Following the conclusion of the 2024 US presidential election, the social network Bluesky has been expanding quickly. Since the November election, the site has gained over 14 million members, and by February 5, it had over 30 million users. Mark Hamill, a star of Star Wars, just joined the website and called himself a “Twitter quitter.” Additionally, New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the first individual to amass more than one million followers on the network. With the exception of the company’s account, that is the first for any Bluesky account. There are currently 1.7 million followers of Ocasio-Cortez.
The site’s stats are tracked by at least two dynamic counters made by Bluesky users. Theo Sanderson, a professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, provided one counter; another counter is created by a member on the website who goes by Natalie.
See also: How to Locate and Make Bluesky Starter Packs
In an email last month, a firm spokesperson stated that during the time immediately following the election, the site had attracted more than one million members every day. About 12 new users are added per second at that rate. In September, there were 9 million users; now, there are 30 million.
Even while Bluesky is growing, there is still room for the website to overtake rivals. As of September, X has 588 million users worldwide, down from 611 million in April, according to Forbes. With over 275 million daily users, Threads is Meta’s rival to X.
The X-factor
Despite Due to X owner Elon Musk’s open endorsement of President-elect Donald Trump, many Bluesky users are making reference to the election in their initial postings, making it impossible to gauge the number of new members that have departed. According to Wired, a significant portion of Taylor Swift’s fan base—which was previously quite prevalent on X—is moving to Bluesky.
X, a social networking site that was once known as Twitter, is quite similar to Bluesky. After billionaire Musk purchased the website, X saw several changes, including the retirement of the blue checkmarks that indicated verified users, the reinstatement of accounts that had been banned, and the launch of a new subscription service.
X said on October 16 that it was altering its block feature, which let users to prevent others from viewing their messages on the website. If a person’s postings are set to public, blocked accounts can now view them on X, but they are unable to like, react, or repost them. X user “That’s not blocking,” he said. “That’s supporting stalking.”
Bluesky said in a post the next day, October 17, that it had received 500,000 visitors in a single day. One Bluesky user commented, “First day here,” in response to the business’s post about its expansion. “I’m just getting soaked. utilized Twitter for a long time, but it’s not as active as it once was.
Additionally, as part of its amended terms of service, X mandates that any user litigation against the site be heard by a federal court in north Texas “whose judges provide political case victories to conservative plaintiffs on a regular basis,” according to The Globe and Mail.
These recent developments could have contributed to the increase in interest in Bluesky, which earlier this year witnessed a spike in user accounts when Brazilian judges barred X (the block was ultimately restored after X paid a fine). Users claim that Bluesky is the app that most closely resembles X, according to The New York Times.
See also: Bluesky Is the Little Solace I’ve Been Seeking. I hope it endures.
Here are some essential facts regarding Bluesky.
How can I register?
Simply make an account on the main page to join. The Bluesky app is available for iOS and Android.
or utilize Bluesky on your PC.
In order to provide an authentication code, it will need your phone number and email address. You will then be prompted to select a username and password. Then you’re in.
In what ways does Bluesky resemble X and Threads?
You should understand Bluesky’s design and intent if you’re used to X.
The website employs messages that scroll vertically, with users’ little round photo avatars and symbols beneath the words that indicate the number of likes, comments, and reposts they have gotten. The concept appears to be rather similar to that of X and Meta’s Threads, which is now the second-best free app on the App Store, after Bluesky.
See also: Is It Time to Stop Using X on Twitter? This Is How
Who is responsible?
Another Twitter/X relationship is as follows: Jack, a co-founder of Twitter The Bluesky initiative started in 2019 when Dorsey was the CEO of Twitter, and he was previously on the board of directors. The CEO of Bluesky is Jay Graber.
X’s previous name is even connected to Bluesky’s. According to a Bluesky user, Dorsey stated that the name alludes to Twitter’s bird mascot, which is said to be able to fly even more freely in an open blue sky. In May, Dorsey departed the board, reportedly due to the addition of moderating tools by the site.
Despite not capitalizing the S in “sky,” the site’s name is pronounced “blue sky.” It should not be rhymed with “brewski.”
