Bluesky introduces group chats and shifts focus to communities as growth levels off at 44.8 million users.

      Bluesky introduced group chats for up to 50 participants and is developing Reddit-like communities with unique handles. However, its growth has slowed to 44.8 million users, compared to X's 600 million.

      On Thursday, Bluesky rolled out group chats as part of a larger pivot toward community-focused features, shifting away from its initial emphasis on open public posting. Currently, the app's group chat feature allows for participation by up to 50 users, with a possibility of increasing that limit in the future.

      This feature is included in version 1.124 of the app. The creators of the chats have control over participation and can generate invite links that show up as embedded cards when shared in Bluesky posts. Users can choose who can invite them—everyone, only accounts they follow, or no one at all. Media sharing is not yet available in group chats due to the need for additional safety and moderation measures.

      A more significant development is the plan for communities, as shared by head of product Alex Benzer. These communities will serve as smaller sections of the platform, allowing users to engage more deeply on shared interests. Each community will have its unique handle that also functions as a URL, formatted like community-name.bsky.social. Communities can be public, invite-only, or private.

      "Today, Bluesky is one big space. Communities will be smaller spaces within it where you can engage more intimately and connect with others who share your interests," Benzer stated. These new features will be supported by the underlying AT Protocol and the broader developer community.

      This timing is intentional, as X discontinued its own Communities feature in April due to low engagement and spam issues. Bluesky aims to attract users looking for more control over their online communities without the involvement of major tech companies. The existing Attie app allows users to personalize their feeds using AI, and the new communities feature extends this concept to group interactions.

      This shift is a response to growth challenges. With 44.8 million registered users, Bluesky lags behind X, which boasts 600 million monthly active users, and Threads, which has hundreds of millions more. If Bluesky is unable to compete with those figures, it must present a different value proposition. The introduction of communities and group chats provides an alternative that X and Threads do not offer: user-owned environments under an open protocol, where moderation guidelines are determined by the community, not the platform.

      In contrast, X has opted to develop a standalone XChat messaging app while eliminating its group community features. Bluesky is wagering that smaller, controlled environments are more significant than extensive public reach, particularly for users who actively seek alternatives to platforms run by Musk or Meta.

      The key question remains whether 44.8 million users can sustain lively communities. Reddit thrives because its communities have sufficient critical mass, and Bluesky's overall user base is smaller than many individual subreddits. The introduction of group chats and the communities strategy indicate a recognition that merely growing the user base is insufficient, and that fostering deeper engagement may be more crucial than widespread appeal.