Bluesky may’ve began as a facet challenge, nevertheless it’s rapidly making a reputation for itself within the social media panorama. In lower than six months, it has grown from 10 million to over 30 million customers, attracting everybody from artists and tech fanatics to public figures like Barack Obama.
So, is Bluesky value testing out? It relies on a number of components. In case your audience is on the community, or if having a presence on the community aligns together with your targets and aims, then it’s value testing.
Equally, it’s effectively value it in case you have the time and sources to check and study the nuances of a brand new community and keep a constant presence there. Particularly, since there are tons of alternatives for early adopters to experiment and make their mark on Bluesky’s passionate area of interest communities.
This text will get you up to the mark on all issues Bluesky. You’ll study extra about what it’s, what customers like about it, the way it differs from different networks and the way you should utilize Bluesky in Sprout Social.
What’s Bluesky?
Bluesky is a social app the place folks share brief posts with textual content, pictures, movies, hyperlinks and extra. On the floor, Bluesky has a well-known microblog-style structure. However what actually makes Bluesky distinctive is what’s below the hood.
It runs on the AT Protocol, an open-source framework that offers customers extra management over their social expertise. This protocol permits customers to take their identification and content material with them in the event that they depart. Completely different apps may also join by way of the identical community.
Right here’s a fast historical past of Bluesky:
- 2019: Began as a analysis challenge inside X (previously Twitter), led by then-CEO Jack Dorsey. The aim: Discover how social media may very well be extra open and user-driven.
- 2022: Grew to become an impartial public profit company, targeted on constructing the AT Protocol.
- 2024: Gained traction as extra folks looked for alternate options to conventional platforms.
- 2025: Continues to develop and add new options like blue-check account verification and Trusted Verifiers.
What do customers like concerning the Bluesky app?
Curious why individuals are spending extra time on Bluesky? In response to our Q3 2025 Sprout Pulse Survey, 51% of customers are motivated to make use of Bluesky over comparable networks due to the flexibility to manage the content material of their feed.
Right here’s a have a look at the way it works and what makes it completely different.
How Bluesky works
When you’ve used any community with a feed, likes and replies, you’ll decide up Bluesky rapidly. It has a clear, easy and recognizable structure.
While you log in, you’ll see a navigation bar on the left with all of the necessities:
- House: Takes you to your foremost timeline.
- Search: Discover folks, posts or key phrases throughout the community.
- Notifications: See who’s appreciated, reposted or replied to your posts.
- Messages: Your non-public DMs reside right here, with options to manage who can message you.
- Feeds: Discover and pin community-curated timelines (extra on these within the subsequent part!)
- Lists: Set up your following by theme or curiosity.
- Profile: View and replace your bio, profile image, deal with and put up historical past.
- Settings: Handle your account, content material preferences, moderation instruments and look settings.
Within the middle of the app, there are three foremost feed views:
- Uncover is the closest factor to a “For You” web page. It’s the place Bluesky highlights what’s well-liked or fascinating.
- Following reveals posts from folks you observe, in easy chronological order.
- Customized Feeds will present you feeds constructed round sure key phrases, put up kinds or communities.
On the right-hand facet, you’ll see some trending subjects that can assist you discover what individuals are speaking about in actual time.
Simply faucet the little blue icon on the backside left to start out drafting a put up. You’ve as much as 300 characters to jot down, and the choice so as to add images, movies, GIFs and emojis, select the language and set who can work together together with your put up.
To have interaction with different folks’s posts, you’ll be able to like, repost, quote put up or reply.
Distinctive options
Whereas the app seems acquainted, Bluesky has some fascinating options that you just received’t discover on different social networks.
Customized Feeds
What actually units Bluesky aside is its customization. With Customized Feeds, customers have extra management over what reveals up of their timeline. Need updates from quiet mutuals? Attempt the Quiet Posters feed. Into BookTok? BookSky is the literary nook of Bluesky. Need to know what’s trending in your circle? Well-liked With Mates highlights posts from folks you observe and the content material they’re participating with.
Starter Packs
You realize that awkward second whenever you’re the primary to indicate up at a celebration? Being early to a brand new app can really feel the identical method. Luckily, Bluesky’s Starter Packs makes it simple to convey pals into your nook of Bluesky. This function means that you can suggest your favourite accounts to observe and go-to Customized Feeds whenever you invite pals to hitch you.
