It’s becoming bluesky A haven for those exiled from social network X, formerly known as TwitterA platform that has not only changed its name but also gotten worse in many ways. Bots, seemingly unchecked hate speech, and zero access to posts have caused many to say goodbye to Elon Musk’s social network.

X/Twitter users moving to other platforms is nothing new; For months we have read that many social network users announced that they were leaving for other borders; Mastodon, Threads and Bluesky were the most preferred alternatives. However, according to the data revealed by Bluesky, migration has been huge in recent days: up to a million people joined this social network in one day and managed to become one. The most downloaded application these days.

Bluesky’s appeal as an alternative to X is undeniable, and I personally have good reasons to choose this app as my new favorite social network.

Bluesky reminds us of the best Twitter before 2020

Musk bought Twitter (now X) in 2022, and the platform has only gotten worse since then. The businessman promised to eliminate bots on the social network, and now it is impossible to find a tweet or post that does not have a lot of visibility. Replies are full of bots. He also promised complete “freedom of expression”; This is distorted and we see a lot of misinformation, fraud and hateful messages on the social network.

It’s worth noting that X/Twitter got worse after Musk’s acquisition, yes but it had problems before, in fact in most cases These were the same problems, just on a smaller scale.. For this reason, some users have chosen to explore other frontiers, social networks that are alternatives or replacements for Twitter, but after more than a decade as a user it is difficult to leave.

However, a striking event occurred in recent weeks: Hundreds of thousands of people signed up for Bluesky every day. The main reasons for this mass exodus appear to be changes in X’s politics and the recent presidential elections in the United States. Bluesky announced that one million new accounts are registered on the platform every day, and although this migration started in the USA, it has already reached other borders. The application became the most downloaded application in Spain..

What does Bluesky have without an X? For me, the answer is clear: The overall experience is more satisfying. Bluesky is an app that feels like the Twitter of those better times, when the microblogging social network truly felt like a square where we could all chat, finding our niche. But now X is a place where only a few people have a megaphone as long as they pay for it.

It’s not just the fact that X is dominated by toxicity, another of the biggest problems with this platform is that you don’t pay for the subscription. Writing with X without paying a subscription feels like speaking into the void.

Bluesky on mobile and desktop: simple, clean interface that resembles the Twitter of yesteryear.

Bluesky has already announced that they will offer subscriptions at some point, but this will not affect the reach of the streams, just adding more customization options and advanced tools. Another difference is that X can use our posts to train its AI, Grok. Bluesky promised not to do the same.

At Bluesky, the experience is simpler and feels more enjoyable. The platform even offers more tools to control who can see your posts so users can stay informed. greater control over our online privacy and security. Additionally, while on X and Threads the recommendation algorithm is the mainstay of the content we see, Bluesky feels more organic and prioritizes accounts we follow.

Additionally, ‘Feeds’, which are thematic lists created by users, are a very interesting tool for finding users and posts that share the same interest. I like these better than regular lists because they contain not only accounts but also related messages.

The biggest challenge now is, after the radical growth in the user base, bots and calls trolls They’ll start flooding the platform. The moderation team already receives thousands of reports of malicious activities and spam every day, so they need to take measures to address this.

Transition from X to Bluesky with numbers

Bluesky had approximately 15 million users before the day of the presidential election in the United States, but the platform’s growth has not stopped since then. The social network managed to add up to one million accounts in one dayWith nearly 10,000 new users every 15 minutes this past weekend. Currently, Bluesky has approximately 19 million registered users.

On the other hand, the analysis platform Similarweb assures that many X users not only moved to other platforms, but also about 115,000 users deleted their accounts on Musk’s social network a day after the elections in the United States. But X’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, assured that the social network has more users than ever.

Realistically, switching to Bluesky or another platform won’t make a big difference if those new users don’t become active users of the platform. Personally, changes

Bluesky not only replaces X, it can also be a place where we reshare and engage with ideas. chats with real people in our niches and groups It has the same interests as in the old days of Twitter.

Let #FollowFriday days come back.

Cover photo | Xataka Android + Shutterstock

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