Twitter Competitor Bluesky Faces Technical Difficulties

In a surprising turn of events, Twitter competitor Bluesky has encountered significant issues following Elon Musk’s announcement that X will no longer support the “block” function. Users on Bluesky have recently experienced slow load times, error messages, and delays in image and graphic loading. The platform’s status page has acknowledged the performance issues and is currently investigating the matter.

Potential Cause of the Issues

The popularity of Bluesky often surges whenever Twitter announces changes that irk its users. While the Bluesky team has not confirmed the exact cause of the present issues or whether they are directly linked to recent events, data from a reliable source indicates a significant increase in user registrations. In the past 24 hours, Bluesky has welcomed 5616 new registrations, compared to the preceding 24 hours, which saw only 536 new registrations.

Performance Investigation

According to the Bluesky status page, the platform is dealing with degraded PDS (Personal Data Server) performance. Although the page does not provide detailed information, the AT Protocol docs describe the PDS as an account’s trusted agent, responsible for routing client network requests and hosting repositories.

Techmeme CEO’s Observations

Gabe Rivera, the CEO of Techmeme, shared his encounters with Bluesky’s issues, revealing that his news sites have been unable to post content using Bluesky’s APIs due to timeouts.

Resolution in Progress

Fortunately, the technical difficulties faced by Bluesky seem to be slowly resolving. As of now, the status page has been updated with a note stating that the main problem has been fixed. However, the platform acknowledges that some images may still not be loading and assures users that a fix is currently being implemented.

Potential User Exodus

Interestingly, both Bluesky and Threads are currently trending terms on X, indicating a possible exodus of users from Twitter to Bluesky or another alternative platform as they react to the recent developments.

Decline in Referrals from Twitter

While it is challenging to track Bluesky’s performance outside of the status page, it is worth noting that Twitter has historically been a significant referral source for the rival network. However, data from Similarweb reveals a decline in social referrals to the Bluesky app’s website from Twitter. Several months ago, 86% of such referrals originated from Twitter, but over the past 28 days, that figure dropped to 78.8%. Additionally, total daily traffic to Bluesky has also decreased since its peak in mid-July.

Furthermore, Twitter has recently slowed down referral traffic to its competitors, including Threads and Bluesky, impacting their online presence.