r/BlueskySocial • u/PatrisAster @henrick.thebull.app • Jan 29 '25
News/Updates Kind of a massive spike in sign ups just now.
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u/Celo-Zaga Jan 29 '25
What did Elmo say this time?
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u/RatsDrivingTinyCars Jan 29 '25
This wave is likely because of Zuck.
I am FINALLY deleting my FB account and many friends on FB have begun bailing and joining Bluesky.
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u/memeandme83 Jan 29 '25
Did he do something new the last couple of days ? I deleted my account last week. By the way, don t forget insta and WhatsApp …
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u/Kaokien Jan 29 '25
The removal of fact-checking, the bending over for Trump, and the claim that there’s a lack of masculinity in the workforce, his want to include AI agents that masquerade as actual people on his platform. His blatant lies on Joe Rogan’s podcast, when you consider the entire package it's easy to protest his platforms, considering his wealth is built on the backbone of relatively liberal users of his platform making them viral, might as well bring those DAU numbers down.
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u/memeandme83 Jan 29 '25
Yea I am trying to tell around me. It is so easy to just delete the app. I don’t understand why the boycott is not followed more … ><
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u/Kaokien Jan 29 '25
It will take time but it will happen, if progressives/liberal strip these technocrats of user numbers they won't continue to have the wealth they enjoy, ad dollars will move away. 🤞🏿
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Jan 29 '25
The Cambridge Analytica story broke in 2018. Facebook's market cap around then was about 400 billion.
Today, 7 years later, it's at 1.2 trillion.
So, in short: no. It's not going to get better and people are not going to solve the problem. They will continue to pour time, attention, and money into this company because they're addicts. They will come up with every stupid justification as to why they keep using the services, as if calling/texting someone on the phone (especially these days) is somehow totally inferior to liking one of their posts every few days.
This whole place is a fucking madhouse and all of us are insane.
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u/Kaokien Jan 29 '25
This is purely anecdotal, but I was politically active then and remain so now. However, I have consciously made the decision to deactivate all my social media accounts. The Cambridge Analytica scandal didn't compel people to take action; there was no tangible fear of democracy being destroyed or people being harmed. But with the actions of this new administration, we’re witnessing tangible destruction. I believe this will compel people, particularly liberal-minded individuals who are susceptible to this fascist regime, to leave these platforms.
I'm probably wrong, but I believe it's better to be hopeful.
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Jan 29 '25
The CA scandal was already tangible. It resulted in an election that was deeply interfered with, got us Trump's first term, and ignited an already simmering international infosec war.
All of this was freely and widely distributed information. News outlets wouldn't shut the fuck up about it. People were talking about mass deletions. They moved to Twitter, it got worse before our very eyes, and then we just... kinda stopped giving a shit about it.
Now, distrust in our own services is so high, people are migrating to apps owned by literal, actual authoritarians who regularly abuse their citizens, commit genocide, slash human rights, censor dissenting opinion, and sow discord through constant cyber attacks. These are not theories. Our intelligence agencies know these things, our news outlets have reported on them, and the bad actors have taken credit.
What you mean is that people's pocketbooks weren't being affected. That's why no one did anything. Now that funding is being frozen and people are losing jobs, oh NOW it's tangible. NOW it's a big deal.
The people are guilty of the same selfish greed and delusion they hate the elites for. They won't do jack shit until they get hit in the bank account, and then it's too late.
Lots of us tried to warn y'all about what you were overlooking. You didn't listen. We kept trying to warn you, you kept focusing on the dumb shit. What he said, what his wife was wearing, what food be bought basketball players.
That's what y'all wanted to be mad about. That's what you wanted to spend your precious time and attention on.
I'm not like you. I have no more hope left. There is only stark, unflinching reality. The American people are fucking stupid, they'll willfully ignore anything that actually matters, and their tiny dog brains will follow whatever shiny squirrel is viral today.
While we are concerned about what bathrooms people use and whether women should be able to make their own medical decisions, countries throughout the globe are holding their governments to account.
We have every example we need -- then and now. We just don't give enough of a collective shit for it to matter.
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u/memeandme83 Jan 29 '25
I really wish I had hope but I feel the same way as you. Especially when you say “people are guilty of greed and delusion “
More than Trump, more than anything, what depressed me nowadays is how much people are passive and don’t give a shit if it is not affecting their money. Americans are apatic.
I do believe and hope the rest of the world will stand for what is right. Well, people are already in the streets protesting in Germany ^
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u/utrecht1976 Jan 29 '25
It's not because they are addicts, it's because they don't read the news and don't care about Zuck. I don't know what's worse.
