The event was hosted by Bluesky, the Twitter-like social-media platform backed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. The platform, which said this week it has grown to some 100,000 users from just a few hundred in February, is invite-only and the invite codes can be hard to come by.
Some attendees at the party were hungry for codes. They gathered in a corner where two employees were parceling them out in a decidedly low-tech fashion: a bunch of jumbled letters and numbers written on tiny pieces of paper.
Those codes, also shared digitally, are some of the most sought-after perks in social media right now because of what they unlock: access to an exclusive platform that's also not run by Elon Musk.
Since Musk bought Twitter, the Twitterverse has been in a tizzy about whether to stay or go. Bluesky has emerged as a coveted alternative, and with its scarcity of invites, has prompted an outbreak of FOMO: Where are all the cool kids going and how can I get there? As with many aspirational goals, getting in is sometimes more fun than being there.
Many are using Twitter to find a new option to Twitter: "Hello all. This is me, asking nicely if anyone has a Bluesky invite to bestow 95 upon me," tweeted videogame developer Graham Reid, 32.
Arick Jones, a publicist for a popular fitness club, has been trying for months to get into Bluesky. Jones, 37, said he'd be willing to pay for a code. He's been hunting on Reddit, messaged an old social-media professor and posted on LinkedIn, so far without success.
"If I could guarantee it wasn't a scam, I would pay up to $250 for it," said Jones, who lives in San Diego.
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