I would like to say I saw Bluesky Social’s big moment coming. After all, I joined the social network in April 2023 when few knew about it, and Twitter Founder and ex-charmingly quirky tech CEO Jack Dorsey was leading it.
I rooted around a bit, and despite its threadbare interface, I declared it “quiet, reserved, thoughtful, or even polite. Overall, BlueSky is the equivalent of a social media Shangri-La.”
This week though it resembled the opening hours of a classic Black Friday Sale at Macy’s as millions of people reportedly joined Bluesky, prompted in part by what may be the imminent collapse of X (formerly Twitter). Sorry, it’s not actually collapsing but instead having a moral collapse since it’s being run by one narcissist who is now aligned with the U.S.’s incoming Narcissist-in-Chief.
Instagram’s Threads has for months served as the safe social media harbor for X refugees, but for as good and as popular as that platform has become, it still has yet to replace the real-time news and information nature that made the original Twitter so compelling. Instagram CEO and Threads leader Adam Mosseri has made it fairly clear that news is not what drives Threads, and he shows little intention of helping it thrive on the platform, at least not yet.
Stefon would love this
I don’t know if Bluesky will be any different, but for the moment, it’s the most exciting place on social media. If Saturday Night Live’s Stefon were describing it, he might say:
“If you’re looking for a good time on social media, look no further. New York’s hottest social media club is Bluesky. Inside it has everything, posts about Alf’s privates, ex-Twitter drifters carrying cute cat pics, and Lizzo wondering if the internet is fun again.”
Since I last checked Bluesky – and it had been months – the platform on mobile and desktop has grown. It’s a cleaned-up version of old Twitter or current Threads but still lacks some key functions like polls and GIFS.
The activity was so frantic on Tuesday that Bluesky Social froze up and started delivering empty pages and artless posts. It really did feel like Twitter 1.0, all that was missing was a Fail Whale.
So many people from so many strata of life were joining that they were sometimes stumbling into their doppelgangers. It seems that while Bluesky was operating mostly in the shadows, some took it upon themselves to adopt the handles of famous people. Lizzo and Mara Wilson (author and the little girl from Mrs. Doubtfire) both found their fake selves. Lizzo resorted to creating a new handle, Lizzobeeating,bsky.social, to combat the @lizzo imposter.
Imposter syndrome
Soon, I was arguing with people on Bluesky about the need for a real verification system and was swiftly reminded that one already exists. You just have to set up a domain for yourself and do something with DNS, and… Right. No normal person is going to do that.
I did find myself having fun on Bluesky. It felt like a homecoming of sorts as more and more people finally gave up on Twitter and marched over to the newer platform. It’s not clear if they were also giving up on Threads – I see no reason to do so – or planned on supporting multiple platforms.
The thing is with these distributed platforms, you could ostensibly post in one place and have it appear elsewhere. I do this on Threads where all my posts get pushed to the Federated platform as well. I don’t visit these other platforms but appreciate the enhanced audience.
I now have roughly 1,000 followers on Bluesky, about a fifth of what I have on Threads and miles away from the 89K (and dropping) I still have on the moribund X. I don’t know what that number means anymore. Followers do not equal engagement, which is the only reason I post on social media.
Threads engagement has improved in recent months, but it’s unpredictable. Bluesky is so new that everyone is jumping on almost every post. That won’t last.
When will the good times end?
I guess I’m now wondering what I do next. Do I shut down X (Twitter) and spend all my time on Bluesky? Do I keep Threads on as a backup? Even if I leave X (Twitter), I won’t delete my account and the record of the good times like when I taught Levar Burton how to Tweet or the first time Captain Kirk (William Shatner Tweeted at me). The internet is far too quick to delete historical records, and I have no interest in joining that unfortunate trend. But staying active on the platform seems less appealing by the second.
Bluesky, on the other hand, is so fresh-faced that it has nothing but appeal. I know that won’t last, just like babies don’t stay cute. They grow into dirty children and then surly teens before becoming uninteresting adults (or worse).
Whatever happens, Bluesky will never recreate Twitter 1.0, just like Threads can’t really replace it. As a society, we have moved on from that. Open discourse on social media might start fresh and sweet, but it always curdles. I guess we should just enjoy this Bluesky moment – I know I am – but maybe also start thinking about how we return to having these experiences in real life.
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lance.ulanoff@futurenet.com (Lance Ulanoff)
