Bluesky, the decentralized social media initiative unveiled by Twitter in 2019, will be led by Jay Graber, a former startup founder and cryptocurrency dev
Bluesky, the decentralized social media initiative unveiled by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey at the end of 2019, has a project lead, according to a Monday announcement.
That separation became strategically salient during scrutiny of Twitter under Elon Musk, when Graber emphasized Bluesky’s independence; the project later reached an invite-only iOS beta before opening publicly and planning developer tools.
First-order effects
Jay Graber takes responsibility for directing Bluesky, giving Twitter’s decentralized-social initiative an identifiable executive lead rather than leaving it as a sponsor-led announcement.
Twitter and Jack Dorsey gain a dedicated operator for Bluesky’s technical and organizational development while the project remains connected to its original backer.
Second-order effects
A stable project lead supports Bluesky’s later transition into an independent public-benefit structure, reducing its operational dependence on Twitter as the parent company’s direction changed.
Bluesky’s independent positioning creates a distinct alternative for developers and users as it moves from beta access toward public availability and developer tools.
Third-order effects
Bluesky’s path from a Twitter initiative to an independent public-benefit company, followed by Dorsey’s board departure, points to decentralized networks seeking governance separate from the platforms that incubate them.
If that model holds, social-network competition will hinge less solely on a parent platform’s audience and more on whether independent governance and developer access can sustain a network.
The trend: Decentralized social projects are moving from platform-sponsored experiments toward independently governed networks with their own leadership and developer ecosystems.
I'm excited to announce that I'll be leading @bluesky, an initiative started by @Twitter to decentralize social media. Follow updates on Twitter and at https://blueskyweb.org/
Jay will be leading @bluesky! Another step towards decentralizing Twitter and social media. Now we can move much faster, and through code. https://twitter.com/...
I look forward to partnering closely with Twitter and other companies as we embark on this journey. It won't happen overnight, but we'll share our progress along the way.
Love to see it. For those who don't know, Jay briefly worked for @fightfortheftr back in the day :) Decentralization won't magically solve all of the legitimate concerns people have with the impacts of social media, but it can address a lot of them, and lead to a better world💗 ht…
Jay gets it. She gets decentralization and what we're all doing here. Blue sky isn't just Twitter and not everyone at Twitter is a Bitcoin maxi. https://twitter.com/...
The @bluesky initiative of @jack's is our best prospect for a next-generation, (re)distributed internet with value-added social and expert layers. I cannot wait to see what @arcalinea does. https://twitter.com/...
Welcome Jay! Interested in building the future of social media with us? Keep an eye out for opportunities to join the bluesky team at https://blueskyweb.org/ https://twitter.com/...
BlueSky, announced 18 months ago as a Twitter project, announces a new head and a...new project? Don't trust them. True decentralization is contrary to Twitter's business model. https://twitter.com/... | via https://startthis.org/?p=1502
Either disrupt or be disrupted Good to see Twitter trying to innovate by attempting decentralisation Though, I believe decentralised social will be completely different from the social of today and it would be created by some unknown motivated startup ✌️ https://twitter.com/...
Excited that @arcalinea is taking the lead to run @twitter's @bluesky project. Decentralized protocol based social media is a future we can build together. https://twitter.com/...
If you're interested in joining @bluesky, we have open roles on our website https://blueskyweb.org/. Or join the community on @Discord - we're excited to open up this discussion space to everyone. https://discord.com/...
Over the past year, I've been working closely with a group of thinkers and builders from the decentralized social ecosystem. We published an ecosystem review in January, and my next step will be hiring for the bluesky team.
I know a lot of people have thought that nothing has been happening with Twitter @bluesky initiative, but there has been a lot going on behind the scenes, and now they've announced that Jay will be leading the project, which is FANTASTIC news. https://twitter.com/...