Bluesky Reaches 10M Accounts
Bluesky’s milestone of 10 million accounts prompts comparisons with Mastodon, Nostr, Threads and X/Twitter, with users weighing follower counts, active-user stats, retention and the impact of Brazil’s Twitter ban on Bluesky’s sudden growth. Commenters debate how “decentralized” Bluesky really is given its VC backing and evolving federation model, contrasting it with ActivityPub and Nostr, and highlight practical hurdles like moderation, hosting, and identity verification. Many see value in having multiple federated social platforms rather than a single Twitter-like monopoly, but question whether any of them can avoid the commercialization and toxicity of earlier generations of social media.
User numbers and activity
- Mastodon user-count bot reports ~15.4M accounts, but post volume (“thousand toots per hour”) hasn’t scaled similarly, suggesting retention or engagement issues.
- Bluesky has 10M accounts. Shared third‑party stats show ~3.2M 7‑day actives and ~1.6M daily actives.
- Some users ask how many accounts are bots; no figures are given.
Bluesky vs Mastodon / Fediverse
- One view: Bluesky is an algorithmic “shouting match,” while Mastodon is a looser federation of communities with more bounded visibility.
- Others counter that both platforms support chronological feeds; Bluesky’s algorithmic feeds are optional and user‑selectable.
- ActivityPub (Mastodon) and ATProto (Bluesky) are both described as underlying federated protocols.
- Engagement experiences differ: some report Mastodon giving them more interaction than other platforms; others see Bluesky as still “ghost town” compared to X/Twitter.
Decentralization, hosting, and centralization risks
- Commenters note “Mastodon as a service” offerings (masto.host, others) that simplify setup, but some worry this recentralizes the network.
- There’s recognition that even self‑hosting tends to cluster on a few big ISPs, and that large hosted providers can become critical points of failure.
Moderation and operational challenges
- Several emphasize moderation, not software, as the hardest part: dealing with illegal and disturbing multimedia content, harassment, and cross‑instance replies.
- For organization‑run instances (e.g., news orgs, governments), one suggestion is to tightly control who can have accounts to reduce moderation load.
Openness, protocols, and funding models
- One side criticizes Bluesky as a VC‑funded, effectively walled garden that was slow to federate and allegedly restricts algorithms and clients.
- Others rebut that:
- Feed generators, moderation/labeling services, data storage, and event streams are all federated and self‑hostable.
- Multiple independent clients and feeds exist; core apps are open source; contributions are accepted.
- Nostr is cited as a contrasting, donation‑funded, fully open, volunteer‑run ecosystem with many relays.
Migration dynamics and “serious” accounts
- Brazil’s Twitter/X block drove large numbers to Bluesky; some also went to Mastodon, but at a far smaller scale.
- Prominent Brazilian politicians, major TV news, and brand accounts are said to be on Bluesky and driving growth.
- Some journalists, news feeds, and niche communities (e.g., vtubers) are reportedly beginning to treat Bluesky as a serious alternative, contingent on features like video and moderation.
Broader reflections on social media
- Some argue we should welcome fragmentation away from a single Twitter‑like monopoly.
- Others question the value of Twitter‑style platforms at all, given links to stress and unhappiness, and express preference for topic‑based forums or smaller, more human interactions.
- There is nostalgia for the “old internet” and concern that modern platforms turn users into products; a few call for a principled stand in favor of open, non‑VC‑driven networks.
Unclear / unanswered
- How Bluesky plans to cover ongoing costs and monetize remains unaddressed in the thread.