By Nyang’au Araka
A not very new microblogging social networking service modeled after and inspired by Twitter (now X) is gaining numbers lately, particularly in the United States.
Bluesky was launched in 2019.
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Just like X, users of Bluesky can share text messages, images, and videos in short posts.
The service is primarily operated by Bluesky Social, an American benefit corporation.
The social media platform grew rapidly after October 2024, according to online sources.
It has so far over 23 million total registered users.
Bluesky was developed as a reference implementation of the AT Protocol, an open communication protocol for distributed social networks.
It began in 2019 as a research initiative at Twitter, becoming an independent company in 2021.
Development for the social app accelerated in 2022 after Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter and subsequent severing of ties between the companies, according to online sources.
According to the Columbian Journalism Review, journalists in the US were leading the way in obtaining Bluesky accounts.
The online publication reported that as the dust settles following the election in the US a pressing “question has arisen—again—within journalism circles as to what to do about X, a platform whose owner, Elon Musk, has acted in hostile ways toward members of the mainstream press.
Musk wholeheartedly backed Donald Trump’s election bid.He is now preparing to lead a not-yet-existent Department of Government Efficiency under Trump’s administration.
“Some journalists have simply decided to leave,” the paper said.
Recently, The Guardian announced that it would stop posting on X altogether, citing “disturbing content” promoted on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism.
It is not clear if the excitement will stick.
This is not the first time that many journalists have threatened to leave Twitter.
After Musk completed his purchase of the platform, members of the media around the world held their breath.
Journalists “think they’re better than everybody else,” Musk wrote in December 2022.