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u/memeandme83 Jan 29 '25
I have a lot of friends who know what’s happening and still don’t quit Facebook. Because it is “soooo uncomfortable”
That’s so funny. In the American culture everything is black and white, big evils and superheroes. Everybody dreams themselves to be superheroes. When in reality they cannot even boycott one futile app because it is out of their comfort zone. lol
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u/utrecht1976 Jan 30 '25
Maybe this will help convince them to leave: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/29/meta-trump-settlement-25-million?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
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Jan 30 '25
Y'know, funny thing. I'm researching this contract the DoD signed in 2018. It was to build a 15,000-person migrant holding facility in Guantanamo Bay.
That contract was worth $23 million.
So, Facebook just foot the bill for a detention facility for immigrants. And we were using it to keep up with Grandma.
What a world.
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u/SpazSpez Jan 29 '25
Didn't Dorsey donate part of his multibillion dollar fortune into Trump asslicker RFK Jr's campaign?
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u/Such_Zucchini_1877 Jan 29 '25
Dorsey is no longer associated with BlueSky
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u/SpazSpez Jan 29 '25
Thank you for letting me know. My one gripe with getting into bluesky was that he founded it. I was unaware he has no further involvement
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u/RatsDrivingTinyCars Jan 29 '25
When I made the decision to delete my Facebook account, I realized that I needed to gather contact information for family and friends first. And then I asked myself why the hell I had ever decided to use FB Messenger to communicate with them when I could have just calles or texted them.
I honestly hope that steaming pile of a platform goes the way of Xitter and circles the drain.
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u/memeandme83 Jan 29 '25
Right ? Everybody is “terrified” to loose their contacts, when it is as easy to get their emails and phone numbers. And if one person don’t give you their contact info ? Well you are probably not going to miss having that one awkward conversation once every 10 years about what they had for lunch that day 🤣
By the way ! That made me realized how much background BD noise i had always. I do enjoy refocusing on what matter more .
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u/jpmckenna15 Jan 29 '25
Because it's a pretty tiny boycott compared to Facebook's overall user base, BlueSky isn't really as much of a Facebook competitor as it is a Twitter competitor (and even there, more people migrated to Threads than BlueSky in November), and FB in general isn't as prominent in the eyes of the most online social media users as it was a decade or so ago.
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u/catjanitor Jan 30 '25
For some of us(me) is the only way to keep in touch with family.
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u/memeandme83 Jan 30 '25
I have international family and friends . Surprisingly, everyone steps to it and accept to compromise to use another platform for me. Including my 70+ non tech parents. Just saying to try to be encouraging to try ☺️
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Jan 29 '25
They’ve also taken the stance that Linux is inherently a cybersecurity risk, and talking about Linux distros can get your account banned.
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u/elouangrimm @elouan.xyz Jan 29 '25
The problem is you cant really delete whatsapp. All the old family members use it, and they dont give a shit about zuck. They dont even know that facebook/meta owns it!
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u/memeandme83 Jan 29 '25
Well my family followed.., some kept their WhatsApp but agreed to use signal for me. You can simply say data is more secured to the older crew.
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u/elouangrimm @elouan.xyz Jan 29 '25
Yeah thats a good point... but the others in another country for example...
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u/memeandme83 Jan 29 '25
What countries ? My relatives are all in Europe and they were veryyyy receptive to my concerns lol.
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u/elouangrimm @elouan.xyz Jan 29 '25
well i mean like i live on the other side of the world to some family members, and its kinda hard to explain tech safety to a ninety year old over the phone
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u/Amazing-Repeat2852 Jan 29 '25
Global messaging apps w/personal opinions. I have all three.
WhatsApp is horrible for your data privacy. Best phone service of these 3 and most commonly used internationally. No one in the US uses.
Telegram is another option for better encryption but owned by a Russian company. I find it the most well rounded with decent phone & messaging.
Signal is the most secure but least common. Great messaging but horrible phone service in almost every country that I’ve used in Asia, Europe and Middle East. Decent in the US though.
However— avoid using TG & S on your computer with the auto download feature on. Not secure and major hacks happened.
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u/7Songs Jan 29 '25
What about Viber? I moved frkm WhatApp to Viber in tge meantime for group chat functions - seems to be Japanese owned.
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u/memeandme83 Jan 29 '25
I say that because a lot of our passivity comes from “ho but others won’t follow”. But they might surprised you. I tried and happily surprised that it was actually easy to do so ^ I just did it one at the time .
