Is Bluesky Finally Dead?

idk man, maybe it's just you

A few months ago, I wrote a post titled "The Skies Aren't Getting Bluer", where I was pretty cynical about Bluesky's future. I stand by a lot of what I said, the platform is flawed, and its long term fate is far from certain. However, a new narrative has begun to take hold, one that declares Bluesky as a platform that's not just flawed, but already deep in its grave. A failed experiment, some would call.

And to that, I have to say: You're missing the point entirely!

Bluesky Is Not X, And Is Not Meant to Be

The core misunderstanding stems from how people approach Bluesky in the first place. Users migrating from X have been conditioned to be passive content vacuums. They open the app and expect to be force-fed a stream of memes, outrage content, and drama by a finely-tuned algorithm that constantly keeps them hooked. Instead, they land on Bluesky's “Discover” feed, see a handful of posts that range from milquetoast at best to cringeworthy at worst, and declare the platform dead on arrival.

The issue here is that...you're not actually supposed to use the “Discover” feed! Bluesky, in its current form, is a very deliberate throwback to old-school Twitter, from the time before algorithms took over. The whole experience hinges on the “Following” tab, where you are expected to actually follow people. You have to curate your own timeline, build your own community, and actively seek out the content you want to see.

For people whose brains have been rewired by a decade of algorithmic dopamine hits (*cough* TikTok *cough*), this is work. They don't want to work; they want to be entertained. Kids wanna open the app and get hit by them dank memez. And Bluesky isn't that.

Honestly, Bluesky is partially to blame here. Their “Discover” feed is complete dogshit. It's a collection of the most uninteresting and lame posts imaginable, seemingly curated by an algorithm with the personality of a wet cardboard box. It feels like it was added out of a sense of reluctant obligation, and I'm fairly certain that was actually the case here.

The solution is obviously to remove it being there by default, so those who came from X don't default to it and have an awful first impression. I mean, they could just make it not suck ass, but that'd mean turning it into another hyper-engaging algorithmic feed, which would only turn Bluesky into the very cesspool people were trying to escape.

So what will they do? Probably nothing, but it'd be great if they at least made it less prominent, because currently it almost feels like Bluesky is ASKING for the reputation they have, which is…

“Bluesky Is Boring and Full of Band Kids”

Since I had to promote the launch of Operius DX, I went back on X for a bit. There, I saw what people were talking about, and this was one of those things.

Honestly, this might be my favorite criticisms of the platform, because it's so revealing. It feels like talking to someone who just got out of an abusive relationship and is now complaining that their new, loving partner is “too predictable”. Yes, Bluesky is tamer. It's less chaotic, perhaps more “boring”. But if you'd ask me, I'd take “boring” over the constant, soul-crushing barrage of trolls, crypto scammers, and rage-baiting blue checks of X any day.

Bluesky also seemingly has garnered a reputation for being a platform for people with no sense of humor. This is the part I'm most puzzled by. There are tons of posts in X with thousands of likes, where they make up a person, then say “This is what Bluesky is like”, then get mad. Bizarre stuff, because I've never met a single person like that on Bluesky. They were a more common occurrence on X, if anything.

That's not to say Bluesky is a utopia devoid of weirdos and assholes, though. They aren't anywhere near as common as they're on X, but they're still there! They're usually just...a different breed. They're the earnest, chronically online liberal assholes who act like they are the ultimate moral authority, not too different from the kind of people you'd find on Reddit. Thank god they don't pop up often.

“It's a Liberal Echo Chamber”

This brings us to the next big complaint: that Bluesky is just a hangout for progressives, and lacks “ideological diversity”. I mean, first of all, let's be honest here, nobody wanders onto Truth Social expecting to have a nuanced debate with a group of leftists. Yet the expectation for Bluesky was...what, exactly?

Okay, that's a pretty bad comparison actually. I mean, there was nothing in the Bluesky founding charter that said it had to be the exclusive domain of progressive politics in the first place. It started as a decentralized protocol, and when it launched, it attracted a diverse exodus from X. Some were tired of the platform's excessive focus on algorithmic content, while others were put off by the platform's new owner and his push of right-wing politics. This included artists, game developers, computer nerds, academics, and yes, the political types.

Yet, based on how people are talking about it, you'd never guess that many vibrant, non-political communities also exist there. Like, you wouldn't believe the number of posts on X on this topic, many frustrated with how it's infested with liberals or whatever, as if politics is the only thing people ever discuss on social media! I've even seen people with seemingly non-political accounts reflect this sentiment, which only shows how just being on X alone can push people further into right-wing talking points.

The Great Wall of Politics

And this, I think, is the most dangerous part. We're currently entering a new era of social media, where everything is dividing along political lines. X is for the conservatives, the memesters, and the terminally online culture warriors. Bluesky is for the liberals, the artists, and the nerds.

