Bluesky, a microblogging social network that originated as a project within Twitter, is gaining mainstream prominence as users increasingly turn to the platform for its decentralized and open approach to social media. Since opening to the public in early 2024, Bluesky has attracted a diverse range of users, from technologists and organizations to mainstream media outlets and local TV meteorologists.

One of the primary reasons for Bluesky's growing popularity is its ability to address two of the chief complaints against Twitter: the difficulty of seeing desired content and the inability to control online harassment. Bluesky offers users more control over their experience through features like user-created "starter packs" that make it easy to find and follow people by topic, robust moderation tools, and the option to view posts either chronologically or via built-in or user-generated feeds.

A notable example of Bluesky's appeal is the creation of communities-within-communities, such as Blacksky, launched by technologist Rudy Fraser. Blacksky aims to offer content "created by and for Black users" as well as moderation tools designed to preemptively block online harassment that many Black users often experience. The platform's features have encouraged users to feel safer online, with one user recently posting, "Shoutout to @blacksky.app... I feel safe for the first time in a long time online."

Getting started on Bluesky is relatively easy, with a simple onboarding process that allows users to choose a username at the default bsky.social domain or use a web domain they control as their Bluesky user name. Users can also find people to follow using user-created starter packs, third-party searchable starter listings, or the Discover feed, which is somewhat customizable.

Bluesky's decentralized nature and open-source protocol have attracted developers, who can build custom feeds, bots, and client apps using the free API. The platform has starter templates for building these tools, and developers can code in languages like TypeScript, Python, Dart, and Go. For R users, there are two packages, atrrr and bskyr, that can be used to create a searchable collection of Bluesky bookmarks.

As a Public Benefit Corporation, Bluesky is owned by CEO Jay Graber and the Bluesky team, with investments from companies including Blockchain Capital. The company has raised $15 million in Series A financing and plans to introduce a premium user subscription service, which will offer additional features such as posting higher-quality videos or customized profiles, but without algorithm boosts.

Despite being smaller than alternatives like Twitter or Threads, Bluesky is growing rapidly, with the platform jumping from around 12 million registered users in mid-October to more than 24 million today. The bsky.app website has seen a significant increase in traffic, with 122.7 million visits in November, up from 75.8 million in October. Some media outlets, such as the Boston Globe, are reporting higher engagement on the platform than on larger sites, with traffic from Bluesky resulting in 4.5 times the conversions to paying digital subscribers.

As Bluesky continues to gain traction, it will be interesting to see how the platform evolves and addresses the challenges that come with its decentralized nature. With its open approach and robust moderation tools, Bluesky is poised to become a significant player in the social media landscape.