What is Bluesky, the social platform that welcomes fugitive X users?

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Disaffected X users are again flocking to Bluesky, a newer social media platform that grew out of the former Twitter before billionaire Elon Musk took it over in 2022. Although it remains small compared to established online spaces like X, it is emerged as an alternative for those looking for a different vibe, lighter and friendlier and less influenced by Musk.

What is Bluesky?

Mastered by former Twitter boss Jack DorseyBluesky was invitation-only until it opened to the public in February. That invitation period gave the site time to build moderation tools and other features. The platform is similar to Musk’s X, with a “discover” feed and a chronological feed for accounts users follow. Users can send direct messages and pin posts, as well as find “starter packs” that provide a curated list of people and custom feeds to follow.

Why is Bluesky growing?

Bluesky said in mid-November that its total users increased to 15 millionup from about 13 million in late October, as some X users look for an alternative platform to write their thoughts and talk to others online. The surge in post-election users isn’t the first time Bluesky has benefited from people leaving X. The platform gained 2.6 million users in the week after X was banned in Brazil in August – 85% of them from Brazil, the company said. About 500,000 new users signed up in one day in October when X flagged it blocked accounts would be able to see a user’s public posts.

Across the platform, new users — among them journalists, left-wing politicians and celebrities — posted memes and shared that they were looking forward to using a space free of advertising and hate speech. Some said it reminded them of Twitter’s early days more than a decade ago.

Despite Bluesky’s growth, X wrote after the election that it had “dominated the global conversation about the US election” and had set new records.

In addition to social networks

However, Bluesky has bigger ambitions than displacing X. Beyond the platform itself, it’s building a technical foundation — what it calls “a protocol for public conversation” — that can make social networks work across different platforms — also known as interoperability — such as email, blogs or phone numbers.

Currently, you cannot cross between social platforms to leave a comment on someone’s account. Twitter users must stay on Twitter and TikTok users must stay on TikTok to interact with accounts on those services. Big Tech companies have largely built moats around their online properties, helping to serve their advertising-focused business models.

Bluesky is trying to recreate all of this and is working towards interoperability.