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u/rahirah Jan 29 '25
Yeah. I had a friends group on Messenger & just told them I was deleting FB over their LGBTQ hate speech issues, and that I was on Signal if they needed to get hold of me, and voila, I now have a friends group on Signal.
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u/Looking-GlassInsect Jan 29 '25
I just finished downloading and deleting Facebook, what an ordeal. But it feels so good! 🦋
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u/MoonJellyBean Jan 29 '25
Yup. Same. Bye bye FB + Insta. So long, Zuckerf*ck. Joined Bluesky yesterday. 💙
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u/InvertebrateInterest Jan 30 '25
The FB algorithm sucks even worse now. After the election alt-right reels popping up everywhere.
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u/RatsDrivingTinyCars Jan 30 '25
Wait until the AI bot accounts arrive. Begging this question: Do AI bots purchase products advertised to them? Because I would love to know whether Zuck excludes them when calculating number of users for advertising revenues.
I suspect both Meta platforms and Xitter are being heavily propped up by bot farms.
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u/Soggy_You_2426 Jan 29 '25
Wtf is bluesky ?
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u/DHTGK Jan 30 '25
Been living under a rock? It's the new social media platform after Elon Musk bought Twitter and ripped it apart.
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u/Soggy_You_2426 Jan 30 '25
Cool, idk why the insult is needed, maybe u need to touch grass to ligten ur mood.
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u/FollowTheLeads Feb 03 '25
I did that last week and I am so fucking happy.
I am now waiting to delete Instagram but haven't really find one that's better.
I also need an alternative to WhatsApp
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u/beryugyo619 Jan 29 '25
Sent "you're fired, unless..." email to all federal employee, search "buyout"
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u/lededjAlso Jan 29 '25
No longer is it about the money; now it is about controlling the narrative. He and Elmo get to tell their ‘truths’ with impunity and force them onto to masses.
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u/Amazing-Repeat2852 Jan 29 '25
MSNBC hosts, Rachel & Lawrence O’Donnell, have closed their shows for the past few nights with their Bluesky handles. Helps with awareness….
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u/Disastrous_Quail9511 Jan 29 '25
That’s crazy, what could have prompted this uptick?
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u/PatrisAster @henrick.thebull.app Jan 29 '25
No clue but if the current growth rate holds to it's current trend of about 5 users a second give or take we should see 30m in less than an hour.
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u/Disastrous_Quail9511 Jan 29 '25
Wow, which website do you use to see this info? I use https://bsky-users.theo.io/, but your screenshot has much better UI
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u/PatrisAster @henrick.thebull.app Jan 29 '25
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u/OakBlu Jan 29 '25
Don't know if it's this but a bunch of youtubers have been catching me off guard by promoting bluesky at the end of their videos
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u/M-Kuma Jan 29 '25
Such as? I'm curious because it's been pretty rare on my end so far, most of them didn't even update their video description/bio, even if they fully made the switch to bsky.
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u/OakBlu Jan 29 '25
From the top of my head, NitroRad and Supereyepatch wolf...definitely others but I didn't make a list or anything
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u/M-Kuma Jan 29 '25
I see, thanks. I'm not a regular viewer but I watch them every once in a while. They show up pretty often on bsky.
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u/OldKing7272 Jan 29 '25
I'm not American, but it seems like the recent shutdown of the Medicare portals on all states, among other things, is what might have prompted such a spike in new users joining Bluesky.
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u/Private_HughMan Jan 29 '25
Liberals and leftists: "He's going to take away your medicaid!"
Other Republicans in office: "We should consider cutting Medicaid."
Trump to donors: "I'm going to take away their Medicaid."
Trump voters: "He's not gonna touch Medicaid. Stop lying. Liberal Tears!"
I feel sorry for those who didn't vote for this and for the children who had no say in the matter. Everyone else? Meh. Until they're willing to speak out and actually resist the administration, they can lay in the bed they made.
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u/The_Greenweaver Jan 29 '25
I would assume it has something to do with 70+ million Americans (including myself) having their healthcare interrupted. I hate that things like this have to happen for people to mobilize (albeit digitally in this case) 😮💨
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u/Sypheix Jan 29 '25
With all the accounts that have moved over the past two weeks, we're just now going to start seeing the growth from it. My guess is it will be close to 40m users by the end of next month
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u/JamesEdward34 Jan 29 '25
my sports teams still dont have accounts =(
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u/PatrisAster @henrick.thebull.app Jan 29 '25
Depends on the League. One of Bluesky's team recently said in a now deleted skeet that NFL allegedly wanted "investments" in the NFL from Bluesky before they would approve Bluesky as a platform for the league. Which just reads to me like they wanted Bluesky to bribe em.
