Individuals are leaving Twitter (sorry, “X”) and are flocking of their hundreds of thousands to Bluesky — however what’s the new social media app?
As soon as upon a time, there was a cute little app referred to as Twitter. Okay, it wasn’t that little and it wasn’t at all times that cute. Nevertheless it did have candy little birdie as its emblem and logging on did not at all times make you wish to instantly gouge your eyes out.
The whole lot modified when Elon Musk took over the corporate in 2022. The little birdie was banished. Instead, an ominous “X” that vaguely resembled a cranium and crossbones. As an alternative of a feed crammed with pals and friends-of-friends, our timelines had been quickly overrun by vicious AI bots and adverts, whereas the true folks all appeared like they wished to destroy one another with essentially the most vicious phrases they might muster.
It is no marvel that many individuals jumped ship. By March of this 12 months, the variety of folks utilizing the app each day had dropped by nearly a fifth, as reported by NBC Information. Final week, the Twitter exodus was ramped as much as a brand new stage. The day after the US election noticed the most important drop in customers since Musk’s takeover. Musk’s marketing campaign to carry Donald Trump again into the White Home have confirmed to achieve success and, apparently, many Twitter/X customers not wished any half in it.
Amidst this mass retreat from X, a brand new social media platform has sprung up from the ashes: Bluesky. The app has skyrocketed, welcoming one million new customers because the election. With it is pleasant blue and white butterfly emblem and the refreshingly genial interactions on the timeline, the app appears like a breath of contemporary air after the minefields of X. Or maybe, one would possibly say, it feels just like the clouds have parted to disclose a sunny blue sky. However what precisely is it?
What’s Bluesky?
Developed by Jack Dorsey, a co-founder of Twitter, and led by Jay Graber, Bluesky is a decentralised social media platform. What does that imply? Whereas most social media platforms are “closed,” Bluesky offers its customers the liberty to create and construct with independence. In different phrases, customers can create their very own servers the place they retailer their very own knowledge and set their very own guidelines. This implies you possibly can be a part of particular servers that cater to your pursuits.
You too can keep on the primary server, Bluesky Social, and get the Twitter expertise.
Is Bluesky actually just like the “outdated” Twitter?
Bluesky definitely feels just like the Twitter of yore. After the trenches of Musk’s X the place a fast scroll by the very indignant, usually sexist timeline left you feeling bruised and war-torn, Bluesky appears like a refreshing stroll by a sunny meadow.
Most of what I’ve seen on there thus far is both pleasant or humorous and, most of the time, related to me and my pursuits.
Why? For one factor, the algorithm is extra just like the “outdated” Twitter algorithm, whereas X’s algorithm has a behavior of prioritising its Premium members. X has additionally turn into overrun with bots — have a look at any standard tweet and you will find numerous bot replies within the feedback. In reality, though Musk promised to scale back spam bots when he first bought the platform, in 2023, he introduced he can be permitting bots with “good content material” to stay and, as of September 2023, there have been reportedly extra energetic bots on the platform than ever. Musk hasn’t straight commented on this, however he’s seemingly conscious of the difficulty: in August 2024, he tweeted, “Are you continue to seeing a whole lot of bots in replies?”
