Tired of Meta and X’s endless algorithms, ads and refusal to moderate hate speech? I was too. When my friends and family started moving to Bluesky —a Twitter offshoot created by an ex-Twitter founder— I knew I had to check it out. Launched widely in early 2024, Bluesky has emerged as a promising Twitter replacement for those fed up with the established social media apps. Here is why I am hooked and why I think you might be, too.
Understanding Bluesky starts with knowing the team and the ideas behind it. The CEO of Bluesky, Jay Graber, calls herself a ‘digital rights activist’. She and her 20 person team’s mission is reportedly “to develop and drive large-scale adoption of technologies for open and decentralised public conversation.”
Bluesky is incorporated as a public benefit company in order to put community needs over financial stakeholder commitments – which means that they have an obligation to take into account the public in decisions they make. Basically, they have the freedom to do what they think is best for their company, not necessarily what’s going to make them the most money, which I do appreciate. Knowing that they actually care about the people who use their app is what really made me want to make the switch. I feel that many other app developers no longer care about their customers and only care about lining their pockets. The Bluesky team’s actions and design seem to reflect this change in their mission statement, with an app experience that, to me, feels like a breath of fresh air. Saying goodbye to the addictive algorithms and ads that have become all too familiar on major social media sites is so freeing.
Bluesky is a decentralised app, and if you are wondering what ‘decentralised’ means, you are not alone; it was a new concept for me as well. I am not very tech-savvy, so bear with me here; essentially, decentralised social media platforms give you more control over what you see and do on the app. Bluesky actually started as an ‘experiment’ within Twitter to create an open protocol on which content creators could create their own communities. And, if you decide to switch from one app to another within the AT Protocol network, you can do so seamlessly with your login information, posts and followers all moving with you.
I think that this ease of movement is a really unique concept, especially having grown up in the age of social media. Keeping up with trends and moving to different social media could sometimes get very confusing when I was younger, especially when people had different usernames on different apps. Do not even get me started on trying to keep track of all the passwords. It was, frankly, a nightmare. So, to be able to stay up to date on new social media apps (if that is your wish) and to be able to log in with the same information, I mean… that sounds amazing to me! Say goodbye to your Notes page filled with different emails, usernames, and passwords for different apps. I really believe that this is going to change social media in a positive way.
What I love most about Bluesky is its features and ease of use. First, since Bluesky was built on a protocol originally meant for Twitter, the user interface is very easy to navigate, and will be familiar to anyone who has used Twitter/X. This is helpful for users who are maybe less tech-savvy (like me) and are nervous about having to learn how to use a new app.
One of my favourite aspects of Bluesky that is unique to the app is the customisable ‘Feeds’ option. In the Feeds section, you can select different keywords that shape the content you get, streamlining what you see when you open each Feed. For example, there are different Feeds for science, astronomy, news, and art. I have already utilised this feature, and I really do appreciate being able to see content about a topic that I want to see. You can even create your own Feed that people can then join. Because there is no algorithm, once you have followed accounts you are interested in, you know that you will be getting the content you want.
Best of all, there are no ads on Bluesky. I can stay up to date with my friends and family without the distraction of algorithms thinking they know me best. I don’t know about you, but ads have become a real drag on my Instagram experience over the last few years. I miss the old Instagram, where you could open the app and see the most recent post. Now my friends and I tell each other when we’ve posted, because chances are it got lost in the algorithm. It’s refreshing to open an app and know you will see the content you want to see – in order of when it was posted – and not be bombarded by ads. Good-bye to all that noise!
So, have you been convinced to get on Bluesky yet? Many have already made the jump. According to Graber in a CNN interview in late 2024, a million users were being added per day and now amounts to over 30 million users, including major influencers. This fast growing platform delivers the same real-time updates people have grown accustomed to on X, only without the countless adverts and ineffective algorithms. Blueksy shows me what I want to see. When I was at home during the winter break I felt an earthquake in Boston. Within seconds, Bluesky was flooded with posts about the quake, sharing important information about the epicenter and impact. Fortunately, it was a minor tremor but the event was a testament to the growing popularity of Bluesky. While they do not have 600 million users like X, at least they are not losing users as, reportedly more than 7 million users left X in the EU from August 2023 to October 2024.
Whether you’re looking to change up your social media, or are curious about trying something new, I’d highly recommend checking out Bluesky. I can honestly say that I have enjoyed using it even more than I expected to. It has almost been nostalgic in a way: it reminds me of when I first got Twitter in middle school, and it has been really fun to explore and see what people can do with their Bluesky accounts. Bluesky is truly coming into its own as a popular social media app, and so far I have enjoyed its content, ease of use, and team behind it. I hope to see you on it!