The application is based on a social media architecture developed by the firm called the authenticated transport protocol, or AT, which is composed of a vast network of distinct websites.
What makes Bluesky unique?
Domains as handles
For starters, if you’d like, you may make your domain your handle. Verification might be aided by this. After Musk started deleting blue checkmarks from verified accounts that refused to pay a monthly subscription, the matter became contentious for Twitter.
According to the Bluesky Social corporate blog, “A newsroom like NPR could set their handle to be @npr.org.” Subdomains might then be used to designate the handles of any journalists that NPR wishes to confirm to be @name.npr.org. Additionally, brand accounts might use their handle as their domain.
Moderation: Moderation is distinct as well. According to a different blog post, Bluesky already uses automatic moderation and has a
The community labeling system is characterized as “something similar to shared mute/block lists.”
Although you may control that by following or banning specific accounts, users of many social media sites are seen content from a feed that is chosen for them by an algorithm. But Bluesky aims to give you the option to choose what you see using a number of different algorithms.
Accounts can be blocked, which goes a step further and means that neither you nor the other account can view or engage with each other’s postings, or they can be muted, which stops you from receiving any notifications or top-level posts from them. Additionally, you may report abusive posts or accounts. Users may be especially interested in the blocking option.
who didn’t like how X had changed its blocking behavior recently.
In order to prevent pile-ons and other harmful conduct, you can disconnect your posts from other users’ posts that quote you and conceal responses to your posts.
Maintaining relationships Even if Bluesky undergoes changes, creators who gain a following on the platform may eventually be able to maintain relationships with their followers.
The third-party Sky Follower Bridge is a free program that looks through your follower list and follows accounts with the same names on Bluesky if you wish to follow the individuals you followed on X. Although there will be many idle Bluesky accounts and a few false positives, generally we’ve discovered It’s really effective.
The rules that dictate how material is sorted and suggested to consumers are known as custom feed algorithms.
Custom feeds: are a feature offered by Bluesky that lets you select the algorithm that decides what you view.
“Imagine you want your timeline to only be posts from your mutuals, or only posts that have cat photos, or only posts related to sports — you can simply pick your feed of choice from an open marketplace,” according to a blog entry on the website. More information regarding algorithmic choosing and bespoke feeds may be found in a lengthy post. To add and find new feeds, click the hashtag symbol at the bottom of the app.
The site’s feed generator starting kit allows developers to build a unique feed, and the website says that in time, the tools will become simple enough for the rest of us to create our own feeds.
Initial packets
Do you want to follow a well picked list of individuals and go straight into Bluesky? You have the option to follow starter packs, which are user-generated lists that are typically themed. CNET has a detailed explanation here, but to put it just, they are comparable to what X refers to as lists and are a fantastic method to start a reliable feed that is tailored to your interests.
Read more: Bluesky Makes It Simple to Locate Your Favorites on X (Twitter). How to Do It
Who is it being used by?
The following is a brief list of some of the individuals and organizations who post on Bluesky.
Mark Hamill, star of Star Wars
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep.
Dionne Warwick, a pop legend
Singer Lizzo Actor Ben Stiller
Guillermo del Toro, director
Dril, the X personality (actual name: Paul Dochney)
Senator of the United States for Minnesota Smith, Tina
Stephen King, author
A humorous website The onion
actor Trek actor George Takei, original EGOT Barbra Streisand, 17th-century diarist Samuel Pepys, web cartoonist Randall Monroe, also known as XKCD, author Colson Whitehead, and WWW inventor Berners-Lee, Tim
Actor and presenter of game shows Drew Carey
Drew Magary, author and Defector writer
William Gibson, author of science fiction for The New York Times
God
And CNET, too
Additionally, one account is not visible on Bluesky.
Neither the National Football League nor any of its individual clubs are currently available on Bluesky.
See also: The Reasons You Won’t Witness the During the Super Bowl, the NFL on Bluesky
However, that might alter. You could see your favorite teams appear there once the league waits to see if it can reach an agreement with the service, according to the Sports Business Journal.