The Bluesky social app is a new social media offering that is worth your attention. Free for all to use, 21M people have signed up (by the time of this writing), and their user-count page shows a steady flow of new users. You could be the next to try it out!
Bluesky closely resembles Twitter / X. And for good reason: the former CEO of Twitter created Bluesky as a side project, and managed to separate it from Twitter control 2 years ago. Now, Bluesky exists as a public benefit corporation and is run by CEO Jay Graber.
Why Bluesky?
Some of you may not feel the need for more social media in their lives. That’s fine! If you need less internet-noise in your life, take a pass on this. But many people are giving Bluesky a try for various reasons.
- Politics
- No advertisements
- Strong moderation
It’s this last one that impresses me. Not only does Bluesky moderate its posts rather well, taking down objectionable material, but it gives its users real control over what they see. Once signed in to Bluesky, any user can go to Settings -> Moderation and use a wealth of options for filtering and suppressing posts. You may tickle through the categories and adjust them to your tastes, or you may block posts based on exact words. If you don’t like “cilantro”, Bluesky enables you to never see a post with that word ever again!
Bluesky’s Future
I don’t think we can predict what’s next, but there are some high hopes for Bluesky. It was built on the premises of being decentralized and interoperable. Someday, Bluesky (and other social media platforms) may work well with other social apps, allowing cross-posting and commenting and better sharing.
I do see Bluesky continuing to gain popularity. Signups have grown to include celebrities, companies and important organizations. Oh, and especially cat-centric accounts. I do hope for Bluesky’s future, because in 2024, the social media landscape has grown a bit stagnant. And Bluesky seems to stand out from the status quo.
P.S.
If you’re jumping ship from that other social media site, there is a handy tool you should know about. Sky Follower Bridge is a free extension that you can install, that will help you find your Twitter followers, over on Bluesky.
If you’re not sure yet about joining, that’s OK, you are welcome to peruse the Bluesky website without having to login. And if you do decide to join, the Bluesky Social app is available for Android or iOS devices.