Bluesky’s Big Week

Social Media Chaos: Bluesky Hits 15 Million Users, But What’s the Future of Online Communities?

The Vergecast Tries to Make Sense of the Turbulent Landscape

Bluesky hit 15 million users this week, and then 16 million. The vibes on Bluesky are immaculate, and it seems to have a real and renewed chance to be the place that replaces Twitter for a lot of people. But then there’s Threads, which grew by approximately one Bluesky just this month. There’s also Mastodon, which is still hanging around, and of course there’s X. There are more options than ever, and it’s more confusing than ever.

Bluesky’s Growth: A Threat to ActivityPub and the Fediverse?

On this episode of The Vergecast, we try and make sense of all this change. Will all this new growth and momentum help Bluesky grow not just as an app but as a decentralized protocol? Is it a real threat to ActivityPub and the notion of the fediverse? Do we know yet what kind of social network wants to be? And if you’re looking for a place to post, like, reply, and read, where should you go? We don’t have all the answers, but we have plenty of ideas.

The Episode

(By the way: we recorded this episode on Wednesday, a little earlier than normal, and all of this is moving so fast that a couple of our numbers are out of date. Keep it locked on The Verge as things change!)

After that, The Verge’s Kylie Robison joins the show to help us pilot a new segment called “Show And Tell.” (It shouldn’t be called that – please help us rename it.) Each of the hosts brings a story they’re into right now and explains it to the rest of us, and then we all talk about it. We show and tell our way through Apple’s latest smart home plans, the AI model slowdown, and how it’s possible that “Just Eat sold Grubhub to Wonder” is a real sentence.

Links and Resources

If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started, beginning with Bluesky and Threads and social:

Conclusion

The social media landscape is changing rapidly, with new platforms and features emerging every day. It’s more important than ever to stay informed and make sense of it all. We hope this episode has provided some insight into the latest developments and trends, and we look forward to continuing to explore the ever-changing world of social media.

FAQs

Q: What is Bluesky and why is it gaining popularity?
A: Bluesky is a decentralized social media platform that allows users to connect and share content without being owned by a single entity. It’s gaining popularity because it offers a new way for people to engage online without the constraints of traditional social media platforms.

Q: What is ActivityPub and the fediverse?
A: ActivityPub is a protocol that enables different social media platforms to communicate with each other. The fediverse is the collective network of social media platforms that use ActivityPub to connect and share content. Bluesky’s growth has raised questions about the future of ActivityPub and the fediverse.

Q: What is the show "Show And Tell" all about?
A: "Show And Tell" is a new segment on The Vergecast where the hosts share their latest obsessions and explain them to each other. The goal is to provide insight and context into the latest trends and developments in tech and beyond.