6 ms·

Bluesky Announces Series A to Grow Network of 13M+ Users

35 points by mkeeter 2y ago

ck2 2y ago
There is a huge changeover now with academics switching to Bluesky I am finding many astronomers on there and other scientists. https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/twitter-academics-x-elon-musk-takeover-b2633541.html https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/twitter-academics-x-elon-...
- bbor 2y ago
  Yup it’s pretty crazy how quickly it’s changing now. Kelsey Hightower brought over a small army of startup/tech influencers last week when he quit Twitter, and I agree the astronomy community in particular is shockingly robust. Casually got to congratulate someone on their JWST image the other day, and the JWST itself has an active account. And so many astrophotographers! If you’re interested in such things, make sure to scroll through the “feeds” and sub to a few relevant ones. There’s also a “starter packs” feature allowing aggregators to suggest people to follow. As of now the social science spaces are a little quiet in comparison to tech, politics, and astronomy, but I have hope they’ll grow. As Twitter becomes more and more monocultural, the exodus of academics will only accelerate, IMHO. I mean, they have NPR on Bluesky! Can’t beat that.
  - ck2 2y ago
    First the artists changed over and now the academics. What's weird is that PBS isn't on Bluesky (yet) because didn't Musk start to treat them very toxicly and label them "state-affiliated" (which is ridiculous). I'd really like PBS SpaceTime on Bluesky, there is an unofficial bot but the real thing for interaction would be great.
  - Karrot_Kream 2y ago
    Yeah there's a whole bunch of photographers coming online too!
- malshe 2y ago
  I followed a bunch of climate scientists using a starter pack then weeded out the ones who post irrelevant stuff. Turned out pretty neat
reducesuffering 2y ago
There's been a large tech migration to BlueSky the past few days. Initially I was really excited as it was mostly high signal people, reminiscent of HN or early Twitter. However, I quickly encountered there's a large existing userbase that adopted it because of lefty / anti-Musk echo chamber views. Matt Yglesias, a milquetoast centrist liberal Harris voter, founder of Vox, had his comments entirely brigaded by leftists doxing his old house, threatening him with hammers, and the highest liked comment is: "matty i hate to break it to you but the majority of this website would chase you around with a shovel" https://bsky.app/profile/manateejay.bsky.social/post/3k7x4lktla227 https://bsky.app/profile/manateejay.bsky.social/post/3k7x4lk... You'd think if the milieu was intellectual, you'd have some reasonable debates about policy but it's all "gtfo" and threats.
- steveklabnik 2y ago
  Expecting ideological consistency from twelve million people seems like wishful thinking.
  - reducesuffering 2y ago
    I didn't indicate that at all. What I expect in a platform I'd want to use is thoughtful discussion from diverse perspectives. Leaving right-wing echo chamber filled with godawful comments to join left-wing echo chamber filled with godawful comments isn't much of an improvement. I think HN treads this far better.
    - steveklabnik 2y ago
      "echo chambers" are groups with ideological consistency. Expecting everyone to prioritize "thoughtful discussion" is asking for consistency: some people aren't interested in discussion. A few accounts saying the same stuff doesn't mean that all the accounts are. I'm not saying anything said against Matty are good or bad, just that like, you're taking one incident and claiming that the whole site is one thing. It's really not.
      - 2y ago
Kye 2y ago
I'm of course very skeptical more VC is a good thing and will continue using my profile on Bluesky to grow my newsletter[0] just in case. That said, if anyone can make it work, it's the team there. It's no accident the CEO was able to navigate Bluesky's exit from Twitter. [0] https://kyefox.com/newsletter/ https://kyefox.com/newsletter/
add-sub-mul-div 2y ago
I'm worried the need for growth will start to hurt what's otherwise still a good place. On the "Discover" feed there's an occasional carousel of accounts you're suggested to follow and being unable to turn that off is the first thing that's started to make it feel like the bad parts of the Twitter user experience.
- loop22 2y ago
  It's possible unpin the Discover feed at least. If they pull a Twitter/X and make it the default then I'll be worried.
  - eviks 2y ago
    What's the worry if you can use a different client with a different interface?
consumer451 2y ago
Related story: > Bluesky’s upcoming premium plan won’t give paid users special treatment https://www.engadget.com/social-media/blueskys-upcoming-premium-plan-wont-give-paid-users-special-treatment-193800247.html?guccounter=1 https://www.engadget.com/social-media/blueskys-upcoming-prem...
- rsynnott 2y ago
  This is the sensible way to do it, assuming they stick to it. I don’t think anyone could reasonably look at Twitter’s upranking of blue ticks and how “yeah, that’s a sensible way to monetise”.
croes 2y ago
> A financing led by Blockchain Capital Yeah, crypto bros.
antomeie 2y ago
They need to change their name so bad. Sounds like a Russian scam site.
omoikane 2y ago
13M+ users would put bluesky's user count above mastodon, according to this page: https://mastodon-analytics.com/ https://mastodon-analytics.com/ I would be interested in some stats that compare the number of active users, and also number of users who actually made use of decentralization features (i.e. use a custom domain instead of bsky.social).
fortyseven 2y ago
And the cycle repeats, over and over... nah, I'm done.