In my previous post, I advocated for smaller, more focused communities. But this isn't that. This is the opposite. This is taking broad, general-purpose platforms and cleaving them in two, creating massive, politically charged echo chambers. It's a recipe for even greater polarization.

Let's be fair: Bluesky didn't ask for this. As I said earlier, it was conceived merely as a Twitter side-project about decentralization, and launched as a lifeboat during the X exodus. A lot of the people who flocked there were specifically those who were against Elon's politics. Bluesky's political leaning is a direct reaction to X's radicalization, which came first.

But the result is the same. An open platform that should be a haven for creativity is being walled off and labeled as the “liberal corner of the internet”. And that's a fucking shame.

What Is My Experience Like?

For the first couple of months of me becoming active on Bluesky, my experience on the platform was overwhelmingly positive! There was a real feeling of excitement in the air. People were messing around with starter packs, labelers, custom feeds… New people were joining constantly, everyone was scrambling around to follow people back and find new people to follow, and everyone seemed to be riding this wave of optimism I hadn't seen anywhere else online in years.

Sadly, though, the honeymoon phase eventually ended, and a lot of that excitement has slowly died down. Don't get me wrong, I still have a lot of fun on the platform, and I still think it's a decent place to be, but that initial spark is gone. Starter packs are basically forgotten, labelers fizzled out, and while custom feeds still exist, they're not being created or shared with the same frequency. It feels like a lot of the platform's most clever ideas just...stalled out.

Activity's dropped quite a bit too. I definitely see fewer posts on my timeline these days, and there's a definitive dip in engagement on my own posts too. To be fair, Bluesky never matched the numbers I used to get at Twitter's height, but lately it's become a lot harder to get my stuff seen in the first place.

Case in point: 2 days ago, I shared a video of a small Lumines-style puzzle game I made for fun. On X, it pulled in around 250 likes, which is about what I'd expect actually. On Bluesky, it was closer to...50. Ouch.

To be clear, I'm not the type of guy to focus on numbers on social media, but the drop-off was so sharp that even I couldn't ignore it.

On the flip side, yesterday was my birthday, and I posted a dumb (shit)post about it on both platforms. On X, it got 13 likes and a single reply, which is probably a new personal low. On Bluesky? 26 likes and six replies. Not huge numbers either way, but hey, Bluesky actually outperformed X here. That's...something!

What I think is going on here is that, yes, Bluesky has a smaller reach, but it's more concentrated. Since it's the preferred platform for artists and tech geeks, a lot more people I know migrated there, resulting in these numbers where more personal posts perform better on Bluesky, and posts with more potential for being shared around perform better on X.

This is all to say… No, Bluesky isn't dead. People who are still there continue posting, building things, and engaging with the community. Compared to Mastodon (which probably deserves a eulogy of its own), Bluesky remains in rather healthy shape. Even when compared to X, my posts on average pull similar numbers on both sites, even if they're way below what Twitter used to deliver in its heyday.

...but it's also not thriving the way we hoped it would, nor has it managed to completely dethrone X. Instead, it carved itself out a weird niche that it never set out to have, and I don't think that's very good for the platform in the long run.

The solution? Pt. 2

See, the solution isn't to find a perfect platform; it's to recognize that we are the platform. A social media platform is nothing more than the sum of its users and the culture they create. If you don't like that culture, just change it!

If you really want to stick with micro-blogging style social media, then at the very least pick a platform that actually respects you, and try to make it feel like home. Right now the only platform that does this is Bluesky, even with its flaws, even with its (potentially) lower levels of engagement.

First, put some time in and start curating your “Following” list.

As I said earlier, Bluesky is full of artists and creative types, and they make for fun people to follow on social media! Look up the writers of the last few books you read, look up the devs of indie games you liked, look up all your favorite YouTubers! And...give them a follow!

Don't forget to tell your friends that you're on Bluesky as well! Encourage them to join too, and follow back those who do so.

Next, curate your timeline further.

I cannot emphasize how essential muting words is, and very few people actually do it. I have the words “Trump” and “capitalism” muted, for example. Not because I cannot stand the criticism of Trump and love money, but because I'm really exhausted by those topics and seeing people complain about capitalism for the 200th time isn't good for my own mental health.

On Bluesky, you don't need to be liberal politically, but you need to be liberal with the block and mute buttons. If someone is being a dick to you, block them. If someone is being a dick in general and you're tired of seeing their posts, mute them.

Build the experience you want. Don't forget that it's a conscious, ongoing effort. It requires you to be an active participant, not a passive content consumer. It's the digital equivalent of tending a garden instead of just lying in a field and waiting for flowers to grow. I can assure you, it's well worth it.

Be the change you want to see. -Gandhi or some old fuck nobody cares about

In the end, the choice comes down to either letting the algorithm turn our brains into sludge or actively fighting to build something better, and I know which one I'm choosing. We have to stop waiting for a savior platform to fix the internet for us. The responsibility is ours, either by creating our own spaces, or by making the existing ones better.

More Blog Posts