For many who migrated from the bird app, now known as X, the arrival of BlueSky felt like stepping into a breath of fresh air. After years of navigating character limits and the feeling of throttled timelines, BlueSky's initial lack of such restrictions was genuinely liberating. Finally, a space to speak your mind without constantly monitoring user and follower ratios or wondering if your thoughts were even reaching your intended audience.
But the freedom of expression isn't the only thing that drew many to this burgeoning platform. For me, and I suspect for many others, the real game-changer was the ingenious MAGA filter. With a simple toggle, you could curate your experience, choosing not to engage with content from those aligned with the Make America Great Again cult. While the occasional post might still slip through the cracks – and a quick cross-reference with a lingering X account can often confirm your suspicions, leading to a swift report and block – this feature alone saves countless hours of unproductive scrolling and allows for more meaningful engagement. Seriously, this is huge!
Then there's the brilliance of "Starter Packs." This feature, where users curate lists of accounts they deem worthy of following, is a stroke of genius and a compelling reason to make BlueSky your new digital home. Discovering thoughtful individuals and diverse perspectives becomes as easy as opening a Starter Pack and hitting "Follow All." It is truly an effortless way to build a rich and engaging timeline.
Now, before I delve into a minor frustrations, let me be unequivocally clear: I genuinely believe BlueSky is doing a phenomenal job. The platform has experienced impressive growth, reportedly reaching over 33 million users as of April 1st 2025 (NO April Fool’s). https://www.blueskyusercount.com/
Such rapid expansion inevitably puts a strain on resources, and we all recognize the solid effort being poured into making BlueSky our platform of choice. This dedication is both noticeable and deeply appreciated. Seriously!
A growing platform will experience "growing pains" from time to time as well, and try new features that might have unforeseen side effects. It happens! My biggest current frustration falls into this category: account labeling, specifically the "Follower Farmer" tag.
BlueSky, unlike its toxic predecessor, does not currently impose strict limits on the number of accounts you can follow. For those of us accustomed to Twitter's painful restrictions, this freedom is exhilarating. When we encounter like-minded individuals or discover insightful content creators, we can follow them without hesitation, regardless of whether they reciprocate. There's no hidden agenda, no aggressive pursuit of followers; it's simply about building a diverse and engaging timeline based on genuine interest.
This approach is innocuous, however, it seems to trigger BlueSky's "Follower Farmer" label, which appears to operate on the assumption that following significantly more people than follow you is indicative of nefarious intentions. Not everyone is out in the world trying to do bad stuff, but I guess the bad guys find ways to give us regular users pain. While I understand the platform's desire to identify and address potentially manipulative behavior, this broad-stroke approach feels misguided. As someone who enthusiastically utilizes BlueSky's open following policy to connect with interesting users – even creating my own Starter Pack of 150 recommended follows – being labeled a "Follower Farmer" feels inaccurate and frankly, a bit disheartening. I am far more of a "following enthusiast," embracing the platform's current open nature! If they do not fix this, people need to be aware that following other people without matching numbers of followers will bite you in the butt.
Interestingly, I have noticed several prominent users expressing similar frustrations with this label, evidencing that this is not an isolated issue. BlueSky even has the option to display these labels, but enabling it rendered a timeline that was almost completely unusable, with warnings attached to many genuinely admirable accounts. This feels like an overzealous application of a well-intentioned feature. Instead of allowing the "label gun" to be wielded so broadly by someone who might have missed the point here entirely, perhaps a more nuanced approach is needed. Come on guys!
Despite this current hiccup, BlueSky stands out as the best of the Twitter/X alternatives that one can explore. It has successfully created a space that feels like home for many of us who made the jump, because the primary alternative to BlueSky had become a toxic environment of bots, trolls, and few other people willing to have a real non-cult dialog. I genuinely love the platform and highly recommend giving it a try. And BlueSky team, if you ever want my two cents on anything, you know where to find me – my opinions, as always, are freely offered! Here's to navigating these growing pains and continuing to build a fantastic online community. You rock!
