TikTok Alternative 'Skylight' Soars To 380K+ Users After TikTok US Deal Finalized (techcrunch.com) 29
Skylight, an open-source, TikTok-style video app built on the AT Protocol, surged past 380,000 users after last week's shake-up around TikTok's U.S. ownership and privacy concerns. TechCrunch reports: Launched last year and backed by Mark Cuban and other investors, Skylight's mobile app is built on the AT Protocol, the technology that also powers the decentralized X rival Bluesky, which now has north of 42 million users. Skylight, co-founded by CEO Tori White and CTO Reed Harmeyer, offers a built-in video editor; user profiles; support for likes, commenting, and sharing; and the ability for community curators to create custom feeds for others to follow. The app now has over 150,000 videos uploaded directly to the platform. It can also stream videos from Bluesky because of its AT Protocol integration.
Harmeyer said Saturday that 1.4 million videos were played on the app the day before, up 3x over the past 24 hours. The app had also seen sign-ups increase more than 150%. Other noteworthy stats include over a 50% increase in returning users, over 40% rise in video played on average, and over 100% increase in posts created. This surge was likely triggered by concerns over TikTok's change in ownership and its unfortunately timed technical glitches. [...] Over the weekend, Skylight's CEO, Tori White, said the app added around 20,000 new users and is continuing to grow. So far this January, the app has seen around 95,000 monthly active users. "We've seen what happens when one person dictates what's pushed into people's feeds," White told TechCrunch. "Not only does it harm a creator's connection with their followers, but the entire health of the platform. That's why we built Skylight Social on open standards. We wanted creator and user power to be guaranteed by the technology. Not an empty promise, but an irrevocable right."
Harmeyer said Saturday that 1.4 million videos were played on the app the day before, up 3x over the past 24 hours. The app had also seen sign-ups increase more than 150%. Other noteworthy stats include over a 50% increase in returning users, over 40% rise in video played on average, and over 100% increase in posts created. This surge was likely triggered by concerns over TikTok's change in ownership and its unfortunately timed technical glitches. [...] Over the weekend, Skylight's CEO, Tori White, said the app added around 20,000 new users and is continuing to grow. So far this January, the app has seen around 95,000 monthly active users. "We've seen what happens when one person dictates what's pushed into people's feeds," White told TechCrunch. "Not only does it harm a creator's connection with their followers, but the entire health of the platform. That's why we built Skylight Social on open standards. We wanted creator and user power to be guaranteed by the technology. Not an empty promise, but an irrevocable right."
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Someone says "authoritarianism is bad", and you assume that they're talking about Trump. Weird.
Re:We've seen what? (Score:5, Insightful)
"orange man bad" Why yes, he is. I'm glad you finally see that. What monument to civilized society builds an army of masked Gestappo men out of thugs (see where he has been recruiting if you doubt this) and is building his own secure bunker under the expected new ballroom where the East Wing once stood?
Why would he need his own army of thugs? Why would he need a new secure bunker when one already exists under the White House? Even a dolt can figure that out.
Re: (Score:2)
I've ALREADY been hearing of people having TikTok censor them on Israel / Gaza as well as Epstein. So it has already begun to kill those issues. I remember Israel had TikTok as a priority target for a while-- blaming that for people discovering the war crimes.
No benefit (Score:1)
Re:No benefit (Score:5, Insightful)
BlueSky/SkyLight are decentralized platforms owned by public benefit corporations.
TikTok is still owned by ByteDance which is at least CCP-adjacent (arguably bad), but the US implementation of its algorithm is now controlled by a group of Great American Patriots and Investors, the Biggest in the World [truthsocial.com] (arguably worse).
put tons of quotes around decentralized (Score:2)
BlueSky/SkyLight are decentralized platforms
Could one day be perhaps decentralised, but currently aren't really much.
What is currently decentralised in ATproto:
you can help BlueSky offload some of their server cost by hosting your own personnal data server (PDS).
What currently isn't:
to make anything useful of the data stored on all the PDSes, you need "indexing server" (basically a kind-of search engine that indexes everything stored there, to make it possible to know who would need to get which content). This is extremely resource intensive, meaning
Re: (Score:2)
Lost money (Score:2)
These social media sites are all lost money. They come and go.
Eventually, decentralized wins (Score:1)
Linux showed the blueprint when it toppled Microsoft, now this generations task is to do the same to social media.
Open source huh? (Score:3)
Well if it's open source I hope they beat UpScrolled that the TikTok users are apparently also fleeing to today:
https://www.engadget.com/socia... [engadget.com]
App only? (Score:4, Insightful)
[ Okay, so I'm an old fart and not the target audience... ]
Relaxing after work with my 3 screens. Anything without a web interface is a non starter.
Re: (Score:2)
AT (Score:2)
ATDT14053726624
Re: (Score:1)
funny it has terrible reviews on android (Score:1)
Monetization (Score:2)
The platform will only have succeeded when "creators" and "influencers" can monetize their crap, and massive bot farms are hitting the platform to generate fake views and upvotes. Only then will it have reached TikTok level "success".
"Surge" (Score:1)
Oh, wow! 380k out of TikTok's 1.9 billion user base. Whew. That sure is a... much, much smaller number.
The literal definition of sensationalism.