Democratic lawmakers are having a blast on 'Bluesky,' the latest alternative to Twitter

• Some Democratic lawmakers have begun posting on "Bluesky," the latest alternative to Twitter.
• AOC has said the invite-only platform, which has roughly 60,000 users, "feels safer and more fun."

As Elon Musk's Twitter takeover continues to roil the long-beloved platform in new and unforeseen ways, a handful of prominent figures have taken to posting on a new invite-only social media platform called "Bluesky."

Though "posting" may not be the right word: some users are referring to their posts as "skeets," a portmanteau of "sky" and "tweets."

"The Bluesky community, like a lot of online communities, has a unique terminology," said Rep. Robert Garcia of California in a phone interview this week with Insider. "I like 'skeets.' I think it's amusing."

Garcia is one of a handful of Democratic lawmakers who are active on Bluesky. Others include Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida, Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, and Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon.

All of them, by any indication, are having a blast.

Wyden's hosted an "ask me anything." Ocasio-Cortez is posting with a frequency not seen since 2018. Garcia is announcing bills and workshopping names for them, all without the prying eyes of his staff. Schatz continues to weigh in on issues of public import, much like he does on Twitter — but he's having more fun while doing it.

"I've laughed more at posts on this platform in the last couple of hours than on the other one in the last couple of months," wrote Schatz in one of his first "skeets" on Bluesky. "I will try very hard not to ruin the vibe."

(Approached by Insider at the Capitol this week, Schatz declared he had "zero interest" in discussing his social media use because he's "here to make policy.")

Wyden, for his part, framed his adoption of the platform as part of his long-standing interest in technology, stressing that he's "just starting out" on the platform and doesn't necessarily like it more or less than Twitter. But as he rode a Senate subway car toward the Capitol on Thursday, he spoke about Bluesky with a palpable degree of wonderment.

"Yesterday was my birthday. And so what did the Bluesky people want? They wanted a picture of me with the cake," he said.

"Everybody kind of asks you interesting questions," he continued, recounting the "ask me anything" he hosted. "I was getting asked about all my personal preferences."

'I haven't written a tweet in days'

As of Friday, Bluesky has a little more than 60,000 users, and requires an invite code to get in. But don't hold your breath — the waitlist has at least 1.9 million people on it, according to a company spokeswoman.

That's allowed the platform to grow slowly, developing its own culture in the process. And for the Democratic lawmakers who use the platform, it's a place that feels safer and more gentle than Twitter.

"The invite tree accountability makes people more judicious about bringing in solid people," wrote Ocasio-Cortez in a "skeet" this week. "I do get nervous for [numbers] going up and harassment campaigns starting."

"I haven't written a tweet in days... But I've [posted] triple digits in less than a week [on Bluesky]," she wrote in an earlier post. "This is what happens when a platform feels safer and more fun!"

"Hey everybody," wrote Frost in his first "skeet" on Bluesky. "I heard this is where I come to not get harassed???"

"I think folks that are on there right now... are very affirming," Garcia told Insider. "There's a lot of support for just being good people, and kindness, and the truth."

As of Friday, there did not appear to be any prominent Republican lawmakers on the platform — aside from Rep. George Santos of New York.

According to Bluesky spokeswoman Emily Liu, the current assortment of members of Congress is largely a coincidence, with each having "found their way to the platform organically" and "received invitations from other people on the app."

'I'm trolling as long as possible'

It still remains to be seen whether Bluesky can mount a real challenge to Twitter — and whether that's even desirable.

"I would love to see Twitter succeed," said Garcia. "I think it's having some real challenges right now."

Despite those challenges, there's been a host of other Twitter alternatives that have popped up in recent months — Mastodon, Post, and Spoutible being the most prominent — that have nonetheless sputtered. "I've experimented a little bit with all of them," Garcia noted.

For its tens of thousands of users, the most appealing aspect of Bluesky may be its striking similarity to Twitter; it's basically the same, but with fewer features.

Eventually, creators hope to turn Bluesky into a decentralized platform composed of a variety of "federated" servers — each with their own approaches to content moderation.

But for now, the platform currently remains small and closed to non-users, limiting its utility for spreading messages — but making it a more attractive place for the nation's biggest names in politics to shitpost with impunity.

"I'm trolling as long as possible," Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a "skeet" this week, "until a critical mass of earnest journalists join that forces me to code switch."