35 points by mkeeter 2y ago

ck2 2y ago

There is a huge changeover now with academics switching to Bluesky I am finding many astronomers on there and other scientists. https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/twitter-academics-x-elon-musk-takeover-b2633541.html https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/twitter-academics-x-elon-...

bbor 2y ago
Yup it’s pretty crazy how quickly it’s changing now. Kelsey Hightower brought over a small army of startup/tech influencers last week when he quit Twitter, and I agree the astronomy community in particular is shockingly robust. Casually got to congratulate someone on their JWST image the other day, and the JWST itself has an active account. And so many astrophotographers! If you’re interested in such things, make sure to scroll through the “feeds” and sub to a few relevant ones. There’s also a “starter packs” feature allowing aggregators to suggest people to follow. As of now the social science spaces are a little quiet in comparison to tech, politics, and astronomy, but I have hope they’ll grow. As Twitter becomes more and more monocultural, the exodus of academics will only accelerate, IMHO. I mean, they have NPR on Bluesky! Can’t beat that.
- ck2 2y ago
  First the artists changed over and now the academics. What's weird is that PBS isn't on Bluesky (yet) because didn't Musk start to treat them very toxicly and label them "state-affiliated" (which is ridiculous). I'd really like PBS SpaceTime on Bluesky, there is an unofficial bot but the real thing for interaction would be great.
- Karrot_Kream 2y ago
  Yeah there's a whole bunch of photographers coming online too!
malshe 2y ago
I followed a bunch of climate scientists using a starter pack then weeded out the ones who post irrelevant stuff. Turned out pretty neat

reducesuffering 2y ago

There's been a large tech migration to BlueSky the past few days. Initially I was really excited as it was mostly high signal people, reminiscent of HN or early Twitter. However, I quickly encountered there's a large existing userbase that adopted it because of lefty / anti-Musk echo chamber views. Matt Yglesias, a milquetoast centrist liberal Harris voter, founder of Vox, had his comments entirely brigaded by leftists doxing his old house, threatening him with hammers, and the highest liked comment is: "matty i hate to break it to you but the majority of this website would chase you around with a shovel" https://bsky.app/profile/manateejay.bsky.social/post/3k7x4lktla227 https://bsky.app/profile/manateejay.bsky.social/post/3k7x4lk... You'd think if the milieu was intellectual, you'd have some reasonable debates about policy but it's all "gtfo" and threats.

steveklabnik 2y ago
Expecting ideological consistency from twelve million people seems like wishful thinking.
- reducesuffering 2y ago
  I didn't indicate that at all. What I expect in a platform I'd want to use is thoughtful discussion from diverse perspectives. Leaving right-wing echo chamber filled with godawful comments to join left-wing echo chamber filled with godawful comments isn't much of an improvement. I think HN treads this far better.
  - steveklabnik 2y ago
    "echo chambers" are groups with ideological consistency. Expecting everyone to prioritize "thoughtful discussion" is asking for consistency: some people aren't interested in discussion. A few accounts saying the same stuff doesn't mean that all the accounts are. I'm not saying anything said against Matty are good or bad, just that like, you're taking one incident and claiming that the whole site is one thing. It's really not.
    - 2y ago

Kye 2y ago

I'm of course very skeptical more VC is a good thing and will continue using my profile on Bluesky to grow my newsletter[0] just in case. That said, if anyone can make it work, it's the team there. It's no accident the CEO was able to navigate Bluesky's exit from Twitter. [0] https://kyefox.com/newsletter/ https://kyefox.com/newsletter/

add-sub-mul-div 2y ago

I'm worried the need for growth will start to hurt what's otherwise still a good place. On the "Discover" feed there's an occasional carousel of accounts you're suggested to follow and being unable to turn that off is the first thing that's started to make it feel like the bad parts of the Twitter user experience.

loop22 2y ago
It's possible unpin the Discover feed at least. If they pull a Twitter/X and make it the default then I'll be worried.
- eviks 2y ago
  What's the worry if you can use a different client with a different interface?

consumer451 2y ago

Related story: > Bluesky’s upcoming premium plan won’t give paid users special treatment https://www.engadget.com/social-media/blueskys-upcoming-premium-plan-wont-give-paid-users-special-treatment-193800247.html?guccounter=1 https://www.engadget.com/social-media/blueskys-upcoming-prem...

rsynnott 2y ago
This is the sensible way to do it, assuming they stick to it. I don’t think anyone could reasonably look at Twitter’s upranking of blue ticks and how “yeah, that’s a sensible way to monetise”.

croes 2y ago

> A financing led by Blockchain Capital Yeah, crypto bros.

antomeie 2y ago

They need to change their name so bad. Sounds like a Russian scam site.

omoikane 2y ago

13M+ users would put bluesky's user count above mastodon, according to this page: https://mastodon-analytics.com/ https://mastodon-analytics.com/ I would be interested in some stats that compare the number of active users, and also number of users who actually made use of decentralization features (i.e. use a custom domain instead of bsky.social).

fortyseven 2y ago

And the cycle repeats, over and over... nah, I'm done.