The Butterfly social media hits 40 M users
Do you remember that social media (decentralised) platform that experienced such a boom one year ago?
Yeah, Bluesky as for today, hit 40 M users (I understood that "accounts") and is trying to improve experience, such as:
– adding downvoting system – dislikes,
– moderation tools (e.g. detecting toxic comments),
– enhancing UX/UI.
I somehow lost connection with this platform, tho I am there every day, but I miss builders and tech community on it (they returned back on Twitter/X). In my opinion, Bluesky people discuss a lot of political stuff that is not in my interest.
Do you use Bluesky? How do you see its future?
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It's great to see Bluesky actually competing in such a market. Its also funny how every “new” social platform starts with people excited about features, but the real stickiness comes from the vibe the users create, not just tools.
Maybe Bluesky’s next win isn’t a tech feature. It’s helping people actually feel like early builders again, even if they joined later. That energy is what’ll set it apart.
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@sanskarix I maintain it for sure, because you never know whether people will jump back.
I've been planning to create an account and check it out for months now, but I kept postponing it. I do, however, wish that it keeps on growing!
What convinced you to jump on the platform? Was it the hype in its early days, or was it popular among the tech communities you were part of? Or just out of curiosity?
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@ruxandra_mazilu I think it was because of the boom. But that one is over. Anyway, still maintaining the account there and I am predominantly on LinkedIn – and recommend others to be there too :)
I’m similar. made an account when everyone was talking about it, looked around, but never actually posted. After a while it just felt a bit quiet so it was never the app I opened first.
It’s still a nice space, just not where the main info is for me right now. If it got a bit livelier I’d probably post and use it more. Maybe I'm missing something
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@alecsorenpedersen What do you think about LinkedIn? I am there more often lately and impressions and connections (stats) are rewarding.
@busmark_w_nika I find myself on LinkedIn a lot more. Agreed they are rewarding, the impressions and connections also seem to come from somebody with a genuine interest in what you have to say.
Interestingly, I’ve noticed that using it as a company vs as an individual is a totally different experience. I actually get far more engagement from clients on my personal profile than on the business page.
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@alecsorenpedersen Now, it makes more sense to post on a personal profile and repost from a company profile. What's your company and personal profile btw? :)
Bluesky feels like it’s still finding its soul. The tech crowd left once the novelty wore off, and what’s left leans social-political. Unless they rebuild that builder energy with real dev tools and discovery features, it may just become another small-town Twitter.
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@twinkal_shah1 Maybe, but more people from buildinpublic community are still on X.
@busmark_w_nika Yeah and it's a great place to be in but growth is very slow compared to any other social network.
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@twinkal_shah1 True, I am on LinkedIn now. Because I started growing there :D
@busmark_w_nika Yeah, multichannel is the fastest way to grow.
I've sent you a connection request on LinkedIn. Let's connect over there as well.
What I find amazing is that it can have as many people as it does and still not be a 'cesspool' 👍🏽🙏🏽
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@adefwebserver Are you also active there every day? TBH, I was there from the early beginning and returned one year ago :)
@busmark_w_nika I am very active there. I have as many followers there as I did on Twitter. I had to close my Twitter account because of the constant racist tweets after elon bought it.
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@adefwebserver ou damn, I feel sorry about that. Those Bsky users – were they the users of X who already connected on a new platform?
@busmark_w_nika Only about 25%. The rest were new.
I've created a Bluesky around that boom, and didn't stay long. Only because I had a Twitter / X account with more engaged followers. With all these similar social media account it's hard to keep up and grow now. There's also Threads too to draw our focus away from Bluesky.
I'm not sure about its future since the social media market is tough? It needs to differentiate itself more. Anyone remember Google Plus?
I'm back now, went on Bluesky again to check it out. I posted on it and got 2 new followers and now have 5 followers. Maybe growing on Bluesky might be easier? I'm going to have to give it a chance.
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@luiscalvillo Let's see :D how many X followers do you have rn?
@busmark_w_nika Close to 1k. I mostly get followers when I reply, not when I post. On Bluesky I got 2 followers after I made a post when I only had 3 follower
@luiscalvillo Same with threads... you dont even need to post there anything and you'll get followers :D
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@luiscalvillo @mattcaine I do not have this experience with Threads, unfortuantelly :D
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@luiscalvillo Google Plus? :D Does anyone use that? :DDD
Platform that was created for political reasons, is too political :D
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@mattcaine Yeah, I understood that after several months of being there :D
I’ve noticed the same thing! Bluesky’s growth to 40M users is impressive, but I agree — the vibe has shifted quite a bit from its early “builder and tech” community days. It used to feel like a place full of interesting experiments and open web discussions, but now it leans more toward general social and political talk.
That said, I think there’s still potential if they can strengthen moderation, improve discovery, and attract more diverse communities again. The decentralised model is still exciting — it just needs the right balance of innovation and engagement to stand out from X or Threads.
I still check in regularly too, but I’m hoping the platform finds its niche and identity again soon!
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@logan_carter4 Due to political discussions, I left Facebook and walked away a bit from Bsky and X. Currently, I am the most active on LinkedIn.