In the wake of the US election, table creators and fans are abandoning Elon Musk's X for alternatives like Bluesky. While alternatives like Thread and Mastodon have also seen growth during this social media exodus, Bluesky's unique combination of content curation tools, moderation protocols, and overall ease of use has provided an opportunity for tabletop creators. rebuild communities that align with your ethics and goals.
Microblogging site Since Elon Musk bought it in October 2022 for $44 billion, the Site has faced a number of major changes, including, but not limited to, laying off 80% of its employees, making verification credentials a payment system, invest and dismantle moderation. protections (consistent with Musk's “free speech absolutism”), a documented increase in hate speech and misinformation, and Musk's involvement in Donald Trump's re-election, which caused users to abandon the once vital community and industrial center. According to NPR, after the election, more than 115,000 X users had deactivated their accounts as of November 19. Others maintained them to avoid potential imitators, while making statements indicating that their social presence would live predominantly “where the skies are bluest.”
Bluesky, which launched in early 2023, has grown from 9 million users in September to 21.2 million users at press time, with a growth rate of approximately 8 new users per second. These include broad swaths of the tabletop ecosystem, who are using the new platform's tools to reconnect with their community and rebuild their audience, while protecting themselves from bad actors.
Bluesky's lack of a centralized algorithm is both a benefit and a barrier for new users. Instead of cultivating engagement through controversial posts, users compile “feeds” that can offer a curated series of posts on a central topic. Additionally, any Bluesky user can compile a “starter package,” a collection of accounts under one umbrella that users can follow (or block) en masse instead of searching for individual banners. According to the independently created aggregation tool Bluesky Directory, there are currently 40 different feeds and over 200 board game-specific starter packs, with the vast majority of them focusing on tabletop role-playing games. However, these discovery and curation tools can also be used to target marginalized people, which is a growing concern as the site becomes more popular, although Bluesky's powerful (if imperfect) moderation tools, such as the Blocking and reporting offer important safeguards that Twitter lacked.
It's unclear how the move to Bluesky will affect desktop creators in the long term, although in the immediate future, many are happy to be on a platform that isn't adjacent to the levers of an incoming administration with stated authoritarian goals. It remains to be seen whether Bluesky will provide a sense of community and opportunity like Twitter once did, or whether it will be able to maintain stability amid such massive growth.