Bluesky, the social media app, has been experiencing a surge in popularity that has been ongoing for almost three months now. The app gained a significant number of new users in Brazil over the summer when X (formerly Twitter) was temporarily banned in the country. In the United States, dissatisfaction with changes at X and Elon Musk’s ties to President-Elect Donald Trump have also contributed to Bluesky’s rapid growth.
According to SimilarWeb, X experienced a peak in traffic and account deactivations the day after the presidential election. In contrast, Bluesky has been adding a million new users daily and recently announced reaching 18 million total users, making it the number one free app on Apple’s App Store. However, this sudden growth has led to technical issues, such as slow performance and challenges with content moderation and safety.
CEO Jay Graber acknowledged these growing pains but highlighted the team’s ability to scale quickly. Longtime users are grappling with the implications of this growth on the Bluesky community. While there is excitement about the app’s popularity, there is also concern about maintaining the unique culture of Bluesky amidst an influx of new users.
The author, a journalist, shares their personal experience with Bluesky, noting a change in their relationship with the app as it gains more users. The author expresses concern about the potential loss of what made Bluesky special as it becomes more mainstream. Despite this, Bluesky’s executives have indicated a commitment to maintaining a distinct identity by focusing on decentralization, user customization, and a subscription-based business model.
Graber is addressing the challenge of integrating new users while preserving the community’s essence by introducing features for user customization and enhancing automated content moderation tools. The hope is that these efforts will foster a healthy online community and prevent toxicity from taking root, as seen on other social media platforms.
The future of Bluesky remains uncertain, but the author emphasizes the importance of being prepared to adapt to changes in the social media landscape. Whether Bluesky can sustain its unique identity and values in the face of rapid growth and evolving user demographics remains to be seen. As the platform continues to evolve, users will be watching closely to see how Bluesky navigates the challenges of maintaining a vibrant and inclusive online community.
