Following the conclusion of the 2024 US presidential election, the social network Bluesky has been expanding quickly. Since the November election, more than 14 million people have visited the website, increasing its user base to almost 30 million on January 31. Mark Hamill, a star of Star Wars, just joined the website and called himself a “Twitter quitter.” Additionally, New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the first individual to amass more than one million followers on the network. With the exception of the company’s account, that is the first for any Bluesky account. As of right moment, Ocasio-Cortez has 1.6 million followers.

The site’s stats are tracked by at least two dynamic counters made by Bluesky users. Theo Sanderson, a professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, provided one counter; another counter is by a person who uses the website and goes by Natalie.

Continue reading: Bluesky Starter Packs: How to Locate and Make Them

During the time immediately following the election, the site acquired more than 1 million members every day, according to an email received last month by a business official. At such rate, around 12 new users are added per second. There were 9 million subscribers in September, compared to 30 million now.

Despite its recent surge, Bluesky still has a ways to go before it can overtake other websites. According to Forbes, X has 588 million users worldwide as of September, down from 611 million in April. Meta’s rival to X, Threads, boasts over 275 million users per day.

The X Factor

The Trending X Factor Many Bluesky members are making reference to the election in their initial postings, but it’s impossible to tell how many new users departed because of Elon Musk, the owner of X, publicly endorsing President-elect Donald Trump. According to Wired, a significant portion of Taylor Swift’s fan base—which was previously quite prevalent on X—is moving to Bluesky.

The social networking site Bluesky is quite similar to X, which was originally known as Twitter. After billionaire Musk purchased the website, X saw several changes, including the retirement of the blue checkmarks that indicated verified users, the reinstatement of accounts that had been banned, and the launch of a new subscription service.

X said that it was altering its block feature, which let users to prevent others from viewing their messages, on October 16.

on the website. If a person’s postings are set to public, blocked accounts can now view them on X, but they are unable to like, react, or repost them. X user “That’s not blocking,” he said. “That’s supporting stalking.”

Bluesky said in a post the next day, October 17, that it had received 500,000 visitors in a single day. One Bluesky user commented, “First day here,” in response to the business’s post about its expansion. “I’m just getting soaked. utilized Twitter for a long time, but it’s not as active as it once was.

Additionally, X changed its terms of service to require that any user-filed litigation against the site be heard in a federal court located in north Texas “whose In political lawsuits, courts routinely give conservative plaintiffs victory, according to The Globe and Mail.

These recent developments could have contributed to the increase in interest in Bluesky, which earlier this year witnessed a spike in user accounts when Brazilian judges barred X (the block was ultimately restored after X paid a fine). Users claim that Bluesky is the app that most closely resembles X, according to The New York Times.

See also: Bluesky Is the Little Solace I’ve Been Seeking. I hope it endures.

Here are some essential facts regarding Bluesky.

How can I register?

Simply make an account on the main page to join. The Bluesky app is available for iOS or Bluesky may be used on your desktop or Android.

In order to provide an authentication code, it will need your phone number and email address. You will then be prompted to select a username and password. Then you’re in.

In what ways does Bluesky resemble X and Threads?

You should understand Bluesky’s design and intent if you’re used to X.

The website employs messages that scroll vertically, with users’ little round photo avatars and symbols beneath the words that indicate the number of likes, comments, and reposts they have gotten. The concept appears to be rather similar to that of X and Meta’s Threads, which is now the second-best free app on the App Store, after Bluesky.

See also: Is It Time to Stop Using X on Twitter? This Is How

Who is responsible?

Another Twitter/X relationship is as follows: Co-founder of Twitter The Bluesky project started in 2019 while Jack Dorsey was the CEO of Twitter. He was previously on the board of directors. The CEO of Bluesky is Jay Graber.

X’s previous name is even connected to Bluesky’s. According to a Bluesky user, Dorsey stated that the name alludes to Twitter’s bird mascot, which is said to be able to fly even more freely in an open blue sky. In May, Dorsey departed the board, reportedly due to the addition of moderating tools by the site.

