The Bluesky social network has grown rapidly since the US presidential election ended. A company representative said in a recent email that the site has added more than 1 million users per day in recent days. The site’s user base has added over 10 million users since the November 5 election, pushing it to over 25 million users by December 3.
There are at least two ever-changing counters created by Bluesky users that track the site’s numbers. A counter is by Theo Sanderson, professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; another counter it’s from a user who simply addresses Natalie on the site.
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Site growth of 1 million users per day equates to approximately 12 new users per second. The 24 million user milestone compares with 9 million users in September.
And even celebrities are making their presence known at Bluesky. Star Wars star Mark Hamill recently joined the siteself-proclaiming himself a “Twitter walker.”
Bluesky may be on the rise, but the site has a long way to go to catch competing sites. Forbes reports it that X has 588 million global users as of September, down from 611 million in April. Threads, Meta’s competitor to Xhas more than 275 million daily users.
The X factor
While there’s no way to determine how many new users have left due to X owner Elon Musk’s public support for President-elect Donald Trump, many Bluesky users reference the election in their early posts. Wired relationships that many fans of Taylor Swift, a group that once had a big presence on X, are switching to Bluesky.
Bluesky is a social media platform that shares many similarities with X, formerly known as Twitter. X has undergone a series of changes after billionaire Musk bought the site and legacy in retirement blue checkmarks showing verified accounts, previously excluded accounts restored and started to new membership program.
October 16th X announced that it was changing its blocking feature, which allowed people to block others from seeing their messages on the site. Accounts that have been blocked can now see that person’s posts on X if the posts are set to public, although they cannot reply, like, or repost them. “This is not a block” an X user replied. “This is support for stalking.”
The next day, October 17, Bluesky shared a post announcing that it welcomed 500,000 people in a single day. “The first day here,” a Bluesky user he wrote in response to the company’s post about its growth. “I’m just getting my feet wet. I’ve been a Twitter user for a long time, but it’s just a shell of what it was.”
X has also updated its terms of service so that any cause from users against the service must be managed by a federal court in the north of Texas “whose judges often deliver victories to conservative quarrels in political causes,” The Globe and Mail reports.
These latest changes may have sparked the surge in interest in Bluesky, which has seen a increase in user accounts earlier this year, when X was blocked by Brazilian courts (the blocking occurred later revoked when X paid a fine). Second The New York Timesusers say that Bluesky is the app that comes closest to imitating X.
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Here’s a look at what you need to know about Bluesky.
How do I sign up?
To participate just go to the main page create an account. You can download the Bluesky app for iOS OR Androidor use Bluesky on your desktop.
It will ask you for your email address and phone number (to send an authentication code) and tell you to choose a username and password. Then you’re in.
How is Bluesky similar to X and Threads?
If you’re used to X, Bluesky’s design and purpose should make sense to you.
The site uses vertically scrolling messages with small, round photo avatars for users and icons under messages that show how many comments, likes and reposts they have received. It looks quite similar to the format of X e Meta’s threadswhich is the current #1 free app. 2 on the App Store, behind Bluesky.
Read more: Is it time to cut your X (Twitter)? Here’s how
Who’s behind it?
Here’s another Twitter/X connection: Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey was once on the board of directors and the Bluesky project it started in 2019 when he was CEO of Twitter. Jay Graber is the CEO of Bluesky.
Bluesky’s name is also tied to X’s previous name. Dorsey confirmed one Bluesky user’s speculation that the name is tied to Twitter’s bird mascot, the idea being that the bird might fly even more freely in an open blue sky. Dorsey left the board in Mayapparently because the service has added moderation tools.
Even though the site name doesn’t have a capital S in “sky,” it is pronounced “blue sky.” Don’t rhyme it with “brewski.”
The app is based on something called authenticated transport protocolor AT, a social media structure created by the company and composed of a network of many different sites.
And how is Bluesky different?
Domains as handle
First, you can set your domain as the handle if you want. That could help with verification, which became a heated issue for Twitter once Musk began removing blue checkmarks from verified accounts that refused to pay a monthly fee.
“For example, a newsroom like NPR might set their handle to @npr.org,” the Notes on the Bluesky Social company blog. “So, any journalists NPR wants to verify could use subdomains to set their handle to @name.npr.org. Brand accounts could also set their handle as a domain.”
Moderation
Moderation is also different. Another blog post says Bluesky is already using automated moderation and is working on a community labeling system, which it describes as “something similar to shared mute/block lists.”
Users of many social media platforms are shown posts from a feed selected for them by an algorithm, although you can influence this by following or blocking certain accounts. But Bluesky wants to give you the choice between a variety of different algorithms to determine what you see.
You can mute accounts, preventing you from seeing any notifications or top-level posts, or you can block accounts, which takes it a step further, meaning you and the other account cannot see or interact with the mutual posts. And you can report posts or accounts for abuse. The blocking option may be of particular interest to users who were unhappy with X’s recent change in its blocking behavior.
A couple of features, namely the ability to hide replies to your posts and separate your posts from those of other users who cite yours, are Designed to stop build-up and other toxic substances behavior.
Maintain connections
It’s possible that creators who gain a following on Bluesky will one day be able to do so maintain connections with those who follow them, even if the service itself changes.
If you want to follow the people you used to follow on X, the third-party service Sky Follower Bridge is a free tool that scans your follower list and follows accounts with the same names on Bluesky. You’ll get some false positives and a lot of dormant Bluesky accounts, but overall we’ve found it works very well.
Custom feeds
Algorithms are the rules that determine how content is filtered and recommended to users. Bluesky has something it calls custom feeds, which lets you choose the algorithm that determines what you see.
“Imagine you want your timeline to contain only posts from your mutual contacts, or only posts with photos of cats, or only posts related to sports: you can simply choose your favorite feed from an open market,” a blog post on the site he says. A longer post goes into more detail personalized feeds and algorithmic choice. Click the hashtag icon at the bottom of the app to add and discover new feeds.
Developers can use site files power generator starter kit to create a custom feed, and the site promises that eventually the tools will be simple enough to allow all of us to create custom feeds.
Starter packages
Do you want to join Bluesky directly by following a curated list of people? You can follow starter packs, which are user-created and usually themed lists. CNET has a long explanation herebut in short, they’re similar to what X calls lists, and they’re a good way to get a solid feed that suits your interests.
Read more: It’s easy to find your X (Twitter) favorites on Bluesky. Here’s how to do it
Reviews
The CEO of Cipolla Ben Collins tweeted in April 2023, when he was a tech reporter for NBC, that Bluesky “works, looks and feels just like (Twitter)” and praised the site’s “moderation, desktop experience and reliability” .
As of November 19, the site has a rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars on the Apple App Store. “Feels like the early days of Twitter, but more organic,” one reviewer wrote.
Who is using it?
Here’s a small list of some people and groups you’ll see posting on Bluesky.
