Hearts & Minds: Bluesky adds another layer of complication to comms

What began as a trickle is rapidly turning into a stream as liberals desert X for Bluesky. Since the US election, the X rival has added more than 1m users, among them several prominent politicians. The shift is rapidly reshaping the comms landscape. Complicating it, too.

Hard to imagine, but a little more than 20 years ago, there was no social media. Then, on 4 February 2004, Mark Zuckerberg launched what he then called The Facebook. Meant as a way for Harvard students to connect, the following day more than a thousand people had registered. Today, it has more than 3bn active monthly users.

That was followed by Twitter (2006), Instagram (2010), TikTok (2016) and Threads (2023). Bluesky was invitation-only when it began in 2019, opening to the public in February this year. What started as a piece of research by then Twitter boss, Jack Dorsey into decentralising the platform, has quickly evolved into an alternative and has now received an unexpected boost from Donald Trump’s victory and X owner Elon Musk’s proximity to the president-elect.

From online town square, supplying a voice to all, social media is segregating, so that X is for the right, Bluesky left and centre, Threads and Instagram for the non-political political, Instagram for Gen Z, Facebook for their parents and boomers.

CEOs are asking where they belong, which one should they use. The answer, if you want to reach as big an audience as possible, is all of them. It is the same as the traditional approach to MSM. Just as messaging had to be adapted for mainstream titles and programmes, so must it be altered for the echo chambers of the new social media line-up.

That does not entail changing the meaning, which remains, but it will require altering the language and emphasis. Think of it as providing material for The Guardian as opposed to The Telegraph – their readers approach one set of facts through different prisms.

It may see social media cease being shouty and controversial and more peaceful, as people stay in their silos and agree with each other. That could result in a loss of popularity as the entertainment value diminishes. It might be the case as well, that it’s only a matter of time before Bluesky becomes dogged by the sort of rows that have hit X and before it, Twitter. But then if recent history is a guide, another brand will pop up.

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard.