Bluesky Reaches 40 Million Users & Launches Dislikes Beta

Bluesky to Introduce “Dislikes” and Enhanced Conversation Controls

Bluesky, the social networking platform, recently surpassed 40 million users and is preparing to initiate testing of a “dislike” feature. This addition is intended to refine personalization across its primary Discover feed and other areas.

Updates to Enhance User Experience

The announcement of “dislikes” accompanies a series of updates focused on conversation control. These include refinements to replies, improved identification of harmful comments, and strategies to prioritize more pertinent interactions for each user.

Upon the rollout of the “dislikes” beta, Bluesky will leverage this feedback to enhance user personalization. As users register dislikes for posts, the system will learn to identify content they prefer not to see.

Addressing Platform Concerns

These changes are designed to foster a more “fun, genuine, and respectful” environment on Bluesky. This initiative follows a period of user dissatisfaction regarding the platform’s moderation policies.

While Bluesky operates as a decentralized network empowering users with moderation control, some advocate for the platform itself to take action against problematic users and controversial figures.

Empowering User Control

Bluesky is prioritizing the development of tools that allow users to curate their own experiences. Currently, these tools include moderation lists for quick blocking, content filtering options, muted keywords, and subscriptions to external moderation services.

Users can also detach quote posts to minimize unwanted attention, a feature aimed at mitigating the negative aspects of online “dunking,” a practice prevalent on platforms like X (formerly Twitter).

Improving Feed Relevance

Beyond “dislikes,” Bluesky is implementing ranking adjustments, design modifications, and new feedback mechanisms to improve the quality of conversations on its network.

A key component of this effort is a system for mapping “social neighborhoods” – the connections between users who frequently engage with each other. The platform will prioritize replies from individuals within a user’s “neighborhood,” increasing the relevance and familiarity of feed content.

The introduction of “dislikes” is expected to influence this neighborhood mapping process.

Addressing Feed Confusion

This approach directly addresses a challenge faced by competitor Threads, where users have reported encountering disjointed feeds with irrelevant conversations. As noted by Max Read, conversations can appear abruptly without clear context.

Bluesky’s plan to map social neighborhoods aims to resolve this issue as the platform grows.

Enhanced Moderation and Reply System

The latest iteration of Bluesky’s moderation model demonstrates improved detection of replies deemed “toxic, spammy, off-topic, or posted in bad faith.” These replies will be downranked in threads, search results, and notifications.

A modification to the Reply button will now direct users to the complete thread instead of immediately opening the compose screen. This is intended to encourage users to review the conversation before contributing.

Bluesky believes this change will help “reduce content collapse and redundant replies,” issues commonly observed on Twitter/X.

Increased Transparency of Reply Settings

Finally, the platform is enhancing the visibility of reply settings, making it easier for users to control who can respond to their posts.