What’s Bluesky? Officials, agencies flock to new social media alternative

WASHINGTON — Following the 2024 presidential election, some people just want a break from social media. But that’s not the route everyone’s taking. Here’s a closer look at an emerging social media platform gaining traction.

Many users are moving away from X, formerly known as Twitter. A growing number of elected leaders and agencies, including some based in D.C., are now active on Bluesky. It’s a decentralized alternative to X.

Bluesky has gained significant traction, adding 1 million new users since the election. Unlike X, Bluesky operates on a decentralized model, which some find appealing. 

Think of centralized social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter like a single big hotel — one company owns and controls everything. Data, posts and connections are stored in a central database, and they make the rules.

Decentralized social media, by contrast, is more like a network of independent bed-and breakfasts that can all connect with each other. Instead of one central company controlling everything, there are multiple independent servers that host users. Each server sets its own rules, and users on different servers can interact with each other. 

Proponents argue that decentralization fosters more diverse online communities and reduces risk of mass censorship. 

Bluesky is among a number of decentralized platforms that have been popping up in hopes of shaking up social media.

Among Bluesky’s newest users are public officials, government agencies and even federal prosecutor Jack Smith, who has been investigating Donald Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot.

We spoke with Megan Duncan, an assistant professor in the School of Communication at Virginia Tech who studies social media use, to understand what it means when public agencies and elected officials join Bluesky.

“It creates social norms as much as it shifts the ecosystem. We’re in a different stage of social media development than we were with MySpace and Friendster, where platforms rose and fell quickly. The owners of these platforms are more experienced, and we have a better understanding of what works in the industry,” Duncan said.

X currently has an estimated 600 million active users, while Bluesky, by comparison, has about 15 million.