Twitter alternative Bluesky launches on Android

Jack Dorsey's backed BlueSky is pitching a future where users will be able to choose from a "marketplace of algorithms" as opposed to a single "master algorithm" employed by various social media giants like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. (Image: Reuters)

Bluesky, a social media alterative to Twitter, has launched on Google's Play Store on Android. The app is still considered to be in development and access is restricted to invite codes.

The Jack Dorsey-backed platform launched on Apple's iOS App Store in February this year, and the former Twitter CEO's app promises a decentralised social network.

Also Read | Musk ‘personally’ paying for LeBron, Shatner & King Twitter's blue checks

As TechCrunch reports, Bluesky has opted to build its own protocol for decentralisation called AT, and will not make use of ActivityPub, the protocol used by other Twitter alternatives like Mastodon.

In its current incarnation, Bluesky is a watered-down version of Twitter, without any of the features that are considered basic on the microblogging platform like - quoting tweets, hashtags or direct messages.

It is also pitching a future where users will be able to choose from a "marketplace of algorithms" as opposed to a single "master algorithm" employed by various social media giants like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

An algorithm on social media controls what a user sees on their timeline or feed. It models your recommendations based on the content you search for and engage with. Bluesky is proposing that it will put this choice in the hands of the user by allowing them to pick from multiple algorithms.

Also Read | Twitter removes blue checkmarks from MeitY, MIB accounts & several other verified users

It will also design third-party APIs that allow for feed generation, letting developers publish their own algorithms on the platform, giving even more choice to users.

"For users, the ability to customize their feed will give them back control of their most valuable resource: their attention", wrote Bluesky in a post on their website.