Honestly, most people still think Bluesky social media is just another Twitter clone. It looks like it. It feels like it. You post short bursts of text, follow people, and get annoyed at strangers. But that’s just the surface. If you dig into the plumbing—the stuff Jay Graber and the team are actually building—it's clear this isn't just another app trying to survive in the shadow of Elon Musk's X. It’s an attempt to reinvent how the internet works.
Remember the early days of email? You could have a Gmail account and send a message to someone on Yahoo. Nobody thought twice about it. That's "interoperability." Somewhere along the line, social media became a series of walled gardens. If you're on Instagram, you can't see a post from someone on Bluesky unless they screenshot it. Bluesky is trying to go back to the email model using something called the AT Protocol.
It's weird.
For the first year or so, you needed an invite code to get in. It felt exclusive, maybe even a bit snobbish. But that changed in early 2024. Now, the gates are open, and the population is exploding. People aren't just moving there because they hate the current state of X; they’re moving there because they want to own their data.
The AT Protocol Is the Real Story
Most users don't care about "decentralization." They care if the app crashes or if the memes are funny. But the AT Protocol (Authenticated Transfer Protocol) is why Bluesky social media matters for the long haul.
Think of it like this. On most platforms, the company owns your identity. If they ban you, your followers, your posts, and your digital life vanish. You have to start from scratch elsewhere. On Bluesky, your identity is portable. It’s tied to a domain name or a unique identifier that isn't locked to one server.
If you decide you don't like the main Bluesky app, you can theoretically take your entire social graph—all your friends and all your posts—and move to a different app built on the same protocol. No one has really done this successfully at scale before. Mastodon tried with ActivityPub, but let’s be real: Mastodon is confusing for the average person. Bluesky makes it feel like a normal app while keeping the "open" engine under the hood.
Why Custom Feeds are a Game Changer
This is where it gets cool. On X or Facebook, an algorithm decides what you see. It's usually whatever makes you the angriest or keeps you scrolling the longest.
Bluesky social media does it differently. They have "Custom Feeds."
You can subscribe to a feed that only shows you posts about "Quiet Skies" (nature photography) or a feed specifically for "Science Twitter" expats. You aren't beholden to a single corporate algorithm. If you want a feed that only shows you chronological posts from people you follow, you got it. If you want a feed curated by a community of moss enthusiasts, that exists too.
It shifts the power from the developers to the users. It’s decentralizing the choice of what you consume.
The Jack Dorsey Connection
We have to talk about Jack. Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter, originally funded Bluesky as an internal project. He wanted to see if Twitter could eventually become a client for an open protocol rather than a closed database.
Things got messy.
Dorsey eventually left the Bluesky board. He’s been pretty vocal about his preference for Nostr, another decentralized protocol that’s way more "hardcore" about anonymity and lack of central control. He even deleted his Bluesky account a while back. This created a bit of a rift in the tech community. Some see Bluesky as "Decentralized Lite" because it still has a main company (Bluesky Social, PBC) providing the primary experience.
But for most of us? We just want a place that doesn't feel like a burning dumpster fire.
Bluesky is led by Jay Graber, a developer with a background in decentralized tech (like Zcash). She’s been very clear that the goal is to make the company eventually unnecessary. They want the protocol to live on even if the company goes bust. That’s a radical way to run a business.
Moderation in a World Without Gatekeepers
This is the biggest hurdle. If anyone can host a server on the AT Protocol, how do you stop the bad stuff?
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Bluesky uses "composable moderation."
Instead of a single "Trust and Safety" team acting as the ultimate judge, jury, and executioner, Bluesky allows for independent moderation services. You can choose to follow a labeling service that filters out spam or hate speech. If a community wants a stricter environment, they can subscribe to different "labelers."
It’s not perfect. In fact, it's messy.
During the first big waves of growth, Bluesky struggled with moderation. People were testing the limits. But the beauty of the system is that it’s not one-size-fits-all. You can have a "safe for work" experience while someone else chooses a more unfiltered view, and those two people can still technically be part of the same network without the company having to police every single syllable.
The "Federation" Milestone
For a long time, Bluesky was just one big server. It wasn't actually decentralized yet. That changed recently when they opened up federation.
Now, individuals and organizations can host their own "PDS" (Personal Data Server).
