Bluesky, Moving on up from Twitter

 

by Pa Rock

Former Tweeter

I quit Twitter almost six months ago - November 9, 2022 - after more than thirteen years on the platform and somewhere north of 40,000 tweets,   It had taken up too much of my time over the years and was obviously an addiction, but it was one that I enjoyed.  I liked being able to post my own snappy (snarky) little comebacks to the musings and antics of celebrities and politicians.  It made me feel that I was an active part of something that was far bigger than just myself.

But I did not care for Elon Musk, the self-absorbed billionaire who was buying Twitter, and quitting was my way of protesting his purchase as well as all of the future damage that I was sure he would bring to the social media company.   And I was right.  Musk, who is one of those people who believes he is the smartest person in the room, took over the day-to-day management of the company and quickly started making changes that altered the nature of the enterprise:  cutting staff, selling the celebrity blue checkmarks, and inviting the fascist elements who had been banned from the platform back on. 

 Musk also used his position to censor content and to impugn entities that had attracted his personal animosity.    As an example, he recently labeled National Public Radio (NPR) as "state-affiliated media," a designation formerly used with propaganda outlets of autocratic countries like Russia and China.  NPR was not amused and consequently stopped using the social media company.

Part of my lingering consternation with leaving Twitter was that there is no similar outlet on which to easily and quickly vent my occasional frustrations.  Twitter was convenient and very easy to access and use.  I signed onto a couple of other social media outlets, but never actually used any of them.

Then this morning while listening to my favorite state-affiliated media, National Public Radio, I heard a story about a new service that they described as very similar to Twitter and that is currently in the process of being tested and slowly emerging into the market.  The service, called Bluesky, began being developed in 2019 by Jack Dorsey, the founder, developer, and former CEO of Twitter, and supposedly looks and operates very much like the original Twitter, but has more direct control by users.  It is currently working in a Beta (test) format with a limited number of users.

But Bluesky is ramping-up and attracting a first wave of celebrity users who are entering through direct invitations from the company, and over the past few days it  has ginned-up a strong public relations news release that is promoting the company  across the media landscape.

While Elon is still offending celebrities, politicians, and other big shots as he squirrels around with trying to remake Twitter into his own greedy and vindictive image, Bluesky is cheerfully inviting many of those same people to come on over and give their friendlier version of Twitter a try.  As the company's PR blitz poitnts out, Alexandria Occasio Cortez and Chrissy Teigen have made the switch, and they seem to like it.

And for those lesser mortals, like this humble typist, who probably won't be "invited in" any time soon, a sign-up waiting list is available on the company's website where already over a million people are cooling their heels as they await their turn to join Bluesky.    It is the simplest application ever - all you have to do is type in your email address.

Pa Rock is already on the list and patiently waiting for his turn to move on up from Twitter. Brighter days and blue skies are in our future!