Observed Signal · Feb 10, 2026 · Technical Release · Source: OnlineMarketing.de · Impact: 2/5 · Sentiment: Positive
Bluesky: Super Bowl spike and drafts rollout
Bluesky, an open social network, continues to grow but remains smaller than rivals. In 2025 Bluesky’s user base rose from 25 million to 42 million, while Threads reportedly surpasses 400 million monthly active users. Growth is aided by high-profile accounts and events, including media outlets and figures such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Stephen King, and the New York Times, plus major events like the Super Bowl with Bad Bunny, which boosted Bluesky activity by about 70% during the game. The platform also rolled out version v1.116, introducing a Drafts feature in the Post Composer to create and save posts for later. A welcome-screen refresh accompanied the release, featuring artwork by @odpomery.bsky.social with light and dark theme variants.
Moderate platform update with notable user growth metrics; not industry-shifting.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Bluesky user base grew from 25 million to 42 million in 2025
- Meta Threads has over 400 million monthly active users
- Bluesky saw a 70% activity spike during the Super Bowl
- Bluesky v1.116 adds Drafts in Post Composer to save posts for later
- Welcome screen updated in v1.116 with artwork by @odpomery.bsky.social
Connected Companies & Entities
2 Entities mappedOntology Mapping & Concepts
Related Market Signals & Shifts
Recent verified developments and strategic activity across this market segment.
Bluesky pivots toward Reddit-style community model
Bluesky, the social network that originated inside Twitter, is shifting its strategy away from trying to mirror X or Threads and toward community-driven, Reddit-style spaces, Bluesky COO Rose Wang told CNBC at SXSW London. The platform, built on the open-source AT Protocol, has significantly fewer users and lower engagement than X — roughly 43 million global users as of March and about 10% of X’s estimated global audience. Bluesky raised $100 million in a Series B in April 2025, but daily active posters reportedly fell from a late-2024 peak of 1.4 million to roughly 600,000. Wang said Bluesky will prioritise discovery and community features and needs to modernize video capabilities (upload speeds and longer video length). The company has not ruled out advertising, though it does not view ads as a foregone conclusion.
Bluesky Adds Group Chats, Shifts to Community Focus
Bluesky released group chat support in app version 1.124 on June 11, 2026, introducing multi-user private conversations and signaling a strategic shift toward community features. Group chats support up to 50 participants, with creators able to control membership and generate shareable invite links that embed in Bluesky posts. Participants can set who may invite them (everyone, people they follow, or no one); media sharing in group chats is not yet supported pending additional safety and moderation systems. Bluesky’s head of product, Alex Benzer, said the company will build communities on the AT Proto protocol with developer ecosystem support. The update also adds personalized profile QR codes. Bluesky has about 44.8 million registered users, well below competitors like X and Meta’s Threads.
OAAA Launches Programmatic Center of Excellence for DOOH
AI is pushing advertising back into physical spaces due to declining trust in online content, the rise of AI answer engines that bypass websites, and the growth of agentic AI. Out-of-home (OOH) and digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising are gaining renewed relevance, with US OOH revenue up 10.7% YoY to $3.16B in Q2 and DOOH up 18.5%, representing nearly 40% of category revenue. To guide this evolution, the OAAA has launched a Programmatic & Automation Center of Excellence led by COO Patrick Dolan, focusing on standardization, workflow automation, agentic AI, reporting/attribution, and omnichannel/retail media integration. The initiative aims to automate both programmatic and static OOH processes, addressing friction points. However, this trend raises concerns about consumer opt-out options and the over-commercialization of public spaces, as noted by Ezra Klein.
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