Decentralization
Most social media networks are closed programs, owned by a small group of decision-makers. TikTok influencers, for instance, can’t simply transfer their account, followers or content material over to Instagram. All the things you create is locked into that app. For creators and types, which means being on the mercy of community modifications.
Bluesky flips that mannequin on its head. It’s constructed to be open and moveable inside the AT Protocol community. In different phrases, your profile, posts and viewers aren’t locked into Bluesky. Customers can take the whole lot with them in the event that they resolve to change to a different app constructed on the identical protocol, with out beginning over.
Consider it like maintaining your cellphone quantity whenever you change carriers. Decentralization works in an analogous method, giving creators and types rather more autonomy over their social presence.
How is Bluesky completely different from different networks?
From its customized feeds to its ad-free mannequin, Bluesky is carving out a distinct segment within the social media world. Actually, our survey discovered that customers are motivated the use the platform due to it’s key variations: 44% of customers are motivated by the ad-free expertise and 31% are motivated by its concentrate on communities and area of interest pursuits.
‘Select your personal journey’ residence feed
Most social media platforms resolve what seems in your feed, which normally contains a mixture of well-liked posts, promoted content material and updates from folks you observe.
Bluesky takes a unique method. As a substitute of 1 default timeline, customers can observe or create customized feeds, giving them extra management over what they see and when.
Need to sustain with a selected neighborhood or keep away from sure content material sorts? You’re within the driver’s seat.
Neighborhood-first tradition
With no advertisements (extra on that within the subsequent part) and a still-developing influencer scene, Bluesky’s social media tradition feels extra just like the early web than different networks. It’s inventive and quirky, residence to artists, writers, journalists and individuals who care about constructing genuine connections and cultivating a protected digital area.
One instance is accessibility. Many customers actively encourage picture descriptions, and a few even use the two,000-character alt textual content restrict to sneak in jokes or Easter eggs.
It additionally has considerate battle administration instruments, resembling robust blocks and reply limits, to forestall pile-ons and assist customers set boundaries.
General, Bluesky may be very community-oriented, so manufacturers that need to set up a presence right here ought to take a extra informal, lo-fi method to social media content material creation. Concentrate on real, genuine connections and conversations.
Advert-free enterprise mannequin
Bluesky isn’t ad-supported and at present has no plans to be. As a substitute, it’s growing a subscription mannequin for premium options like higher-quality video uploads, profile customization, put up analytics, bookmark folders or translation instruments.
This selection implies that customers and types can’t ‘purchase’ attain. The easiest way to develop and amplify your message is to construct actual relationships and present up in ways in which resonate together with your viewers.
Challenges and alternatives
Any platform making an attempt to disrupt the established order will face some huge challenges, and Bluesky is not any exception. Because the community grows, there might be some rising pains, however there can even be useful alternatives for these prepared to experiment.
Moderation
Bluesky’s decentralized social media method offers customers extra company, nevertheless it additionally makes moderation extra complicated. Proper now, the platform helps a stackable moderation system that layers filters from numerous companies. Customers can subscribe to moderation “feeds” the identical method they observe customized content material feeds.
However with out a common rulebook, dangerous content material might slip by way of. Be aware of which feeds or communities you align with, as they could affect how your viewers perceives you.
Misinformation
No single algorithm helps area of interest communities thrive on Bluesky. However that freedom additionally means misinformation can unfold quietly. For instance, in 2024, Bluesky had spam accounts impersonating public figures and trying to rip-off customers.
Since then, the community has rolled out extra verification options, together with area handles, blue checks and trusted verifiers like The New York Occasions. For manufacturers, investing in profile verification can go a good distance in constructing belief.
Scaling
Bluesky just lately crossed the 30 million person mark. That’s spectacular progress in a short while. Nonetheless, it’s on the smaller facet in comparison with different networks. Threads, as an example, hit 275 million month-to-month customers by late 2024.
However its modest dimension can also be a part of the enchantment. With much less noise and competitors, Bluesky feels extra like a inventive sandbox. It’s the proper place to check new concepts and discover new methods of participating. For manufacturers that worth creativity and early momentum, it’s a uncommon probability to assist form the tradition of a rising community.
Construct a optimistic neighborhood
The Bluesky tradition at the moment is inventive, curious and deeply people-first. Conversations are likely to really feel extra considerate and grounded, giving manufacturers an actual alternative to develop their presence by way of significant interactions, reasonably than surface-level engagement.
