Elon Musk’s X allows you to write long-form content on the platform through the Articles feature, but only if you are a paid subscriber or business. Decentralized social networking startup Bluesky has a different idea.
On Thursday, Bluesky rolling release a new version of its app that integrates with Standard.sitea community project to create long-form content on the same underlying protocol that powers Bluesky.
This means that Bluesky users can now explore content beyond the microblogs or short posts that Bluesky is known for. Instead, they can read articles, blog posts, and newsletters published throughout the wider network of applications supported by the AT protocol, known as “Atmosphere.” This includes sites like Brochure, pctand Imprintwhich is aimed at independent authors and publishers who want to own their content and expand their distribution on the open web.
These articles will initially appear as dynamic link cards — essentially, an enhanced preview. Bluesky says this is just a first step and the functionality will improve over time.
This marks the second expansion of Bluesky’s capabilities based on other projects built by community members. In February, a startup called Germ became the first private messaging service that could be launched directly from Bluesky’s app, thanks to a similar integration.
By building the technology infrastructure alongside the social client application, Bluesky is able to leverage the other applications and services that also run on the AT Protocol. This isn’t a bad deal for third parties either, as they can leverage the distribution provided by Bluesky’s network some 44.5 million registered users.
The extension to long-form content follows closely behind WordPress communication earlier this month of its own plugin that allows any WordPress site to publish to Atmosphere. (The plug-in joins another WordPress already offering publishing to open social services powered by a different protocol, ActivityPub, like Mastodon.)
Like Bluesky, the WordPress integration was based on Standard.site dictionary entries, which essentially means that your blog becomes data in the AT Protocol itself, rather than just a link you share in an app like Bluesky. Because of this, each application compatible with the AT Protocol could allow its users to read WordPress blog posts.
With this integration now coming to Bluesky, you can see more of the startup’s vision of the open social web—where data is open and freely distributed, accessible by any client, and where users can move between Personal Data Servers (PDS) at will. (Although Bluesky was the first PDS, there are now others to choose from, including those offered by Eurosky, Blacksky, Northskyand others.)
This is certainly different from X’s approach to content, long-form or otherwise, which remains muted in its implementation and can only be embedded elsewhere on the web.
However, the advantage X offers in terms of distribution is its 550 million monthly active users — something Bluesky’s open social rival may never be able to beat.
The updated version of Bluesky (v1.122) also includes a handful of other features, from the company famousincluding a revamped GIF picker and photo viewer, expanded account-level tag moderation, and a fix for a bug that implicitly rejected some iOS video uploads.
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