Bluesky, a social media platform positioned as a competitor to Twitter, reported a significant increase in traffic on Saturday. This surge in activity came in response to Elon Musk, Twitter’s executive chairman and CTO, announcing temporary limitations on the number of posts users can read per day. Musk took to Twitter to explain that these limitations were necessary due to “extreme levels of data scraping” and “system manipulation.” Verified accounts, unverified accounts, and new unverified accounts will all be subject to these restrictions.
Throughout Saturday, Musk adjusted the limits multiple times. At one point, he declared that verified accounts could view up to 10,000 posts daily, while unverified accounts were limited to 1,000 posts and new unverified accounts to 500 posts. Users have reported encountering an “Rate limit exceeded” error message once they reach their allocated number of posts.
As a result of these limitations, many users have turned to Bluesky, a text-based social media site that is still in its invite-only beta phase. Bluesky, which is backed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, experienced some performance issues due to the influx of users. In a post on Saturday, the company acknowledged that its systems were facing degraded performance as a result of the record-high traffic. To address these issues, Bluesky temporarily suspended sign-ups. However, sign-ups were resumed late on Sunday.
When CNBC reached out for comment, Twitter responded with an automated response, while Bluesky did not provide an immediate response.
Bluesky was initially developed within Twitter in 2019 when Dorsey served as CEO. The platform operates on the AT Protocol, a decentralized networking technology that has the potential to power future social apps. This technology allows users to maintain their identities across multiple platforms.
In February 2022, the Bluesky project members established the Bluesky Public Benefit LLC, with Jay Graber assuming the role of CEO and Dorsey serving as one of the founding board members. In April 2022, the company announced on Twitter that it secured $13 million in funding to support research and development efforts and ensure its freedom and independence.
According to its website, Bluesky had surpassed 50,000 users by the end of April this year.
However, Bluesky is not the only emerging competitor to Twitter. The decentralized messaging app Mastodon gained significant attention in November, and Meta, a social media giant, confirmed its exploration of a standalone decentralized social network for text updates. In fact, The Verge reported on Saturday that Meta’s Twitter competitor, named Threads, briefly appeared in the Google Play store, indicating that Meta may be preparing for its launch.
Leave a Reply