A startup known as Skylight is taking a special method to short-form video. As an alternative of proscribing customers to an algorithmic primary feed, as is widespread on social apps, Skylight is constructing a neighborhood round human curators who publish and repost movies to construct out their very own customized feeds others can subscribe to.
The choice, which launched on Monday within the model 2.0 launch of the app, might enchantment to customers who really feel a rising sense of unease about conventional social media platforms and their algorithmic manipulations, in addition to these irritated by the rise of low-quality AI-generated content material that’s now filling these feeds.
Constructed on Bluesky’s social community and its underlying AT Protocol, Skylight first launched in April to supply an open different to video apps like TikTok. Since then, the app has seen roughly 240,000 downloads and 100,000 movies uploaded to its platform. Skylight additionally obtained early funding from Mark Cuban and others.
Like others on this area, Skylight’s potential to authenticate customers with their Bluesky credentials offers it a head begin on constructing its personal consumer base. At present, Bluesky is utilized by over 38.4 million customers, who can set up, run, and log into an ecosystem of open social apps like Skylight and others constructed for movies, images, blogs, wikis, and extra.
With Skylight’s 2.0 launch, the corporate is specializing in improved curation. Customers can now create their very own “curator” feed by posting and reposting movies or through the use of third-party instruments to construct their very own customized feed.
Quickly, the corporate will combine expertise from the customized feed-building platform Graze to permit Skylight customers to create these customized feeds inside its personal app, as nicely.
To entry the curated feeds, you merely swipe left from the principle web page to flick through the opposite picks. Should you discover a curator you wish to observe, you faucet the plus (+) button so as to add them to your set of feeds. These curators you already observe shall be included on this expertise.
The replace consists of different integrations with providers constructed for the open social internet, as nicely. Skylight is partnering with the live-streaming platform Streamplace, one other service constructed on the identical AT Protocol that Bluesky and Skylight makes use of. By leveraging Streamplace’s expertise, Skylight was ready so as to add a live-streaming function to its app with out having to construct out the performance itself.
Plus, Skylight’s app now presents a redesigned participant with a full-screen mode and permits customers to observe movies in a split-screen window whereas persevering with to browse profiles or seek for different content material.
Constructed by a crew of two, co-founders Tori White (CEO) and Reed Harmeyer (CTO), Skylight generates a lot of its buzz by way of TikTok, the place White’s account, the place she shares updates on the app’s progress, now has over 63,000 followers.
These movies might help spike app installs, at occasions. Over the previous week alone, White tells TechCrunch that Skylight pulled in one other 20,000 downloads, as an illustration, even earlier than the brand new model arrived. Partially, she believes this is because of client curiosity in leaving established social platforms to affix open-source social communities.
Skylight is a free obtain on iOS and Android and has a roadmap that features assist for different options like music, bookmarks, an account switcher, and extra.
