Tagged: Bluesky
Is Bluesky Worth It For Small Businesses?
- by Luke Thiessen
The social media platform Bluesky just passed its one-year anniversary of being open to the public last month, and while its chart-topping run of a million new users a day has subsided, the platform is continuing to grow.
As marketers, we are always watching new platforms to see which ones might survive their startup phase and become part of the mainstream – and, more importantly, which ones are worth joining and investing time in.
Is Bluesky worth it for small businesses? The short answer, as with many things, is probably “it depends.” But by learning about how Bluesky works, how it’s different from other platforms, and who its users are, we will try to make some use cases for it and determine if it’s right for your business specifically.
And if you don’t know the first thing about Bluesky, that’s OK, because we’ll start with the basics.
What is Bluesky?
In a nutshell, Bluesky is a “microblogging” platform similar to X (formerly Twitter). It started in 2019 as a project within Twitter, when founder Jack Dorsey announced Bluesky as a possible way to decentralize the platform and give users more control over their privacy, algorithms, and overall experience.
Eventually, Bluesky was incorporated as a separate company, Twitter was acquired by Elon Musk (who changed the name to X), and the two became fully separate. Bluesky launched its own app, which went from invite-only to fully open in February of 2024. And by November, user growth reached a peak of more than a million per day.
Technically, what makes Bluesky most unique is how it was built to be decentralized, which we won’t get into here. But Bluesky is unique in a few other key ways too:
- No advertising or paid features
- No base algorithm (feed is chronological)
- No live video, just text (300 characters), and uploaded photos/videos
- Open-source
Being open-source, the platform also allows users to create (or take/share/use) custom algorithms and other tools to manage their own feeds and experience on the platform.
Ultimately, Bluesky remains less than one-tenth the size of X (formerly Twitter), but where X has been losing monthly active users steadily for several years, Bluesky continues to grow, and has been developing its own niches, communities and culture.
The argument AGAINST Bluesky for your business
If you have been on Bluesky yourself (which I do encourage – it’s easy to try out), you’ll notice a distinct lack of anything corporate or marketing-related. Not many businesses have jumped to Bluesky, and those that have largely seem to be parking usernames without committing to posting or engaging. The lack of ads contributes to this feeling as well.
While we don’t have good data yet, the attitude toward businesses on Bluesky so far seems to be developing similarly to Threads (and, if your memory goes back this far, Twitter in the early years). That is, if you are willing to use the app like the locals, post content that fits the community you’re in and engage with it, you’ll do just fine. But simply re-posting your Instagram and Facebook content here will not get you very far.
This may mean more effort than you’re willing to put in, and that’s OK. The userbase is still small (about 30 million worldwide), and most users on Bluesky are not expecting to be keeping up with their favourite brands and businesses on the platform anyway.
There’s also the matter of demographics. Your target audience may just not be on Bluesky in any real numbers. The company has not published its own statistics, but third-party data suggests that the user base skews fairly young (42% are aged 18-24), heavily male (64%), politically left-leaning, and geographically concentrated in a few specific areas (mostly the United States and Brazil).
However, there are some specific use cases for Bluesky, and if you’re willing to put in the time, you just might be rewarded.
The argument FOR Bluesky for your business
Firstly, and perhaps obviously, if your target audience is progressive young men in the United States and/or Brazil, you might want to consider Bluesky. But beyond that, there are some more broadly useful ways in which the platform might make sense for you and your business.
1. Thought leadership and networking
While it may not benefit your business to be on Bluesky as a brand, having an account for yourself (or whoever else) as the public face of the company could be a good fit. Bluesky is filled with young, educated professionals who may be good connections as future B2B customers, employees, business partners or investors. If you are already active on LinkedIn or creating any kind of thought leadership content, this might make sense to repurpose for Bluesky (although remember the character limit and format differences!).
2. Media connections and outreach
One group that is very well represented on Bluesky, even in Canada, is journalists. Many have fled X and have redirected their followers to their Bluesky accounts. This may be another use case for joining the platform, not as brand social media, but for you to find and connect with journalists for potential media outreach.
3. Niche communities
Like every other social media platform, Bluesky is quickly developing its own niche communities, and you may find that your business has a natural match in one of these. Unlike Reddit communities, there is no formal structure for this on Bluesky – but with a little digging, you might find a thriving niche to join. And if it doesn’t exist yet, the platform is still growing – it might exist soon.
Any further questions?
If you are curious about leveraging Bluesky for your business, need help managing your social media and digital marketing, or just need some good advice on how to get the most out of your online presence, we’re here to help. Whether it’s a brand audit, social media management services, or training for your existing team, we love working with businesses and nonprofits of all sizes to achieve your digital marketing goals. Get in touch - let’s chat!
