Visualizing 13M Bluesky users

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

A visualization of 13 million Bluesky accounts prompts wider examination of the emerging Twitter alternatives ecosystem. Commenters highlight Bluesky’s open AT protocol, real-time firehose access, and “hackable” design as a refreshing contrast to X/Twitter’s locked-down APIs, while also debating moderation, bot control, identity (domain-based handles), and monetization trade-offs. Many see social media fragmenting along political and cultural lines—X skewing right, Bluesky and Threads left or “normie”—raising concerns about echo chambers even as some welcome the ability to curate feeds and moderation policies more tightly.

Visualization & Data Access

  • The map uses Bluesky’s open firehose to plot ~7.7M users after filtering obvious bots/low-activity accounts; commenters love the visual clarity (clusters, bot rings) and GPU-rendered “graininess.”
  • Some ask how user embeddings were derived and note that graph layouts lack a well-established “grammar” for precise interpretation beyond clusters/topology.
  • Others are surprised the author felt comfortable publishing a graph of identifiable users; concerns raised about GDPR and processing personally identifiable information even if data is public and openly streamable.

Bluesky Growth & User Experience

  • Multiple users report Bluesky recently went from “ghost town” to highly active, with follower counts jumping and event throughput roughly doubling.
  • Experiences vary: some see strong engagement and diverse communities; others see dead feeds or discover timelines dominated by journalists, furries, nudity, or anti-Twitter content.
  • Perceived demographics: mix of software people, artists, “normies,” and various subcultures; some say it’s less tech-dominated than expected.

Comparisons with Other Platforms

  • Versus X/Twitter: X is described by many as toxic, spam- and bot-ridden, politically right-leaning, and degraded in utility; a minority say their X feed is still balanced and that previous “censorship” of right-leaning content was the real issue.
  • Versus Mastodon: Mastodon praised for being open/federated but criticized for poor onboarding, siloed instances, and off-putting global timelines; Bluesky seen as closer to “Twitter 2015” with simpler UX.
  • Versus Threads: Threads is viewed as normie-heavy, Instagram-adjacent, growth-hacky, and politically throttled; Bluesky feels more conversational and news/politics/science-focused.

Moderation, Hate Speech, and Bots

  • Long subthread distinguishes hate speech (attacking protected groups) from generic negativity toward platforms or politicians; some argue Bluesky’s anti-X posts are unpleasant but not hate speech.
  • Several describe extreme hate and porn spam shown to fresh X accounts; others counter that X simply stopped suppressing certain views.
  • Bluesky’s tools—labeling services, custom feeds, blocklists, and “show more/less like this”—are seen as promising for filtering trolls, bots, and unwanted subcultures, though spammers are expected to arrive.

Openness, Hackability, and Ecosystem

  • Bluesky’s open APIs and firehose are widely praised: people share tools (Jetstream, websocat) and visualizations, starter-pack directories, and analytics dashboards.
  • There’s nostalgia for the early hackable Twitter era (user-invented RTs, @, hashtags) and frustration that closed APIs killed an ecosystem of third-party tools.
  • Some worry open APIs will worsen bots; others note Twitter’s bot problem worsened after API lockdown.

Identity, Federation, and Cross-Network Bridging

  • Using a personal or corporate domain as a Bluesky handle is praised for self-verification and “censorship-evident” identity; contrasted with Mastodon’s instance-based identity and more involved verification.
  • Mastodon is described as the “most versatile” for federation, able to follow some Bluesky and Threads accounts via Bridgy Fed, though bridging now requires opt-in and can be confusing.

Privacy, Legal, and Monetization Concerns

  • Debate over legality of scraping: some cite precedent that public pages are fair game but note risk of C&Ds and complications once content is behind login walls.
  • Concern that VC-funded Bluesky will eventually need aggressive monetization (“enshitification”); countered by references to its public-benefit structure and hints at subscription-based revenue rather than ads, though impact remains unclear.

Politics and Fragmentation of Social Media

  • Many see Bluesky as heavily left-leaning and X as increasingly right-leaning; some predict mutually reinforcing echo chambers.
  • Others lament that nearly all large networks have become ideologically polarized since ~2016, with Hacker News seen as a partial exception due to moderation and topic focus.
  • Some hope that decentralization (Bluesky, Mastodon, IndieWeb) and account portability can mitigate platform capture by specific political or corporate interests, but whether respectful cross-ideological discourse is feasible remains unclear.