Bluesky pivots toward community features with new group chat support

The social network, which currently reports 44.8 million registered users compared to X’s 600 million monthly active base, is betting that users are increasingly wary of Big Tech oversight. By limiting group sizes to 50, the company is prioritizing intimacy over the scale offered by competitors. Creators maintain control over participation through invite links, while users can filter incoming requests to include only those they already follow, providing a layer of protection against unwanted noise.

Product lead Alex Benzer frames this shift as a departure from the "one big space" architecture that has defined the platform until now. Future updates aim to leverage the underlying AT Proto to allow for public, private, or invite-only communities, each featuring a unique URL handle. This strategy stands in direct contrast to X, which recently shuttered its own Communities feature due to spam and low engagement. While Bluesky’s current implementation lacks media sharing—awaiting the development of robust moderation tools—the move highlights a broader trend: users are seeking decentralized, user-controlled alternatives to traditional social media giants.