Plus, with robust area of interest communities already forming—particularly amongst artists, writers, tech people and journalists—Bluesky gives an opportunity to attach with extra targeted and lively audiences.
Because the community grows, manufacturers coming into the scene now ought to know that this isn’t the place for copy-paste model messaging. Company converse in all probability received’t land. However when you present up as a thoughtful, values-aligned participant, you’ll stand out.
Utilizing Bluesky in Sprout Social
Sprout’s BlueSky integration is apt for manufacturers trying to diversify their social media presence and interact with area of interest communities on tradition and present occasions. It additionally allows you to experiment together with your content material by monitoring key metrics and develop your viewers by way of posting and scheduling at optimum instances.
This twin method helps construct a resilient model presence on the decentralized community and join with audiences in search of real, algorithm-free engagement. And this will get you forward of the curve as your rivals catch up.
Listed here are extra particulars about Sprout’s intuitive Publishing and Reporting capabilities.
Bluesky Publishing
You possibly can publish pictures, textual content posts and movies to Bluesky instantly from Sprout, in addition to schedule and compose your posts prematurely. Plus, work extra effectively by turning concepts into compelling content material with Sprout’s Generate by AI Help, the place you’ll be able to immediately get impactful, on-brand social put up concepts for Bluesky by including URLs and model voice tips.
You may also add alt textual content to picture posts in Sprout to create extra accessible, inclusive content material that meets the expectations of Bluesky’s communities. Managing content material and planning additionally turns into simpler as a result of you’ll be able to view and handle your Bluesky posts in your centralized content material calendar.
Bluesky Reporting
Sprout’s strong analytics allow you to seamlessly monitor, measure and report in your Bluesky efficiency. Combine knowledge evaluation instantly into your studies by monitoring key engagement metrics resembling likes, reposts and replies on your Bluesky posts, all inside Sprout. Plus, acquire insights into the effectiveness of Bluesky content material with Submit Efficiency widgets. And, with automated reporting capabilities, maintain all of your stakeholders knowledgeable so everybody’s on the identical web page.
Navigating the Bluesky horizon
Is Bluesky proper on your model? In case your viewers is inventive, tech-savvy, values-driven or community-oriented, it’s positively one to look at. The community remains to be rising, which implies there’s area to experiment, get bizarre and assist form its tradition.
Simply maintain belief and model security in thoughts. Declare your area deal with (like @yourbrand.com) to remain genuine, use verification instruments to guard your presence and be considerate about the place you present up. Additionally, don’t overthink your content material. Prioritize making connections and inventive exploration over super-sophisticated campaigns.
Need extra insights on the place social is headed this 12 months? Obtain The 2025 Sprout Social Index™ to get the newest knowledge and traits that can assist you plan smarter and keep forward of the curve.
FAQs
What’s Bluesky used for?
Bluesky is a social community the place folks share brief posts, be part of conversations and discover area of interest communities. It really works equally to different microblogging social platforms like X or Threads, with a little bit extra personalization. Customers can observe completely different feeds primarily based on their pursuits and customise their timelines to create their very own social ‘residence base.’
Why are folks going to Bluesky?
Persons are becoming a member of Bluesky for a extra ‘early web’ fashion social expertise. It’s ad-free, customizable and extra community-driven. Many customers additionally like its decentralized, open-source mannequin which supplies them extra possession over their on-line presence.
Who owns Bluesky?
Bluesky is an impartial public profit firm. It was initially incubated with help from X (previously Twitter) however now operates individually with its personal CEO, board and funding. Its mission is to construct a decentralized social net by way of the AT Protocol, empowering customers to take cost of their knowledge, identification and expertise throughout social networks.
Can I exploit Bluesky in Sprout?
Sure, you should utilize Bluesky in Sprout Social. You possibly can publish and schedule Bluesky content material, together with pictures, textual content, and video, instantly from Sprout. Plus, use our AI Help instrument to generate compelling put up concepts. Simply handle all of your Bluesky posts and add alt textual content for accessibility inside Sprout’s content material calendar.
You possibly can monitor, measure and report in your Bluesky efficiency in Sprout by monitoring engagement metrics resembling likes, reposts, and replies. Additionally, acquire insights into content material effectiveness with post-level reporting and efficiency widgets.
