Microblogging social network app Bluesky last week announced a big milestone: 40 million users. Today, the company is bringing new experiments primarily built around the notion of “social proximity.” Bluesky is bringing in “Dislikes,” which will serve as a signal for the kinds of posts you don’t want in your Discover feed. Besides this, there are a host of other experiments to improve conversations on the platform.
Bluesky hits 40 million users milestone
Days after hitting 40 million users, Bluesky is adding new tools. Bluesky says it will use the dislikes option as a new feedback signal to improve user personalization. When users dislike posts, the system will learn what sort of posts you’d prefer to see less of. This could also affect reply ranking, reducing the visibility of low-quality replies.
Bluesky says that Dislikes are private and the signal isn’t global, mainly affecting your own experience and, to some extent, others in your “social neighborhood.” The beta testing of dislikes will start soon.
Improved toxic detection
The company notes that it’s testing a mix of ranking updates, design changes, and new feedback tools. These improve the quality of conversations and “give people more control over their experience.” The company is prioritizing replies from people closer to your neighborhood. This can apparently make conversations feel more relevant and familiar.
Bluesky says the latest model does a better job at detecting replies that are toxic, spammy, off-topic, or posted in bad faith. It says that posts that cross the line are down-ranked in reply threads, search results, and notifications. This will reduce their visibility while keeping conversations open for “good-faith discussion.”
Refreshed reply settings
While the platform already offers ways to limit replies to only people who follow you, it’s now building on that . Bluesky is testing a small change to how the “Reply” button works on top-level posts. Instead of jumping straight into the composer, it now takes you to the full thread first. It believes that this will encourage users to read before replying.
The company is also tweaking the reply settings feature to make it more visible to users. This should give users more control over who can reply and shape their own conversations. Lastly, Bluesky notes that it’ll keep refining these systems and “measuring their impact” on how people experience. These changes join the emoji reactions and a new Explore page that were introduced in April.
