What is Bluesky and why are so many people suddenly leaving X for the platform? | Blue sky

What is Bluesky?

Bluesky is a social media platform where people can interact with each other in the same way they do on X, by posting, replying, and messaging each other on a vertical user interface.

The recent influx of new users, largely from North America and Britain, has helped it reach more than 15 million users worldwide, up from 9 million in September, the company said.

How did it start and who owns it?

Bluesky started as a project within Twitter, after CEO Jack Dorsey announced in 2019 that the giant would fund developers to create an “open and decentralized social media standard.”

It became an independent company in 2022 and is now primarily owned by CEO Jay Graber.

How is it different from X?

Bluesky offers users the chance to moderate their experience more heavily.

This includes the ability to select the algorithm that powers your experience, allowing the creation of custom feeds, for example a mutual follower feed, a cat photo feed, or a feed for your special interest.

Bluesky also allows users to use website addresses as handles, which is expected to act as a verification tool for journalists, athletes and public figures who have a company’s website in their handle.

How does Bluesky deal with trolls?

While

These include allowing users to unlink an original post of theirs from someone else’s quote post, preventing unwanted interactions.

Why do people leave X for Bluesky?

The platform has previously benefited from discontent with X and its billionaire owner, Elon Musk, who is closely linked to the successful election campaign of newly elected US President Donald Trump.

Bluesky reported that it added 3 million new users in the week after X was suspended in Brazil in September and another 1.2 million in the two days after X announced it would allow users to view messages from people they had blocked.

X users have also reported an increase in bots, making the site difficult to use.

Who already uses it?

Several MPs have already taken the step, including Security Secretary Jess Phillips, Liberal Democrat technology spokesperson Layla Moran and Labour’s Diane Abbott.

American actor Jamie Lee Curtis has spoken out about her decision to leave X after sharing a screenshot confirming she had deactivated her account in a post on Instagram.

TV presenter and naturalist Chris Packham, comedian Dara O Briain and Countdown’s Susie Dent are also among the public figures on the network.