Bluesky Social Network Becomes #1 App in the US

Bluesky, a short-form posting platform built on the decentralized AT Protocol, has reached 15 million users. This milestone comes during a surge in sign-ups following the recent US presidential election.

Data tracked on the Bluesky API by Bluesky developer Jaz shows an increase of approximately one million users in the past week alone. Bluesky's Chief Operating Officer, Rose Wang, told Variety that the majority of this new user base originates from the United States. This growth has propelled the Bluesky app to the top position in the iOS app store rankings, surpassing Threads, ChatGPT, and the Google app.

Elon Musk owns X (formerly Twitter) and is a supporter of President-Elect Donald Trump. So, a one-million-user surge from the US after an election seems less like a coincidence. Sign-ups are great, but the number of active users is a bit less clear. The same API dashboard mentions that the number of users making posts has ranged from roughly 280-933K over the past month, but there is some amount of users beyond that who aren't writing their own posts as often.

Bluesky's recent feature updates include video posting capabilities, pinning posts, and using custom fonts. Bluesky has also implemented several "anti-toxicity" features, like giving users the ability to detach their posts from others' quotes. This gives them a way to stay away from unwanted or negative interactions. X on the other hand made blocking less effective, which is probably another reason people are looking for a new platform.

While Bluesky's recent growth is notable, the app is still small compared to bigger competitors of Twitter/X. Meta's Threads platform is still building its user base but is significantly larger, recently reporting over 200 million monthly users. Both are competitors to X, which has over 300 million active monthly users. Despite both platforms currently operating without advertising, they offer distinct user experiences. Threads feeds are algorithmically curated and developed by Meta. In contrast, Bluesky allows users to create personalized algorithmic feeds alongside its Discover and "Popular With Friends" feeds.

Source: The Verge, Variety