Decentralized social network and rival of Twitter Blue sky finally allows users to view posts on their platform without logging in. People still need an invitation to create an account and start posting, but they can read posts through a link.
This move will also allow publishers to link to or embed Bluesky posts in blogs. Additionally, users can share them in individual or group chats.
Bluesky users can activate a setting via Settings > Moderation > Logout Visibility to prevent the social network from showing your posts to offline users. However, that limit only applies to the website and the Bluesky app itself. The company said other third-party clients may not honor the option and show your posts anyway. So if you don't want to share posts with a broader audience, you'll need to make your profile private.
Bluesky logout visibility settings apply to your own app and website Image credits: Blue sky
In a blog post, the company's CEO Jay Graber also unveiled a new butterfly emoji logo that replaces the generic logo of well… a blue sky with clouds.
“Early on, we noticed people organically using the butterfly emoji to indicate their Bluesky handles,” Graber said. “We loved it and adopted it as it spread. The butterfly speaks to our mission to transform social media into something new.”
This year, Bluesky launched its iOS and Android apps and reached 2 million users. The social network also launched different moderation tools after facing criticism over the type of content it allowed on the platform. While Bluesky is currently the only instance of the AT Protocol, it aims to federate “early next year.” That means we could see more Bluesky-compatible servers and instances with their own set of rules.
Bluesky's announcement comes at a time when Meta's Threads has begun experimenting with ActivityPub integration. Following Meta's announcement earlier this month, Instagram head Adam Mosseri and other friends from the Threads equipment have started making their accounts and posts visible on Mastodon and other supported apps.
