All anyone can talk about is the mass exodus from X to a new-ish social media platform called Bluesky.
Ever since Tesla and Space X tech billionaire Elon Musk petitioned to buy Twitter in 2022, a mess has followed him and the renamed X. When Musk purchased the site for $44 billion, he vowed to make the app and company, “better than ever,” emphasizing more transparency, less bots and the billionaire’s idea of “free speech.”
According to multiple lawsuits, Musk’s new version of Twitter included laying off 80% of the company’s staff and allegedly not paying bills. Not only has Musk fired much of the Twitter workforce, but he also publicly antagonized journalists and news outlets on the platform and increasingly spreading misinformation about his more than 200 million followers, CNN reported.
Since 2022, Musk has aligned himself with political figures like President-elect Donald Trump, backing his own political action group that spent thousands on advertisements on X to support Trump and spread misinformation to swing states. Now that Musk has affirmed his undying support for Trump (and vice versa), millions of users on X have vowed to abandon the platform and sign up for a Bluesky account.
So what is Bluesky? And why are people saying its vibes are similar to the old version of Twitter? Salon goes through it all:
Why are people fleeing X?
Within the last week, Trump’s cabinet picks have stunned the nation by declaring Musk’s new appointment as the co-leader of a new initiative to run the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Musk’s allegiance to Trump and an upcoming change to terms and conditions – which could make it easier to challenge lawsuits filed against Musk’s X – have turned people off of X.
“Now, the billionaire will be able to bring lawsuits to friendly courts against whoever disagrees with him on his platform,” said The Center for Countering Digital Hate told Reuters.
But long before Musk’s involvement in aiding Trump, Musk destabilized X, making it a breeding ground for more hate speech, harassment and unchecked artificial intelligence. This increasingly made the app difficult for users to enjoy like the version of Twitter they were used to.
Is Bluesky the new Twitter?
Developed in 2019 by the small team that had also developed Twitter, the first version of Bluesky launched last year. It had very similar vibes to Twitter — notice the light blue butterfly logo, which echoes Twitter’s blue bird logo. Bluesky has prided itself on centralizing its user experience on one server, meaning its users could only see one feed unaffected by troublesome algorithms that plague platforms like Twitter/X.
According to Vox, the app has only become simpler to use since its launch. Its user experience is meant to be easy like the fun, unharmful version of Twitter pre-2021. Bluesky is also attempting to fix the content moderation issues plaguing sites like Twitter and Facebook. It said that it wants to put its users in control and empower them to choose their experience on the platform.
Now the website has gained about 2.5 million new users in the past week and has garnered more than 16 million users, Bluesky said on Thursday.
“We’re seeing record-high activity levels across all different forms of engagement: likes, follows, new accounts, etc., and we’re on track to add 1 million new users in one day alone,” Bluesky said in a statement.
Despite Blueksy’s smaller user count compared to X’s 317 million, Blueksy is still pushing to be a free decentralized space for users.
What are its features?
While the platform looked a lot like the old Twitter, your Bluesky feed is a reverse chronological timeline of posts with photos, videos and links that you can also like and repost. It’s a simple interface that isn’t too complicated especially if you’re a longtime Twitter/X user.
Signing up is also just as easy as it was on Twitter. All you need is an email and a username, and the platform sorts it all out for you. The website is filled with memes, digital art and photos of nature in your Discover timeline. It also seems to be a place for left-leaning people to express their support for causes like funding for libraries, aid for Palestine and also – for a lack of a better word – s**tposting. The platform is also becoming home to larger communities who felt like they were being alienated by Musk’s lack of content moderation on X.
According to a Bluesky spokesperson, “The health and positivity of Bluesky’s community is very important to us, and we’ve invested heavily in Trust and Safety. Last year, Bluesky required invite codes to sign up — not to build hype or exclusivity, but rather so we had time to grow the network responsibly and build our Trust and Safety team.”
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