Jack Dorsey’s Twitter rival Bluesky crosses 100,000 users

NEW DELHI: Twitter rival Bluesky, backed by Jack Dorsey, has crossed more than 100,000 users with a total of 3.19 million posts, and is growing steadily. The invite-only Bluesky, available on Android, offers a host of new features and was initially launched to the iOS users in February in a closed beta.

Bluesky aims to give users algorithmic choice, and includes basic tools for tracking likes or bookmarks, editing tweets, quote-tweeting, DMs, using hashtags and more.

The app offers a simplified user interface where you can click a plus button to create a post of 256 characters, which can include photos.

While Twitter asks “What’s happening?”, Bluesky asks “What’s up?”

Bluesky users can share, mute and block accounts, but advanced tools, like adding them to lists, are not yet available.

The discover tab in the bottom centre of the app’s navigation is useful, offering more “who to follow” suggestions and a feed of recently posted Bluesky updates.

“Another tab lets you check on your Notifications, including likes, reposts, follows and replies, also much like Twitter. There are no DMs,” according to reports.

You can search for and follow other individuals, much like on Twitter, then view their updates in a Home timeline.

User profiles contain a profile pic, background, bio and metrics. Bluesky last year received $13 million in funding with Twitter co-founder Dorsey on its board.