Elon Musk, billionaire and owner of X, formerly called Twitter, has seen his relationship with Donald Trump grow since he used his personal fortune to help him get elected.

Since then, he has become a prominent figure in the incoming Trump administration, with the president-elect tasking Musk with co-leading his new (and unofficial) “Department of Government Effectiveness.” Musk also reportedly been seen during meetings Trump holds at Mar-a-Lago. He is “happy to be the first boyfriend» to the next president, but for those who are against Trump’s project fascist, racist points of view, remaining on X – and thus supporting owner Musk – has become an untenable prospect.

According to estimates According to Similarweb, which tracks website traffic, social media, with more than 115,000 disabled U.S. visitors. their accounts.

Amid the X-exodus, there’s one non-billionaire-owned social media platform that’s seeing record numbers this month: Bluesky. In September, the application had around 8 million users; it’s now reporting having 16 millionwith more than a million of those who came the week after the elections. Bluesky also just became the top app downloaded for free on Apple’s US App Store, surpassing Meta’s Threads and OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Bluesky has quickly become the new social network that liberal politicians, celebrities, and news junkies are flocking to, while dormant accounts on the app are finally being used.

On Monday, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez job for the first time in a year, with the Democrat saying, “Geez, it’s nice to be in a digital space with other real human beings.” » And on Wednesday, “Abbott Elementary” star Quinta Brunson started posting again: write with humor“Oh wow. People are really into this bitch! » New celebrities arrive every day; singer Dionne Warwick common her first message – a short and sweet “I’m here” – this week and immediately received more than 13,000 likes.

For those unfamiliar, here is a brief history of Bluesky. It was initially launched as an invite-only app in 2023, but is now open to everyone. He was also backed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, but he LEFT the company’s board of directors this year.

What sets Bluesky apart is its public nature. It is a decentralized social media platform built on top of AT protocolan open source toolkit that others can use to create their own social media platforms. According to the Bluesky websitethe AT protocol “creates a standard format for user identity, tracking, and data across social apps, allowing apps to interact and users to move freely within them,” allowing Bluesky to be “designed not to be controlled by a single company.” »

Although Bluesky said it would “always” be free to use, it explores a subscription model for features like higher quality video downloads. The company also has no plans to sell ads, which sets it apart from Threads X and Mark Zuckerberg, a similar social media platform that would have plans to start having ads next year.

Tips for getting started on Bluesky

Creating a Bluesky account can only take a few minutes. You can register from your web browser at bsky.app or via a mobile application on Android Or iOS. To join, you must share your date of birth to confirm that you are at least 13 years oldand you will be asked to share an email address and create a password.

Once logged in, it should look familiar to anyone who has used and publications from accounts close to your social graph”, according to the Bluesky website. There’s also the “following” feed, which will display posts in reverse chronology from people you follow.

And if you are a developer, you can create your own personalized feed that people can follow. A funny example is the “calm posters“, which displays the publications of your most discreet mutuals and which publish less often.

But beyond understanding the different timelines, to get familiar with Bluesky you’ll want to follow these tips as a beginner:

Enable security settings

Two-factor authentication with your email is a quick way to secure your account and ensure it can’t be easily hacked. Don’t ignore this feature.

Go to “Settings,” then scroll down to “Two-Factor Authentication.” From there, you can enable the feature, which will require an email code to log into your account.

Bluesky is designed to be a public social network, but you can make your posts more private by enabling the “offline visibility” feature. Once enabled, your profile and posts will not be shown to logged out users, limiting the number of people who can see you when using Bluesky. You can find this option by going to “settings”, then “moderation” and scrolling down.

Enable accessibility settings

Showing alt text on your posts is an inclusive way to make what you share readable for everyone. Go to “Settings”, then “Accessibility” and enable the “require alt text before posting” feature. When you use it, you will be asked to give a brief description of an image before sharing it.

For more tips, read this one from Bluesky user Gregory Rosmaita. guide on how to create useful image descriptions for people using screen readers or braille.

Customize moderation tools to control what you see

What also sets Bluesky apart is its range of robust moderations and “anti-toxicity» features that help you control what ends up on your timeline. Is there a word or phrase you don’t want to see on your feed? You can mute words for a set period of time.

And unlike X, if you don’t like the attention your post is getting, you can “detach” (delete) your message from responses to quotes so they cannot be used as a starting point for harassment.

Additionally, if you want to limit the reach of people you don’t want to see, Bluesky has the option to subscribe to “moderation lists,” which are public or shareable directories of people to block in bulk.

To enable these features, go to “settings”, then “moderation”. From here, you can choose to enable “hidden words and tags”, moderation lists, or content filters for adult content.

Use the “Starter Pack” functionality to find your collaborators

It can be difficult to find your community on a new social network. You can use curated lists that people you trust or admire have created to build your feeds and follower list. There is also a directory list you can use to search your specific interest.

There are now starter packs for nature photographers, Black women in technology or ― shameless cry ― our own HuffPost journalists.

If you are a long-time X user, you can also use the Sky Follower Bridge extension available at Chromium, Firefox Or GitHubwhich will compile a list of people you follow on X who have matching Bluesky accounts. From there, you can “select all” from the list or choose the people you want to follow on Bluesky.

If you liked TweetDeck, there is also a bridge.blue layout option proposed by software engineer and developer created. It can display your home feed, notifications, and individual feeds in the multi-column format that made TweetDeck popular.

Ultimately, what set X apart were its users’ irreverent jokes, as well as its ability to follow the news in real time. It’s unclear whether Bluesky can win over some of its competitors’ biggest followers. For example, he still has time to catch up on Threads, which said it reached 275 million monthly active users this month.

Still, there is a growing group of Bluesky users who are doing their best to help it grow, reinvigorating the platform with new life. Like the writer John Paul Brammer with humor said in a recent Bluesky article: “I will repost things that I don’t even like but that I consider necessary for the development of the culture here. It’s like introducing wolves to a new environment.

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