Social media platform Bluesky finally implements federation

Federated social network Bluesky is now officially...federated! Decentralization has been planned since its announcement in 2019, but since its public--albeit invite-based--launch last year, Bluesky has had only one server for its users to sign up on.

That's all different now. Users can officially sign up for the platform via federated, third-party servers.

"When you register on Bluesky, by default we'll suggest that Bluesky will store your data," the Bluesky team writes in a recent blog post. "But if you'd like to let another company store it, or even store it yourself, you can do that."

Not only that, but users aren't locked into a server once they sign up either. Changing servers should be fairly easy, and your followers shouldn't even notice.

"You'll also be able to change your mind at any point, moving your data to another provider without losing any of your existing posts, likes, or follows," the Bluesky team continues. "From your followers' perspective, your profile is always available at your handle—no matter where your information is actually stored, or how many times it has been moved."

There are many benefits and downsides to federated social platforms. We've seen this from other offerings like Mastodon and Pixelfed. What Bluesky hopes to provide compared to its competition is a more seamless cross-server experience thanks to its bespoke federation protocol: AT Protocol.

Whereas migrating accounts and even interacting with cross-server content on the aforementioned platforms can leave users a bit wanting in many cases, Bluesky's migration process appears to be more complete. No matter what server your account is on, it will not affect what content you see.

The downside to this is community moderation, which is one of the strengths of how Mastodon and Pixelfed manage federation. Server admins on these and other Activity Pub platforms have power over what content their server users do or don't interact with. For many, this is an ideal approach to content moderation, and it is not a feature Bluesky's federated servers will have.

"[Server] choice doesn’t affect what content you see," the Blueksy team writes. "Servers are only one piece of the protocol — when you browse Bluesky, you see posts that are pulled together from many different servers. This is why you can change your server after signing up without losing your username, friends, or posts."

If you are interested in hosting your own Bluesky server, you'll need a bit of "technical know-how" for the time being, but Bluesky assure this process will get easier as time goes on. You can read more at Bluesky's official blog post.