Exploring Bluesky and its New Era of Social Networking

While traditional platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Thread have dominated the social media space, Bluesky is a new decentralized social network causing ripples. The site is growing at an average of 1 million new users daily, translating into an average of 12 new users per second. As of November 2024, the decentralized social media site had over 20 million users.

Bluesky is currently the leading app on the U.S. iPhone app store, performing better than other apps like Threads and ChatGpt. That is a tremendous growth, considering it was ranked 181 in October. But what is the cause of the immense growth for the app? Just as Twitch is the future of advertising, Bluesky is the future of social media. Let's find out why it is causing ripples. 

What is Bluesky?

Formed as part of a Twitter research initiative, Bluesky is a decentralized social media site dubbed the Twitter replacement. While it was initially an invitation-only platform, it opened up to the public in February 2024. The network comes with a discover tool customized for what viewers want to see while still providing insights into what is trending. It has a chronological feed for the account that the user is following.

Bluesky is built using an open social network, which provides independence to the platform's creators. According to their site, this also gives them the freedom to create and users to choose their experience.

How X Has Fueled the Growth of Bluesky

One factor contributing to Bluesky's growth is X's failures, one of the reasons being the Twitter owners' public endorsement of Donald Trump. According to reports, many Taylor Swift fans, one of the biggest groups on X, are now switching to Bluesky.

It's worth noting that Bluesky has a lot of similarities with X as a social media platform. When X makes changes that users perceive to be unfriendly, it causes people to switch to X. For instance, on October 16, X announced that it had changed its block function, which enables users to block others from seeing their content on the site.

With the changes, accounts previously blocked can now see the person’s posts on X as long as they were set to public. The only limitation is that they cannot reply to their posts by liking and reposting them. This resulted in users claiming that X was supporting stalking. After the action, Bluesky reported that it welcomed more than 500,000 users in one day. 

Another update that didn't go well with users was X announcing an update to its terms of services requiring that any lawsuits against the platform could only be handled by the North Texas federal court. This is a jurisdiction where judges are known to give victories to litigants from the conservatives. As a result of these changes, interest in Bluesky has risen. This is on top of the blocking of X in some jurisdictions, such as Brazil, even though the blocking was later lifted.

The Similarity Between Bluesky and X

Bluesky's blue design is similar to that of X. Additionally, the site has vertically scrolling messages with user avatars consisting of small round photos. Icons under messages show the number of likes, comments, and reposts, making it look like Thread and Meta. It's also worth noting that Twitter co-founder, Jack Dorsey, started Bluesky. While you can use some Twitter marketing tips to go viral, BlueSky also makes it easy to grow your account.

Differences Between Twitter and Bluesky

While there are similarities between the two, there are also several differences, such as:

Domain as the Handle

Bluesky allows users to set their names as the handle, which they like as it helps them with verifications. This was one of the most heated issues for Twitter after the blue tick was removed. For instance, CNN can set its handle to @cnn.org. If they want to verify their journalist, they can use a subdomain such as @name.cnn.org. If you have a brand account, you can set its handle to be its domain name.

Moderation

Twitter moderation is also different, as Bluesky uses automated moderation. The platform also uses community labeling, similar to a block or mute list. Unlike traditional third-party social media platforms, where the algorithm determines the posts to show users, Bluesky allows users to choose from different algorithms when deciding what to see.

Users can mute some accounts, ensuring they don't see the notification or the top-level posts. Users can also block certain accounts, preventing others from interacting with them. They can also report certain accounts or posts. With X discontinuing the blocking feature, Bluesky offers a good alternative. This is on top of several other features, such as the ability to hide post replies and detach their posts from those of other users they quote.

Maintaining Connections

Bluesky allows users to follow the people they followed on X using the Follower Bridge. The tool scans your list of followers on X and follows the accounts with the same names. While it can produce false positives and dormant accounts, it works well.

Custom Feeds

The Twitter algorithm determines how content is recommended and filtered on the platform. However, Bluesky allows users to choose the feed they want to see. For instance, they can only decide to visit the timelines of their mutual friend. They can also see only sports posts, cat photos, or any other feed from the open marketplace. You can even discover or add a feed by clicking the hashtag icon at the app's bottom.

The site's feed generator allows the developer to add a custom feed. The tool also promises that it will be easy for everyone to create their custom feed in the future.

Conclusion

In recent years, we have seen the development of decentralized social media platforms that promise to disrupt social media. One of the platforms that is already threatening to displace X is Bluesky. Given its advanced features, such as the custom feed and fast growth rate, there is no doubt that this platform will disrupt traditional networks such as X and Thread.  You can also read our guide on how to make money with social media, both centralized and decentralized.