Imagine a world where the New York Times hosts a server for its journalists. Or a university hosts a server for its students. You would see a handle like @reporter.nytimes.com. You know exactly who they are because they are authenticated by their own domain. It brings a level of trust and verification back to the internet that we lost when blue checks became something you could just buy for eight bucks.
Is Bluesky Actually "Growing"?
Numbers don't lie, but they can be misleading. As of late 2024 and heading into 2025, Bluesky crossed the 10 million user mark. That’s tiny compared to X’s hundreds of millions or Threads’ 200 million+.
But the vibe is different.
Threads feels like a mall. It’s clean, it’s safe, and it’s owned by Meta, which means your data is being used to sell you detergent. Bluesky feels like a coffee shop in a neighborhood that’s just starting to get trendy. It’s where the artists, the techies, and the "power users" went when the other platforms became too noisy.
The engagement rates on Bluesky are weirdly high. You can have 500 followers on Bluesky and get more interaction than you do with 5,000 followers on X. Why? Because the feeds aren't suppressed by an algorithm trying to force you to pay for "reach."
What Most People Get Wrong
People think Bluesky is just for people who hate Elon. That’s a part of it, sure. But that’s a reactionary reason to join a platform. Reactionary energy eventually dies out.
The real reason to pay attention to Bluesky social media is the shift toward User Sovereignty.
If you spend ten years building a following on a platform, and that platform changes its terms of service or gets bought by a billionaire you don't like, you are stuck. You're a digital sharecropper. Bluesky is the first major attempt to give the "land" back to the people who actually farm it.
Some honest downsides:
- No Direct Messages (for a long time): They finally added DMs, but they weren't end-to-end encrypted at the start. That's a big deal for privacy nerds.
- The "Echo Chamber" Risk: Because users can choose their own feeds and moderation, it’s very easy to never see an opposing viewpoint again.
- Video is Late: Compared to the TikToks of the world, Bluesky is very text-heavy. They are adding video, but it’s not the primary focus.
How to Get Started (The Right Way)
If you’re ready to jump in, don’t just sign up and wait for the fun to happen. You have to be proactive.
- Verify your domain: If you own a website, use it as your handle. Instead of
@user123.bsky.social, you can be@yourname.com. It looks professional and proves you are who you say you are. - Find your "Starter Packs": This is a brilliant feature Bluesky added. People can curate lists of accounts for beginners. Look for a "Starter Pack" in your niche—whether it’s journalism, coding, or bird watching.
- Explore the Feeds: Hit the "Feeds" tab and search for things you actually care about. Don't just stay on the "Discover" tab.
- Use Alt Text: The Bluesky community is very big on accessibility. If you post an image without a description, people will gently (or not so gently) remind you to add it.
Actionable Steps for the Skeptical
You don't have to delete your other accounts to see if this works.
First, set up a bridge. There are tools that allow you to cross-post from Mastodon or other Fediverse apps to Bluesky. This keeps your presence active without needing to jump between five apps.
Second, grab your handle. Even if you don't plan on using it daily, social media real estate is valuable. Secure your name before a squatter does.
Third, look at the developers. If you’re a dev, check out the AT Protocol documentation. Unlike the closed APIs of X and Reddit, Bluesky is actually encouraging people to build on top of them. We’re seeing third-party clients like "Graysky" that sometimes offer better features than the official app.
The "old" internet was built on open protocols like HTTP and SMTP. The "modern" internet was built on closed platforms. Bluesky social media is a bet that the future looks more like the past—open, messy, and owned by nobody.
It might fail. It might stay a niche playground for tech enthusiasts. But it’s the most interesting thing happening in social media right now because it’s actually trying to solve the problem rather than just complaining about it.
Next Steps to Secure Your Digital Identity:
- Check Handle Availability: Head to the Bluesky signup page and see if your preferred username or domain-based handle is still available.
- Audit Your Data: Look at your current social media settings on other platforms. Ask yourself: if this app disappeared tomorrow, would I lose my connection to my audience?
- Explore the AT Protocol: If you’re technically inclined, read the AT Protocol specifications to understand how data portability actually works at the code level.
- Join a Community Feed: Use the "My Feeds" section to find at least three niche communities that align with your professional or personal interests to see the "Custom Feed" logic in action.