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Bluesky, a decentralized social network, and Twitter competitor, now allows users to view posts without logging in, though an invite is still required to create an account. Users can share posts via links, and publishers can embed Bluesky posts in blogs.

Image Credits: Bluesky

Bluesky, a decentralized social network, and Twitter competitor, has finally enabled users to view posts on its platform without logging in. People still require an invite to create an account and begin posting, but they can read posts via a link.

This change will also allow publishers to link to or embed Bluesky posts in their blogs. Users can also share them in private or group chats.

Bluesky users can disable the social network from showing their posts to logged-out users by going to Settings > Moderation > Logged-out visibility. However, this restriction only applies to Bluesky’s website and app. According to the company, other third-party clients may disregard the toggle and continue to display your posts. If you do not want to share posts with a wider audience, you must make your profile private.

Bluesky’s logged out visibility settings applies to its own app and website. Image Credits: Bluesky

The company’s CEO, Jay Graber, also unveiled a new butterfly emoji logo in a blog post, replacing the generic logo of, well, a blue sky with clouds.

“Early on, we noticed that people were organically using the butterfly emoji 🦋 to indicate their Bluesky handles,” Graber told me. “We fell in love with it and adopted it as it spread.” The butterfly represents our mission to transform social media into something new.”

Bluesky reached 2 million users this year after launching iOS and Android apps. Following criticism about the type of content allowed on the platform, the social network also launched various moderation tools. Bluesky is currently the only instance on the AT Protocol, but it plans to join federation “early next year.” That means we may see more Bluesky-compatible servers and instances with their own set of rules.

Bluesky’s announcement comes as Meta’s Threads is experimenting with Activity Pub integration. Following Meta’s announcement earlier this month, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri and other Threads team members have begun making their accounts and posts visible on Mastodon and other compatible apps.