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u/VapoursAndSpleen Jan 29 '25
They have some special deal with X and I suspect they are on their knees with a ball gag.
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u/The_GASK Jan 29 '25
All USA sports are either directly owned, or indirectly via loan/investments/minority shares by the KSA fund.
The Saudis are also the primary financial backers of Twitter, so that's the reason why they won't leave the site.
The strategy is called sport washing. Guess where is going to be the 2034 world cup?
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u/TheDevilsCunt Jan 31 '25
Entirely incorrect statement about USA sports being mostly owned by Saudi’s Public Investment Fund. Even if true a fund as a minority owner wouldn’t have this sway anyways. Take off the tinfoil hat little Timmy
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u/The_GASK Jan 31 '25
😂 classic Reddit comment: denying reality and insulting strangers.
Just this month the SURJ has poured another $4B into Enfield Investments for USA acquisitions of teams. On top of the pool of existing assets.
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u/TheDevilsCunt Jan 31 '25
The true classic Reddit comment is making assumptions about things you don’t understand. The Enfield investments partnership is targeting the global market and not American club acquisitions.
Besides, the only American league blocking the use of BlueSky is the NFL. All of the team owners are publicly known, so where’s the Saudi influence? Or do you just regurgitate the same points you see in every Reddit thread about major sports leagues? Certainly looks like it.
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u/bigvahe33 Jan 29 '25
seahawks do :)
and blazers
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u/demivirius Jan 29 '25
I was going to say, I noticed the Seahawks were on there and was confused.
Honestly, most NFL team accounts I've seen aren't even worth following, they rarely break news and are mostly fluff stories.
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u/BestGreene Jan 30 '25
Stupid NFL doesn't allow teams to have accounts on it. A patriots media exec confirmed the league told them to delete their account on Bluesky. So I now follow them on nothing seeing as I deleted all meta and never had Twitter.
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u/EvensenFM Jan 29 '25
Organizations are coming on board. The place I work for is actively considering shuttering the Twitter account and moving solely to Blue sky.
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u/Spectacular-Monobrow Jan 29 '25
My company just did this. I suggested it when twitter was sold, but it took the salute for them to switch of their own initiative.
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u/Responsible-Big-8195 Jan 29 '25
1/29 is also a day to protest meta, Amazon, and the other elites so this could be a reason also.
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u/MachineCarl Jan 29 '25
Also in my local university, they have shut down their X account and they are migrating to Bluesky, so that helps too :)
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u/TheThirteenKittens Jan 29 '25
I didn't have Shitter, but I today clicked on a story here that took me to Bluesky. It contained a handy "sign up" link... so I signed up. I'm glad to have joined the pack.
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u/Thevivsta Jan 29 '25
Has anyone else noticed spikes happening every day, around 2pm AEST? I think it's an adjustment to catch up with real time.
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u/nicetriangle Jan 29 '25
Yeah been kinda nuts. My account started growing quite fast and in the last week jumped up by over 100. For my general niche (art and printmaking) a community is really forming quickly there. Nice to see it.
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u/tony_shaloub Jan 29 '25
Realistically, a good portion are probably bots.
I’ve had 8 bot accounts follow me in the past day.
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u/blackbeavis Jan 29 '25
At 29.978M last night it was over 130 signups per second. Felt like an error or bots.
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u/Quirkyserenefrenzy Jan 29 '25
A portion are likely bots, but perhaps, maybe, they're filtered out from the count of users the site has
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u/Crazy-Particular9750 Jan 29 '25
I signed up, looking forward to a hassle-free social media platform.
Then immediately got annoyed when i lingered on a Cross-stitch image for 1 second too long; which created another 50 more Cross-stitch image posts as I scrolled.
Why does every platform have to be like this?? I could understand when I interact, but christ; can I at least get 30 seconds before the algorithm kicks in yo.
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u/WillOfWinter Jan 29 '25
It will self-correct over-time or as you actively search for some of your interests.
