In November 2024, following Donald Trump’s re-election, Bluesky, a microblogging platform, experienced a significant increase in users, with a 500% surge leading to 2.5 million active users. This growth was fueled by the platform’s unique “federated” infrastructure, which allows users to control their feeds, maintain their identities across platforms, and avoid centralized moderation. The platform raised $15 million during this period, contributing to a total of $100 million in funding. Bluesky was praised by figures like Mark Cuban, who described it as a “less hateful world,” and media scholars who saw it as a promising alternative to other social media platforms. Despite its initial success, the platform’s growth has slowed, and its user base has become more homogeneous, which has limited its broader appeal.
QUESTION: How might the rise of platforms like Bluesky, with their focus on user control and decentralized moderation, influence the future of social media?
Bluesky set out to fix social media. Now it’s running into familiar problems
