It’s deeply fun and energizing to be back in an operating role. The team has been very welcoming and impressive. I spent my first week meeting lots of people and soaking up information, both from the Bluesky team and the Bluesky user base (while I don’t post a lot, I do read a ton every day). I’ve been learning about several internal projects that I can’t wait for us to ship. Lots of good stuff ahead for both Bluesky app users and AT Proto developers.
Some observations:
Lots of people seem curious about the size of the Bluesky team. It’s 42 people, and that’s up significantly from just a few months ago. Those numbers surprise many. Yes, this is a small team that has accomplished a lot.
People ask if Bluesky is mostly about liberal politics. It’s not. There’s a strong, active cohort of people who love to talk about politics, but political posts are less than 10% of the network. People talk about every conceivable topic. Other than politics, top topics are music, entertainment, sports, and science.
I’ve been working with Jay for the last couple of years, and I’ve never seen her as happy as in her first week as CIO. She’s diving into some big new ideas, and I can’t wait for you all to see what’s next.
Many messages I’ve gotten from the Bluesky community were along the lines of, “Welcome, this is a great place, please don’t mess it up.” The subtext is that I was brought in to turn things around in some dramatic way. I was not. I like our strategy, and we will continue to deliver on it.
Quite a few people wondered if my arrival means that we will start putting ads on the network. We’re not. We are very actively thinking about how we will make money, but ads are near the bottom of the idea list.
In diving into the makings of Bluesky, I noticed that the AT Protocol that underpins Bluesky feels related to the GPL license that underpins WordPress. Both are “commitment devices”, one technical, the other legal, to ensure that ecosystem participation remains open.
When people tell me, “I love Bluesky, and I’m glad you’re involved,” I sometimes answer, “I love it too—and did you know that Bluesky is one app of many in a network called the Atmosphere?” This has gotten me 100% blank stares. But yes, it’s true. There are lots of other apps in the Atmosphere. Expect me to talk a lot more about that in the coming weeks and months.
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