Why Bluesky is different: The freedom to choose content vs the dictatorship of the algorithm
Bluesky is a micro-messaging social network very similar to the classic Twitter. Open to the public since February 2024, Bluesky surpassed 21 million users on Thursday, quickly becoming the latest major alternative to X, after other candidates like Mastodon and Threads had their moment in the spotlight.
In the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, Bluesky’s downloads soared from November 6, the day after Donald Trump’s victory. Just a few weeks earlier, in late October, the app was ranked below 200th in the U.S. By November 7, it jumped to 121st place, and by November 13, it had entered the top 10, according to download data from Data.ai, which tracks the Apple and Android app stores. In the U.K., the trend was similar: Bluesky rose from below 500th in October to No. 1 by November 14.
The download boom reached Spain a few days later: by last Sunday, it was the first country in continental Europe where Bluesky reached the top 3 in downloads, while the X app had vanished from the top 100. Italy, France, and Germany are following behind, but none have matched Bluesky’s success in Spain on both Android and Apple. In Latin America, the only Spanish-speaking country where Bluesky appears in the top 100 downloads is Chile. Bluesky had previously experienced spikes in South Korea, Japan, and Brazil — especially when X was banned — and in other countries where it has now gained traction. However, none of these earlier surges were as high or sustained as the current one.
