• by Colin Kirkland , December 27, 2023

Days after Bluesky introduced a new logo (a butterfly reminiscent of the Twitter bird) and allowing anyone without an account to see posts, the two-year-old decentralized microblogging app is inching its user experience closer to X with a new in-app video and music player for links and a “hide post” feature.

Bluesky’s new video and music player allows embedded links from YouTube, SoundCloud, Spotify and Twitch, similar to X, the app formerly known as Twitter. However, on Bluesky songs and videos won’t autoplay when a user scrolls over them like they do on X. Users must decide to listen and view with a click or tap.

The “hide post” feature allows users to remove posts from their feeds and put them “behind a mask if you visit it directly,” the company says, adding that it has also corrected multiple issues regarding mute and blocked account listings as well as the users’ home screens appearing empty.

As one of the last remaining Twitter-competitors that launched when Elon Musk bought out Twitter and then rebranded it as X, Bluesky is attempting to attract users who don’t agree with Musk’s ongoing Twitter facelift by providing them with features they were once familiar with.

Championed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, Bluesky is actually growing at a rapid rate; the platform attracted over 2.5 million users since 2021, despite being invite-only. Over the past year, people have especially flocked to the decentralized app when Musk causes particular controversies on X. 

Many users also share a communal interest in an interoperable social media future, which moves away from the model we have now –– operating within closed walls run by proprietary companies –– and toward a free and open space where users have more control over their online experience.

In fact, Bluesky is aiming for “federation” in early 2024 via opening up the company’s Authenticated Transfer protocol. This would allow users to pick which servers to join while being able to move their accounts between other platforms, similar to Mastodon, the leading decentralized X-alternative app.