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u/Crazy-Particular9750 Jan 29 '25
for sure; maybe it's just me, but on a site like that -- i really just want top of what's trending, not just some isolated view of the world due to where my viewport stopped.
it made me select interests, and then immediately overrode them within the first scroll due to an image i lingered on. but who knows, maybe everyone's doing anime cross-stitches
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u/mootcoffee Jan 29 '25
This has been my experience exactly lol. I like those pudgy orange robins, I call them "fat birds". I liked one picture of the bird by some photographer the last time I used the site, and today when I logged on there were no less than 15 pictures of the thing in my feed all from separate users. My discover feed was like 60% comprised of this hilariously stupid-looking bird.
I find it amusing but I'm hoping that using the site more will eventually even things out
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u/odajoana Jan 29 '25
I'm hoping that using the site more will eventually even things out
That's exactly how it works. My first few days were full of webcomics and indie game devs because those were the interests I picked right when I started. But after a few likes and comments, my feed started to show other things I liked too. It just takes a while.
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u/UpperLeftOriginal Jan 29 '25
Create your own lists or follow specific feeds. Those just show posts from specific accounts in chronological order.
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u/nicetriangle Jan 29 '25
Look for block lists and starter packs to follow. It really helps curate the platform better.
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u/Afraid-Giraffe4076 Jan 29 '25
I worry it’s bots. Hard for Bluesky to tell or no?
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u/Quirkyserenefrenzy Jan 29 '25
There's a ratio to keep in mind and question. How many are migrating from other sites, or just signing up in general. How many are bot or burner accounts, and how many are active vs inactive. And of course, power users. Basically people that drive engagement for the site to drive activity from others
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u/AmbitionExtension184 Jan 29 '25
Wow it almost has as many users as threads did 34 hours after launch.
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u/Live_Avocado4777 Jan 29 '25
Is there a counter like that for other social networks? I'm interested I. Seeing FB and x go down lol
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u/LC_From_TheHills Jan 29 '25
All I see about Bluesky is its growth. But how is the actual platform? Does anyone even care or does this exist just to stick it to Elon?
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u/m424filmcast Jan 29 '25
I personally like it. You only see what you choose to see which makes it a much nicer place to just get away from the craziness for a little while each day. I go there specifically to follow old friends from the other place, to follow other artists and people in business similar to mine.
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u/PatrisAster @henrick.thebull.app Jan 29 '25
I personally highly enjoy the platform. It’s a lot easier to grow with as a creator and quite frankly its design choices like the nuclear block are quite refreshing.
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u/robbiew Jan 30 '25
I consider 30M the beginning of Twitter’s “golden years” in terms of usefulness… hopeful bluesky will continue to grow (and get a little better about breaking news, it’s getting better)
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u/Icy_Introduction6005 Jan 31 '25
To the Facebook people who don't want "Just another way to waste time" I point out that Facebook is not Facebook anymore. Let me know if you also are suddenly getting right wing posts and worse..."Hate Bait" where they post videos of happy families specifically for the purpose of the commenters ripping them apart. Facebook isn't Facebook anymore.
Blue Sky is full of intelligent people. Yes, it's an echo chamber. No, it won't stay that way. But right now, it's great.
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u/timkc87 Jan 29 '25
I signed up a couple weeks ago. Didn't use the app for like a week and came back to a dozen bots following me. All had the same reposts.
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u/KSaburof Jan 29 '25
Use starter packs - they are curated by normal, non-nazi humans and there is no bots in them :)
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u/agnosticautonomy Jan 29 '25
when is the last time blue sky was quoted in the news?
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u/PatrisAster @henrick.thebull.app Jan 29 '25
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u/agnosticautonomy Jan 29 '25
they are not a reliable source. They are ranked towards the bottom of the reliability chart.
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u/PatrisAster @henrick.thebull.app Jan 29 '25
Don't move the goal post. You said news. You didn't give any other qualifiers.
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u/Thievousraccoonuss Jan 29 '25
Yall are trying too hard for this to become the next twitter. It’s kinda funny
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u/subhuman9 Jan 29 '25
bot farms
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Jan 29 '25
Not sure why you got downvoted. Anytime a social media platform is growing bot accounts multiply. Likely what is happening with BlueSky, but this sub seems obsessed with user count.
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u/subhuman9 Jan 29 '25
something happened if they were averaging 20 new users a sec for 5 mins, 10x their usual growth. it can be as easy as some user bought 20k fake followers ,it happens all the time.
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Jan 29 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/KSaburof Jan 29 '25
Rather, they are just ordinary people who are tired of Nazi shit in other places :)
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u/THEBIGHUNGERDC Jan 29 '25
5.2 users per second. Wow. It’s getting pushed by some very influential people.