With Meta announcing a loosening of its content moderation rules, that will bring it more into line with X’s “free speech” aligned approach, many users are now seeking an alternative platform once again, in order to get away from the increasing power of the big tech providers, and the whims of their billionaire owners.
Which could see a new surge for Bluesky, the decentralized Twitter alternative, which remains, thus far at least, uncorrupted by business interests.
And this week, Bluesky has launched a new funding push, in order to maximize its opportunities, and continue its expansion. And clearly, there is a level of optimism for the app, with the funding round valuing the platform at a whopping $700 million.
The latest funding round, Bluesky’s third funding drive, will see it add cash to invest in its growing potential. Bluesky raised $15 million Series A fundraising in October last year, which added to $8 million in seed funding that it announced in July 2023.
Prior to that, Bluesky had been funded by Twitter, and previous CEO Jack Dorsey, who originally launched Bluesky as a decentralized Twitter alternative.
Conceptually, Bluesky was designed to be a more open and transparent version of what Twitter had become, putting more control into the hands of users, and ideally enabling them to choose their own servers, algorithms, etc. Those elements are still in development, but with the reformation of Twitter (into X), and now the changes at Meta, Bluesky has become a more viable alternative for many more people, even aside from these decentralized elements.
The difficulty in selling decentralized social is that for the vast majority of regular users, they just want to download the app and log-in, with as little set-up work as possible. That extra account admin, which gives users more control, is what’s held back the growth of Mastodon, as the many confusing account options and processes have turned a lot of people away from signing up to the app.
You can also see this in the success of Threads, which is directly linked to your Instagram account. The simplicity of porting your profile from one app to another has been a big advantage for the app, and has highlighted that while decentralization, and freedom from big tech, does provide advantages, most people simply don’t care.
But maybe, if Bluesky can latch onto its moment, and merge decentralized elements into a more mainstream, streamlined approach, that could eventually provide a better way forward for social apps, and free users from the tech overlords who will seemingly bend their moral stances in favor of their own interests.
Though it’s not going to be easy.
Bluesky now has over 25 million users, though that growth has slowed significantly over the last month. And it’s still a far cry from Threads (300 million monthly actives) and X (570 million), while it has nowhere near the financial or labor resources of either app, with Bluesky still relying on funding rounds like this to keep moving.
As such, eventually, the Bluesky team will have to explore other revenue streams. And while it has floated the idea of add-on subscriptions, that’s unlikely to be enough to keep it solvent as it looks to expand.
Which likely means that it will, eventually, have to look to ads.
Maybe Bluesky can find an alternative, in utilizing decentralized servers to reduce costs, for example, or relying on user communities for content rules and management.
But realistically, if Bluesky is going to capitalize on its opportunity, it will likely need ad support as well, at some juncture.
But maybe, now is the time for an alternative that’s less influenced by outside forces.
