By James Davis
Many Web3 players have been onboarding on decentralized social media platform Bluesky recently. They view it as a potential competitor of Elon Musk’s Twitter. Notable names that have already set up accounts on Bluesky include yoots and DeGods founder Rohun Vora, Rug Radio CEO Farokh Sarmad, and Deadfellaz NFT project creator Betty.
Sarmad’s first post on Bluesky stated that he was excited about the decentralization of media and was confident the platform would soon see mass adoption.
Who Else is on Bluesky?
Other Web3 players using Bluesky include digital artists Patrick Amadon, Vinnie Hager, Pindar Van Arman, Emily Lazar, and Ryan Wilson. On Wednesday, Hager wrote on his Twitter handle that he was about to fill Bluesky with his artworks. The following day, he shared on the decentralized platform one of his pieces of art which featured a New York City subway map.
Hager is just one of the many artists posting their art on Bluesky, and it seems like NFT Now founder Matt Medved is enjoying the experience on the platform. He wrote that his feed was full of amazing art, calling Bluesky ‘Heaven.’ Medved once said that he never buys NFTs with the expectation of future price appreciation. Instead, he collects digital art to support artists.
It is worth highlighting that none of these Web3 players have announced abandoning Twitter, which evidently has a bigger user base than Bluesky. While Bluesky’s user count is below a million, Twitter sees over five hundred million monthly users.
The Brains Behind Bluesky
So who’s behind Bluesky? The social media platform was founded by Twitter ex-CEO Jack Dorsey in 2019. During its inception, Dorsey said the goal was to develop a decentralized social media app that could be adopted by Twitter itself in the future. Bluesky has so far raised over $12.5 million in funding.
Before Bluesky, Twitter users who wanted a decentralized alternative would turn to Mastodon. However, the platform failed to gain traction as many complained of poor user experience. But with Bluesky being a direct clone of Twitter, offering a similar user experience, and having dedicated apps for Android and iOS devices, the platform has the potential to succeed.