Bluesky is a social media platform where people can interact much as they do on X, posting, replying, as well as messaging one another on a vertical user interface. — Photo by Yohan Marion on Unsplash
LONDON: Around one million users signed up for social media site Bluesky in the week following Donald Trump’s election win – but what is it?
Here, we explain how the social media platform differs to X and why people are flocking to it.
– What is Bluesky?
Bluesky is a social media platform where people can interact much as they do on X, posting, replying, as well as messaging one another on a vertical user interface.
It is perhaps unsurprising then that the site spun out of Twitter, now known as X, after its chief executive Jack Dorsey announced in 2019 that the giant would fund developers to create an “open and decentralised standard for social media”.
It officially launched as an independent platform in 2021 and is proving to be a popular destination for people who no longer wish to be on X.
– How is it different to X?
Compared to X, Bluesky offers users the chance to more heavily moderate their experience.
This includes the ability to select the algorithm that powers your experience, helping create custom feeds, for example a feed for mutual followers, a feed for cat photos or one for your special interest.
“We aim to replace the conventional ‘master algorithm’, controlled by a single company, with an open and diverse ‘marketplace of algorithms’,” the platform says.
X’s verification feature has also drawn criticism after it became possible to purchase a blue tick, which had been the previous signifier of an account’s legitimacy.
Bluesky allows users to have domains (website addresses) as their handles, which it anticipates could act as a verification tool for journalists, athletes and public figures who have a company’s website in their handle.
Meanwhile, as X appears to deregulate the user experience, recently changing the block function to allow users to see the posts of public accounts who have blocked them for example, Bluesky proudly shows off its “anti-toxicity” features.
These include empowering users to detach an original post of theirs from someone else’s quote post, preventing unwanted interactions.
– Why are people signing up to Bluesky?
If Elon Musk’s takeover of X made people uneasy, his use of his platform – on which he has 205 million followers – to support Donald Trump during the 2024 US election campaign only exacerbated that feeling for many.
Both X and Musk have come under increased scrutiny since the businessman took over the site in late 2022, with the billionaire himself engaging with misleading content and accounts known for spreading misinformation on a number of occasions.
In the wake of the Southport stabbings, where three young girls were stabbed to death, he posted a number of images and memes linked to the anti-immigration protests and disorder in Britain.
X users have also reported an increase in “bots” making the site difficult to use, with comment sections often dominated by AI nonsense.
– How many users have signed up to Bluesky?
On November 13, Bluesky announced it had more than 15 million users.
The platform also said it saw one million users sign up in the week following Trump’s election victory.
Since Musk's takeover, X has not provided any regular information on user numbers, but the platform is likely to still have hundreds of millions of users.
Meta's own counterpart to X has meanwhile grown significantly more than Bluesky, with the company reporting that the platform gained 15 million users in November - or roughly Bluesky's entire user base.
– Who has made the move to Bluesky?
US actress Jamie Lee Curtis has been vocal about her decision to leave X after she shared a screenshot confirming she had deactivated her account in a post on Instagram.
She can be found on Bluesky with more than 29,000 followers and has posted about her departure from X in a post which said: “#WeDontNeedX.” In the UK and Ireland, several TV celebrities and politicians are now also among its users. – PA Media/dpa
