Bluesky, the invite-only Twitter alternative that was the hottest thing last year, is now open to everyone. But is it too late?

When Elon Musk began dismantling Twitter and rebuilding it in his own image last year, Bluesky stood out as a great alternative to the fleeing hordes. For starters, it was created by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. It was also designed to be decentralized—that is, not controlled by a single company like Twitter or Instagram. Bluesky was popular within its closed backyard of over 3 million invited users, but now it’s open to everyone. Can it compete with the decentralized, federated Mastodon, which is “supported” somewhat by Meta’s Threads?

"Bluesky's decision to forge its own federated system instead of using the more common ActivityPub could be a game-changer, just as Grooveshark's user upload capability set it apart from other music services. By not relying on established protocols, Bluesky could offer new kinds of interoperability and user control, potentially leading to a more diverse and rich social media environment," Sam Tarantino, co-founder of music streaming service Grooveshark, told Lifewire via email.

Since Twitter’s slow-motion collapse last year, the social landscape has changed quite a bit. Where Twitter used to be the place to be because it was the place where everything happened, there is no longer one place for everything. Instead, we have a growing ecosystem of alternatives, including Mastodon and Threads, and we’re even seeing the resurgence of personal blogs.