“Bluesky: The Invitation-Only Decentralized SNS – A Comparison with Twitter”

An invitation-only decentralized SNS “Bluesky” has become a hot topic recently.

The UI (user interface) is almost “Twitter”, but what can you do with this “Bluesky” and what can you not do? Seeing is believing, so I tried touching it first.

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*Note: The content posted in this article was researched from May 10 to 14, 2023. Please consider this as a reference only, as there is a high possibility that the specifications will change in the future.

■ What is Bluesky?

“Bluesky” is a project launched by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. Originally started as a Twitter project, there is a history that it became independent later.

By the way, one of its characteristics is that Twitter is centralized, while Bluesky has a “decentralized” system in which the internal mechanism is distributed and operated. Furthermore, the original purpose of Bluesky is not to operate SNS, but to create a “protocol” that constitutes its mechanism. After that, I would like to explain in detail, but … the purpose of this article is to compare Twitter and Bluesky, so I will skip overly complicated explanations.

Currently, it is an invitation system, and in order to participate, you can only register on the waiting list and receive an invitation from the management side, or you can only receive an invitation from someone who is already a user. As far as the invitation system is concerned, it is a mechanism similar to the SNS “Mixi” and the voice SNS “Clubhouse” a long time ago.

However, there is no doubt that “Bluesky” is the most promising service for users dissatisfied with Elon Musk as a post “Twitter”. Therefore, it looks almost like “Twitter”, and you can hardly tell the difference. However, there are subtle differences.

For example, the left navigation may have slightly different button content. Also, at present, only the “app version” is released and there is no “web version”.

■ Difference between Bluesky and Twitter “Timeline”

Below is an image of the timeline. On Twitter on the left side, “Recommended / Following” is displayed, while “Bluesky” seems to be reversed to “Following (following) / What’s Hot (recommended)”.

By the way, the corresponding language of “Bluesky” seems to be only English yet. However, you can choose the languages ​​of your account that appear in your What’s Hot feed (recommended) in the “Content Languages” setting. If you select “Japanese” here, other people’s posts written in Japanese will appear preferentially.

■ The difference between Bluesky and Twitter “The other party’s profile”

The following fields are available for other people’s profiles:

▼ Twitter (smartphone version screen)
don’t show retweets
Show topic
Add or remove from list
show list
Share @~ (other party’s ID)
Mute @~ (other party’s ID)
Block @~ (other party’s ID)
Report @~ (other party’s ID)

▼Bluesky
Share (Share/You can copy the other person’s page or share it by email or other apps)
Add to Lists
Mute Account (switches to “Unmute Account” for canceling when mute/set)
Block Account (switches to “Unblock Account” for unlocking when blocked/set)
Report Account
*Detailed specifications cannot be confirmed due to functions added during article preparation.

It’s almost the same feeling, but the number of menus that can be set is slightly different. On Twitter, there are detailed settings such as “Do not display retweets” and “Show topics”, but Bluesky’s account is quite simple with “Share, Mute, Block, Report”. Will this feature be added in the future?

When blocked, banners and icons are displayed as they are on Twitter, but Bluesky was designed to apply a “blur filter”.

■ Differences between Bluesky and Twitter “Settings”

When I checked the settings, Twitter has many settings such as “account” and “privacy and safety”, but Bluesky is quite lonely.

It is a level that you can block, check Mute Account, and check Block Account. The “Content Languages” I mentioned earlier are also here.

■ Differences between Bluesky and Twitter “Hashtags” cannot be used

Here you will find even greater differences. “Hashtags” are often used on Twitter, but actually they cannot be used on Bluesky. It’s not linked, it’s just displayed as a string. disappointing.

■ Differences between Bluesky and Twitter “Mentions” can be used

If hashtags can’t be used, can mentions be used? ? Don’t worry, you can use mentions. If you can’t use mentions, there’s no utility value as an SNS.

■ There is no difference between Bluesky and Twitter “DM”

Also, DM is not implemented in Bluesky at the moment. However, DM is a function that can be used on any SNS, so it is expected that it will be implemented eventually.

■ The strongest spoofing measures! ? Bluesky allows you to set your own “custom domain” for your ID

One of the features of Bluesky is “Assign an ID to your custom domainIt is possible. A domain is an address such as “~.jp” or “.com”.

For example, “Otakuma Keizai Shimbun” owns the domain “otakuma.net”, socan be assigned to an IDIt is.

A domain is a basic, one-of-a-kind existence.i.e. thisThe fact that the domain is set in the ID is proof that it is the person or officialIt becomes.

On Twitter, the authentication badge was positioned as such, but now anyone who joins TwitterBlue and is approved can acquire it, and the role of “identity proof” can no longer be fulfilled.

On the other hand, the “domain system” adopted by Bluesky can be proved more reliably as proof of identity.

because,Only the domain administrator (contractor) can register on the Bluesky setting screenIt’s from

Normally, when you get an ID normally, it will be “○○○.bsky.social”, and you can set only the “○○○” part freely. However, in the case of common “spoofing”, it is also possible to skillfully use upper and lower case letters. In order to avoid it, it is the strongest countermeasure to obtain a domain personally and set it.

■ Try setting “Domain” as “Bludesky ID”

“Otakuma Keizai Shimbun” has acquired the domain of “otakuma.net” as “Sakura Internet”. From the next, we will briefly introduce how to set up “Sakura Internet”.

First, open the settings screen, tap “Change my handle”, and tap the “I have my own domain” link.

Then, the information to be registered on the domain management screen (add record) is displayed. Set and copy this as appropriate, confirm that additional settings have been made, and tap “Verify DNS Record”.

Register the information displayed on your own domain management screen. If the authentication goes well, you will be able to log in with your domain name next time.

[Hereafter, the setting screen on the Sakura Internet side]

(1) Select the domain you want to set for your Blusky ID

(2) Set the information displayed on the Bluesky screen as it is

(3) OK if registered

This completes the settings. So, although some knowledge is required, you can display only one Blusky ID in the world. This is a particularly useful feature for businesses that require formality. I don’t know what to do if Twitter adopts this…

■ Can Bluesky become a post-Twitter? ?

As for whether Bluesky can become a post-Twitter, it may be difficult because I can’t help but feel that it still lacks functions.

However, even while writing this article, the specifications were steadily changing, and there were situations where I had to retake about two captures along the way.

And, as a big difference from Twitter, it is supposed to be a “distributed SNS protocol”, but at the moment it seems that users are not in a situation where they can really receive its benefits. If this is the case, I have a feeling that it will be said that “Twitter is fine”.

However, while Twitter is frequently down and unusable in many cases, the possibility that the decentralized “Bluesky” will show its power and grow into a Twitter rival is not zero.

However… at the moment it’s “invitation only” & “app only”, so it seems that the threshold is still high to switch. Will Bluesky be able to wrest supremacy from Twitter?

BlueSky

*Regarding general users who are not mosaicked: In order to prioritize clarity, the images on the timeline are not mosaicked. Users who do not have mosaics are contacted in advance and permission is obtained.

(Tama-chan)