Bluesky vs. Nostr? Jack Dorsey Says Many Decentralized Social Platforms a ‘Good Thing’

Jack Dorsey chimed in on the recent rise of decentralized social media platform Bluesky on Thursday, saying that his own presence isn’t all that important even though he was a major force behind the platform’s creation. And overall, he’s keen on seeing many different such platforms emerge and thrive.

The former Twitter CEO helped incubate Bluesky and its AT Protocol internally at the social media giant starting in 2019, and the project later spun off as a separate organization. Dorsey was on the board of Bluesky when it was incorporated as a public benefit LLC in 2021.

Lately, Dorsey’s participation has been largely divided between two decentralized Twitter alternatives: Bluesky and Nostr. Dorsey is a frequent user of Nostr and donated 14 Bitcoin (about $245,000 worth at the time) last year to help fund the open-source protocol’s development.

When a software developer expressed mixed feelings on Bluesky regarding Dorsey’s lack of presence, pointing out that he’s a founder and a board member, Dorsey said that his involvement is limited—and that his presence across multiple decentralized social media platforms shouldn’t be viewed as a negative.

“All I made happen was [to] get a team focused on the idea,” he wrote on Bluesky. “There will be many implementations of the same idea, and that’s a good thing.”

In the wake of Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter last year, some social media users have gone looking for alternatives as Musk makes sweeping changes to the platform—whether that’s purging legacy forms of user verification or sending thousands of employees packing in waves of layoffs.

In terms of which platform has the best shot at taking over Twitter’s mantle, Dorsey’s participation could be viewed as an indicator of potential success, as the comparatively smaller services try to cultivate a healthy user base.

On Bluesky, one user asked Dorsey whether he preferred Nostr over Bluesky, welcoming him back at the same time. And in response, Dorsey said that his preference isn’t all that important, urging people to try both platforms.

“It doesn’t matter what I think. What matters is what you find valuable,” he said. “Try both for yourself and see.”