Bluesky lets users customize their feeds and choose how content is moderated.
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- Also Known As:
- Bluesky Public Benefit LLC
Bluesky is a social media app where users post short messages of up to 300 characters, known as microblogging (similar to a tweet). The app is operated by Bluesky Social PBC, a public benefit corporation based in Seattle.
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Bluesky Social was incorporated as an independent company in 2021 and reorganized as Bluesky Public Benefit LLC the following year. It initially maintained a close relationship with Twitter, but those ties ended after Elon Musk acquired the company in 2022 and before Twitter was renamed X in 2023. Bluesky Social converted to a public benefit corporation in 2023.
Bluesky's origins as a Twitter side project
Bluesky began in 2019 as a project within Twitter, led by then-CEO Jack Dorsey , to develop an open social media protocol that would give users more control over how their content was shared and moderated.
Twitter provided the initial funding for Bluesky, and Dorsey chose Graber, a software engineer, to lead the project. The plan was for Twitter to eventually adopt the open protocol that Bluesky was developing, allowing it to operate alongside other social media services using the same technology. After Twitter ended its relationship with Bluesky, the company began building its own social media app to drive adoption of the AT Protocol.
The AT Protocol: Bluesky's open-source foundation
Bluesky is built on the AT Protocol, an open-source framework designed to support decentralized social media networks. The protocol allows different networks to work together, giving users control over how their content is shared and moderated.
The AT Protocol allows users to move their accounts among servers without losing their usernames, posts, or connections.
Users can also customize their feeds by combining posts from friends, creating personalized streams, and setting rules for how content is moderated. These features are intended to give users more control over how they interact online.
The skinny on microblogging
Microblogging combines the brevity of a tweet with the personal touch of a blog post. It lets users share short updates, photos, links, or videos—typically just a few sentences or a single image or clip—on popular sites such as X, Instagram, Tumblr, and Bluesky. Unlike traditional blogging, which often involves detailed, lengthy posts, microblogging thrives on quick, real-time interactions.
Bluesky uses algorithmic feeds, but users have considerable control over what they see. They can choose among custom feeds and adjust moderation settings to filter content and tailor the service to their interests.
Bluesky's user base began growing in 2023 as changes at Twitter, including its renaming as X, spurred interest in alternative social networks. Bluesky attracted users with its emphasis on open discussion and greater control over how content is moderated.
Bluesky steadily gained users in 2024, with sign-ups accelerating during the summer and fall. Observers attributed the surge to dissatisfaction with changes at X and concerns about content moderation.
By the end of October, Bluesky's user base had more than doubled, growing to more than 13 million from 6 million in August. The U.S. presidential election in November sparked a sharper surge, with an additional 2.5 million users joining in a week. Growth continued in 2025 and 2026, although at a slower pace. Bluesky had more than 44 million registered users by May 2026, up from about 25 million in December 2024.
Bluesky's business structure and ownership
What is a public benefit corporation?
A public benefit corporation (PBC) is a for-profit corporation that has a stated public benefit as part of its legal purpose. Unlike a traditional corporation, a PBC must consider that purpose and the interests of other stakeholders alongside the financial interests of shareholders.
Bluesky Social is organized as a PBC. Its mission is to develop technologies for open and decentralized public conversation, including the AT Protocol that underlies its social network.
Bluesky Social is privately held. Its shareholders include company founder and former CEO Jay Graber, employees, and outside investors, although the company hasn't disclosed its ownership breakdown.
Graber stepped down as CEO in March 2026 and became chief innovation officer. Toni Schneider, founding CEO of Automattic, the company behind WordPress, initially succeeded her on an interim basis and became Bluesky Social's permanent CEO in July.
Bluesky Social's board of directors includes Graber; Jeremie Miller, the inventor of Jabber; Mike Masnick, whose paper “Protocols, Not Platforms,” helped inspire the Bluesky project; and Kinjal Shah, a general partner at venture capital firm Blockchain Capital. Bluesky Social's original board also included Dorsey, who stepped down in May 2024.
Bluesky funding milestones
After ending its agreement with Twitter in 2022, Bluesky Social raised $8 million the next year in seed funding. The funding round was led by venture capital firm Neo, with support from several angel investors.
In October 2024, Bluesky Social raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Blockchain Capital. A $100 million Series B round led by Bain Capital Crypto followed in April 2025, although the company didn't report the funding until March 2026. Other investors included Alumni Ventures, Anthos Capital, Bloomberg Beta, the Knight Foundation, and True Ventures. The company didn't disclose its valuation.
Despite funding from cryptocurrency-focused investors, Bluesky Social has said it doesn't intend to become a blockchain project or use cryptocurrency tokens, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), or similar technologies to generate revenue.
This article was most recently revised and updated by Miranda Marquit
