"There will always be free options, and we can't enshittify the network with ads"
- Jay Graber
When it comes to platforms on the web, the number of users is often seen as a key indicator of success and influence. A large user base can signify credibility, attract advertisers, and create network effects, where the platform becomes more valuable as more people join.
However, user count alone doesn't always reflect a platform’s true impact—engagement, user satisfaction, and the quality of interactions also play crucial roles in determining a platform's long-term viability and influence.
And more importantly, how the public perceive that platform also matters, like a lot.
Jay Graber had a humble beginning, before she found that her name is destined to lead.
She becomes the CEO of Bluesky, a name that become increasingly familiar in the tech world, especially after the "death" of Twitter after it was acquired by Elon Musk.
Early Life
Lantian "Jay" Graber was born in 1991 in Tulsa Oklahoma.
Born to a Swiss father and a Chinese mother, the latter worked as an acupuncturist and emigrated from China in the 1980s after experiencing the Cultural Revolution.
While her father, a mathematician, provided an academic influence during her upbringing, it was her mother who named her "Lantian," a symbol of her wish for her daughter to have limitless freedom.
Graber attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Science, Technology, and Society. During her senior year, she co-founded a student time bank program, showcasing her early interest in community-driven initiatives, and also technology in general.
It was her interdisciplinary background provided her with a solid foundation to explore the intersection of technology, culture, and ethics.
Early Career
Graber's professional career began in 2015 when she took on the role of software engineer at SkuChain in Mountain View, California.
Following that, she worked in a factory in Moses Lake, Washington, where she assembled Bitcoin mining equipment.
In 2016, leveraging her growing expertise in the cryptocurrency industry, Graber joined Zcash as a junior developer.
Her involvement in these projects deepened her understanding of decentralized systems and their potential to reshape the digital landscape.
Then, in 2019, the Chinese-Swiss descent founded Happening, Inc., an event planning website, marking a significant entrepreneurial step in her career.
Being The 'Bluesky'
Her biggest achievement, was when she joined Bluesky as its first CEO.
Bluesky, a decentralized microblogging platform initially envisioned by Twitter's founders.
"The word 'Bluesky' evokes a wide-open space of possibility. It was the original name for this project before it took shape, and continues to be the name of our company," the release stated. "We're calling the application we're building Bluesky because it will be a portal to the world of possibility on top of the AT Protocol."
What makes it unique is that, the social platform uses a decentralized social network protocol, called the AT Protocol, which is the underlying code behind the app.
Bluesky is an ambitious project by Jack Dorsey, aims to create a more open and user-centric social media experience. The platform is meant to be the alternative of X, and provide an old-school experience of Twitter.
Under Graber's leadership, Bluesky has been making significant strides in developing a protocol that enables various social media platforms to interoperate, fostering a more diverse and competitive digital ecosystem.
Graber's vision for Bluesky is rooted in the principles of user empowerment.
She believes that by breaking away from centralized control, users can regain ownership of their data and interactions.
This approach has the potential to address many of the challenges faced by traditional social media platforms, such as censorship, surveillance, and algorithmic manipulation.
And here, Graber, becomes instrumental in steering Bluesky towards that decentralized future.
"It’s a pluralist ecosystem. There’s lots of parties out there, and when they unanimously decide that something is outside the Overton window of the norms of communication, then that becomes sort of the social consensus," Graber said.
"If a whole parallel universe emerges, that’s possible with open source software, but those communities don’t necessarily talk if the norms are so drastically divergent."
Personal Life
Jay Graber keeps her personal life quite private, but it was her multicultural upbringing that significantly influenced her in being what she is.
But unique to her, her name is apparently carved a future for her.
It's said that her "Lantian" name means "blue sky" in Mandarin Chinese.
While meaning varies depending on the context, Lantian (蓝田) which uses the characters "蓝" (lán) and "天" (tiān) together mean "blue sky".