After its public introduction earlier last month, Bluesky, a rival to X, Threads, Mastodon, and others, is now available for federation. Anyone may now operate a server on Bluesky’s network to host data, create accounts, and establish rules. This decentralized social networking architecture is similar to Mastodon’s, but Bluesky employs a distinct protocol, keeping the two networks separate for now.
Federation is growing due to consumer demand for more control over their personal data, which increased after billionaire Elon Musk bought Twitter, rebranded it to X, and made it an “everything app” focused on payments, creators, video shows, AI, and lax moderation. Former Twitter users sought viable alternatives like Mastodon and Bluesky.
As a Jack Dorsey-funded initiative, Bluesky was particularly intriguing. Since spinning off, it has raised capital like a startup.
An official tracker reports over 5 million registered users since the firm released it to the public last month after a protracted private test. With federation, self-hosters might set up their own server to meet their own or a community’s requirements, growing the network. An instance may transmit and receive postings from other instances, like Bluesky, block others, and create its own moderation rules.
This may benefit individuals who wanted to make Bluesky a safer place to engage, unlike Twitter or X, yet were disappointed by its contentious moderating judgments.
Bluesky employs the AT Protocol, a newer social networking protocol, whereas Mastodon and many other networks use ActivityPub. Instagram is using the W3C-endorsed standard for its X competitor threads.
In a statement today, Bluesky notes the contrast between Mastodon and it.
Bluesky users may engage in the global discourse instead of the one determined by their community since personalized feeds and composable moderation let them tailor their experience. The latter implies server-independent moderation. While server owners may implement content regulations, communities can employ blocklists and, eventually, independent moderating services to add levels of control. Users’ own moderating tools will reduce server operators’ pressure to ban other servers (defederate) due to their content.
Bluesky also hopes to make account portability simpler than Mastodon, letting users switch servers without losing followers or postings.
Hosting your own service requires technical knowledge. To get started, check out Bluesky’s developer blog, PDS repo on GitHub, and PDS Administrators’ Discord. Federation will first be available to smaller server operators.
Bluesky’s blog post states, “There are some guardrails in place to ensure we can keep the network running smoothly for everyone in the ecosystem.” “After this initial phase, we’ll open up federation to people running larger servers with many users,” it continues.
After alternatives are created, Bluesky will encourage its service to new customers, but they may switch at any time without losing their data.
Bluesky initiates federation, allowing anyone to operate their own server.
