Bluesky wants you to stop calling it a Twitter alternative
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In an interview with The Independent, Bluesky’s chief operating officer says the platform is a different product entirely from Elon Musk’s X. They are referring, of course, to Bluesky. But although their fortunes are intertwined, Bluesky’s chief operating officer, Rose Wang, bristles at the constant comparisons.
![[Rose Wang, Bluesky’s COO, says ‘underlying discontent’ with other social media platforms is growing the platform.]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/16/21/Bluesky-COO-Rose-Wang-2.jpg)
“People just think that we’re some sort of Twitter alternative, but we’re very much not,” she tells The Independent. “It’d be like calling 1950s TV the same thing as YouTube.”. For an increasing number of users, though, there is one crucial difference: Bluesky is not run by a megalomaniac billionaire intent on bending the world to his will.
![[Elon Musk jumps on the stage as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa.]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/05/08/YE-Top_Photos-US-Photo_Gallery_78062.jpg)
Wang believes the reason that Bluesky is rising while others are stalling comes down to control. Bluesky doesn’t have an overriding algorithm that controls what people see. If X is the town square, where the loudest voices drown out everyone else, then Bluesky is a party that you have chosen to attend with guests similar to you.
Users can create lists of people to follow based on subject or interest, block accounts and certain types of posts, and adopt custom timeline filters. All of these controls are aimed at creating a more social, less toxic, environment. “It’s actually lending itself to much more pro-social behavior,” Wang says. “We’re used to being trapped in one algorithm controlled by a small group of people. That’s no longer the case, and our users have built over 50,000 different feeds, like different cat feeds or Taylor Swift feeds, or F1 feeds. And these feeds basically provide cozier corners for people with other similar interests to meet each other.”.
