What is Bluesky, and is it Right for Your Brand?
In early February 2024, a party that was invite-only for months opened its doors to the curious public. Behind those doors, visitors found that Bluesky, the decentralized microblogging app co-founded by Jack Dorsey of Twitter fame, was not all it’s cracked up to be. But the story doesn’t start here…
There was once a time when Twitter was a magical land, full of brands messing around and poking fun at each other. That was the height of Twitter’s advertising potential, and if you weren’t there, you weren’t “moving with the times” or “engaging with your younger audience”. Sometime between 2012 and 2021, Twitter became a breeding ground for brand brilliance. Your business partners were on LinkedIn. Your influencers were on Instagram. But your consumers were on Twitter.
The Musk Era
In October 2022, Elon Musk took over Twitter, rebranding it as “X” and ushering in a whole new era for the platform. Musk minimized content moderation and introduced many off-the-cuff changes, such as “Twitter Premium” that allows paying users to remove ads and post longer tweets, limiting the amount of tweets a user can read daily, and “Twitter Blue” that allows users to “verify” themselves with a blue checkmark by paying a monthly fee.
Advertisers did not react positively to these changes. Many of them, including mega corporations like Apple and Coca Cola, suspended their Twitter advertising budgets and announced they were leaving the platform. Over time, this caused a major decline in ad revenue for Twitter, but also made advertising on the platform much cheaper. But many advertisers did not come back.
As sentiments towards Twitter/X changed, many of the companies that elected to forgo advertising on it found their way into TikTok – which offers much cheaper advertising – but its audience is not as diverse as Twitter’s once was.
Twitter Alternatives
With many users abandoning X, leaving advertisers that survived the Musk takeover with a smaller target audience, a search for “the new Twitter” had begun.
In the summer of 2023, Meta swooped in with “Threads” – a microblogging platform with an interface reminiscent of Twitter’s design and linked to its mega hit, Instagram. Users can only register on Threads if they have an Instagram account; the app imports your photo and contacts from your Instagram profile, predisposing your content and conversations to remain within the bounds of your IG presence.
Threads has racked up 150 million users, as of May 2024. In many ways, it provides a halfway solution between X, now full of toxic politics and hard news, and Instagram, which is ruled by aesthetics and cute animals.
For advertisers, however, Threads is not a natural option: at the time of writing, it doesn’t support ads and, like Instagram, requires influencers to disclose brand partnerships with the “paid partnership” feature. It does allow users to interact with brands but feels lackluster compared to the excitement of live-tweeting events and starting mock-fights with international brand names.
Is the Sky Bluer on the Other Side?
Bluesky was Founded by Jack Dorsey, the man who brought us the original – Twitter – and Jay Graber, a former software developer who now acts as CEO. Their idealistic endeavor was a decentralized, opensource social media platform. According to them, it was never meant to be a Twitter alternative – but naming it Bluesky is definitely a clever little jab at Twitter’s iconic blue bird logo. And the interface is pretty similar, too.
For over a year, Bluesky’s beta version operated as an invite-only, secret-society-style platform where every member could invite a limited number of users to join. The app’s unique design allows users to craft their home feeds by creating their own algorithms, and filtering by topic, language, etc. Early adapters, mostly tech enthusiasts, flocked to the app and created their own world within it.
Then, in February 2024, the floodgates opened: Bluesky finally enabled free registration, and 800,000 users quickly took up the offer. Since then, the platform has amassed 5.6 million users – not nearly as many as Threads – but its audience is very distinct. With the app’s ‘techier’ nature and the founders’ values of autonomy and privacy, it mostly draws younger and more tech-savvy users. If that’s your audience, you’re better off there than on Twitter.
Bluesky for Brands: Catch the Early Birds
Unlike Facebook, Instagram, or our friend X/Twitter, Bluesky is not yet a lawless land of ads and promotions. Since it’s still in its infancy, the role of brands on the platform has not yet been solidified – which leaves the field wide open for those who dare. The platform encourages meaningful conversations and interactions, which might work in your favor as a brand – by connecting with your core audience in a way that was not possible before.
While ads are not yet supported by the app, it does allow custom URLs that are an SEO marvel, and its user-created and moderated networks segment the audience in a way that lends itself to targeted brand messaging – if you do it correctly. What that means in terms of Bluesky, is that your brand awareness needs may be met by simply engaging with your potential consumers and cementing your narrative in your own field. And that’s where the platform stands out in comparison to Threads or Mastodon.
Your Brand in the Sky with Diamonds
If you’re an adventurous, tech-savvy, early adopter type of brand, you should seriously consider joining Bluesky. You’ll be able to capture your consumers and support your brand identity without being aggressively commercial. In time, when (if?) ads sneak their way into the app, you’ll have already amassed your target audience and found your relevant networks, where your future ads can thrive.
If you’ve read this far, you may be wondering: who even has the time to manage yet another social media account? Well, we do. Luckily for you, dear reader, Percepto is one of those early adopters, and we are already well-versed in this exceptional little community called Bluesky. We can tell your story on there in a way that fits the platform and your narrative at the same time.