After attracting 2 million users in its first year of operation, Bluesky has grown another 400 percent with some recent help from Brazil and Elon Musk. Are these monthly or daily users, or just account holders? Nobody knows! But it still has a way to go to match X’s estimated 250 million daily users and Threads’ 175 million monthly users.
I think the true genius of Bluesky is that it doesn’t have A algorithm, it has a framework that allows users to build their own algorithms, share them with others, and subscribe to the algorithms from people whose tastes you trust. They did the same thing with moderation making it possible to build your own moderation tools, share them, and use those constructed by others you trust.
It’ll be abused by the trolls who love the sound of their own voice and embrace the echo chamber of their choosing, but the flip side is that none of the rest of us have to suffer those idiots if we don’t want to. It’s not a perfect solution to the Paradox of Tolerance, but it’s good enough.