musk speaks at the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles on June 13, 2019. (R): Jack Dorsey speaks at the Consensus 2018 blockchain technology conference in New York City on May 16, 2018. (Mike Blake, Mike Segar/Reuters)

Founder and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s new platform, Bluesky, picked up steam as some Twitter users look for alternative options amid Elon Musk’s recent takeover.

The beta-mode app has reportedly registered 30,000 signups on its waiting list. “Wow. 30k signups for our app’s waiting list in the last two days! Thanks for the overwhelming interest, we’ll do our best to get you in soon,” said Bluesky in an Oct. 20 tweet, adding that invites will be rolled out “in stages, making sure the protocol scales and taking user feedback as we go.” Bluesky has not officially announced a launch date.

Bluesky, which was first announced in late 2019, is projected to be an “open and decentralized standard for social media” funded by Twitter. Dorsey said at the time, “The goal is for Twitter to ultimately be a client of this standard.”

What makes Bluesky different from platforms like Twitter is the decentralized network, which the company calls Authenticated Transfer Protocol or AT Protocol. The Protocol attempts to make social media open-source and interoperable. Users can jump between platforms and interact with others, all within one ecosystem.

Dorsey advocated for moving away from centralized governance, including recommendation algorithms, by making use of the blockchain model. He also talked about how decentralized networks can address “misleading information” without “placing far too much burden on people.”

Bluesky calls AT Protocol a “federated network,” which they say is “a way for servers to communicate with each other—like email. Instead of one site running the network, you can have many sites. Users get a choice of provider, and individuals and businesses can self-host if they want.”

The board members of Bluesky include Jack Dorsey, Jeremie Miller, the inventor of Jabber/XMPP, and Jay Graber, CEO of the Bluesky company.

Dorsey and Musk

After founding Twitter in 2006, Dorsey was the on-and-off CEO of the platform, before leaving in 2021 and handing over the reins to Parag Agarwal. Agarwal was fired upon Musk taking over, along with Ned Segal, CFO; Vijaya Gadde, legal chief; and Sean Edgett, general counsel.

When Musk announced his buyout bid, Dorsey threw his support behind the Tesla CEO, claiming that “Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.” Dorsey said in the thread that Twitter has always been “my biggest regret,” and taking it back from “Wall Street” was the “correct first step.”

When Musk asked his followers on Mar. 24 whether “Twitter algorithm should be open source,” Dorsey replied that “a new platform is needed,” adding that “it must be an open source protocol, funded by a foundation of sorts that doesn’t own the protocol, only advances it.”

When the Twitter board was uninterested in giving Musk a seat, Dorsey said that their approach “was completely stupid and backward.”

In their interactions, Dorsey also noted to Musk that a social media platform should not be operated on a profit-based model. “It can’t have an advertising model,” Dorsey said.

As for how it is envisioned to stack up against existing social media outlets, Dorsey said in an Oct. 18 tweet, “It’s a competitor to any company trying to own the underlying fundamentals for social media or the data of the people using it.”