Bluesky is now open to everyone – but it may be too late

Bluesky is a microblogging platform launched last year and backed by co-founder and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. For over a year, Bluesky was labeled as a beta, and for that reason, the platform was accessible by invitation only. Now Bluesky is finally letting anyone join the social network – but it may be too late.

Bluesky no longer requires an invitation

This week, the platform launched an update that no longer requires an invitation to sign up. Previously, users had to join a waiting list or get an invitation from someone who already had access to Bluesky. Now anyone can download and create a Bluesky account.

Bluesky CEO Jay Graber told The Verge that the platform opted for invitation-based access to ensure it had time to improve its moderation tools and infrastructure before making the social network available to anyone. Graber also revealed that the platform has had more than 3 million sign-ups since its launch in early 2023, with 1.6 million monthly active users.

In many ways, the platform works just like Twitter. You can follow accounts and see their posts in a timeline, or also check out alternative timelines with suggested content. Users can also create their own feeds.

However, while Bluesky was busy making its app better before letting anyone join it, the platform faced serious competition. Meta launched Threads, which already has more than 160 million users. At the same time, Mastodon is still there – and now with powerful third-party apps like Ivory.

At this point, it’s unclear whether there’s still room for Bluesky, or whether it will end up like Clubhouse (remember it?). Anyway, if you’ve never had the chance to join Bluesky before, it’s available for free on the App Store.

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