Despite not capitalizing the S in “sky,” the site’s name is pronounced “blue sky.” It should not be rhymed with “brewski.”

The software is based on a social media infrastructure developed by the business called the authenticated transport protocol, or AT.

of an extensive network of locations.

What makes Bluesky unique?

Domains as handles
For starters, if you’d like, you may make your domain your handle. Verification might be aided by this. After Musk started deleting blue checkmarks from verified accounts that refused to pay a monthly subscription, the matter became contentious for Twitter.

According to the Bluesky Social corporate blog, “A newsroom like NPR could set their handle to be @npr.org.” Subdomains might then be used to designate the handles of any journalists that NPR wishes to confirm to be @name.npr.org. Additionally, brand accounts might use their handle as their domain.

Moderation

Moderation is distinct as well. According to a different blog post, Bluesky has already implemented automated moderation. a community labeling system, characterized as “something similar to shared mute/block lists.”

Although you may control that by following or banning specific accounts, users of many social media sites are seen content from a feed that is chosen for them by an algorithm. But Bluesky aims to give you the option to choose what you see using a number of different algorithms.

Accounts can be blocked, which goes a step further and means that neither you nor the other account can view or engage with each other’s postings, or they can be muted, which stops you from receiving any notifications or top-level posts from them. Additionally, you may report abusive posts or accounts. The blocking feature can be very useful for users who were dissatisfied with X’s latest blocking behavior update.

In order to prevent pile-ons and other harmful conduct, you can disconnect your posts from other users’ posts that quote you and conceal responses to your posts.

Maintaining relationships Even if Bluesky undergoes changes, creators who gain a following on the platform may eventually be able to maintain relationships with their followers.

The third-party Sky Follower Bridge is a free program that looks through your follower list and follows accounts with the same names on Bluesky if you wish to follow the individuals you followed on X. There will be many dormant Bluesky accounts and a few false positives, but generally we’ve discovered that it functions really well.

The rules that dictate how material is sorted and suggested to consumers are known as custom feed algorithms. Custom feeds are a feature offered by Bluesky that lets you select the algorithm that decides what you view.

“Imagine you want your timeline to only be posts from your mutuals, or only posts that have cat photos, or only posts related to sports — you can simply pick your feed of choice from an open marketplace,” according to a blog entry on the website. More information regarding algorithmic choosing and bespoke feeds may be found in a lengthy post. To add and find new feeds, click the hashtag symbol at the bottom of the app.

The feed generator starting kit on the website allows developers to generate a unique feed, and according to the website, the tools will soon become simple enough for the rest of us to create bespoke feeds.

Initial packets
Do you want to follow a well picked list of individuals and go straight into Bluesky? You have the option to follow starter packs, which are user-generated lists that are typically themed. CNET has a detailed explanation here, but to put it just, they are comparable to what X refers to as lists and are a fantastic method to start a reliable feed that is tailored to your interests.

Read more: Bluesky Makes It Simple to Locate Your Favorites on X (Twitter). How to Do It

Who is it being used by?
The following is a brief list of some of the individuals and organizations who post on Bluesky.

• Mark, a Star Wars star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Hamill Representative
• Pop icon Dionne Warwick
• Film director Guillermo del Toro, singer Lizzo, and actor Ben Stiller
• The X character known as Dril (actual name: Paul Dochney)
• Senator of the United States of Minnesota Smith Tina
• Writer Stephen King’s humorous website An onion
• actor Trek actor George Takei, original EGOT Barbra Streisand, 17th-century diarist Samuel Pepys, web cartoonist Randall Monroe, also known as XKCD, author Colson
• Whitehead, and WWW inventor Tim Berners-Lee
• Drew Carey is an actor and host of game shows.
• Drew Magary, author and author of Defector
• Science fiction writer William Gibson, New York Times
• God.