Social media app startup
Bluesky posted that it gained
2 million new users within 3 days, which has drawn widespread public attention.
From the timing of the growth and the regions involved, it appears to have benefited from
the closure of Brazil's X (formerly Twitter).
What market opportunities are hidden in this event? Can app developers replicate Bluesky's success?
This blog will primarily analyze the situation from the perspective of app market marketing strategies.
Background
On September 3, 2024, the Brazilian Supreme Court ordered the suspension of Elon Musk's social media platform X, stemming from a long-standing legal dispute over content moderation.
The core of this legal dispute is X's failure to comply with the court's content moderation requirements, such as banning accounts that spread false information.
The court demanded that X immediately cease operations in Brazil, but Elon Musk, representing X, opposed these orders, arguing that they constituted censorship.
Consequently, X closed its offices in Brazil, escalating tensions with the court.
Bluesky and Its App Store Performance
Bluesky is a decentralized social media application that was initially incubated within Twitter. It later spun off into an independent company and raised funds, featuring an interface design and functionalities similar to Twitter.
If you are not familiar with Bluesky, you can get a general understanding through this blog:
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Bluesky: Unraveling the Decentralized Rival to TwitterAccording to
Foxdata, Bluesky's global downloads began to surge rapidly starting on August 30, with daily downloads increasing nearly 100-fold from previous levels. The majority of these downloads came from Brazil, accounting for approximately 84.57% of the total.
As of now, Bluesky ranks first on the free charts in Brazil's Apple App Store, surpassing globally popular social apps such as Threads, TikTok, and Instagram.
Why Bluesky?
Bluesky is relatively small compared to other social media platforms, but why was it able to surpass larger platforms like Threads in the microblogging social platform space during this event?
Bluesky's explosive growth is largely due to the public's strong association of it with X.
Simply put, when people see Bluesky, they think of Twitter, X's predecessor —— the same blue icon, similar interface, and identical features such as likes, retweets, quote posts, lists, direct messages, search, and user profiles make this connection almost automatic.
Many media outlets, when writing about Bluesky-related news, specifically highlight the relationship and similarities between Bluesky and Twitter.
In this context, when X suddenly faced legal restrictions in Brazil and local users were looking for alternatives, it was natural for them to think of Bluesky.
This theory also applies to Threads' second-place ranking, explianing why did Threads claim this spot instead of Instagram or Facebook.
When Threads was first launched, it heavily marketed itself as
a direct competitor to Twitter.
Leveraging this marketing strategy, Threads reached
100 million users within just 5 days.
Therefore, when Brazilian users lost access to X, they naturally gravitated towards Threads, which had positioned itself as a similar platform.
What Can Learn From?
1. Brand Association
When a niche market has a dominant application, does it mean there are no market opportunities?
Most apps promote themselves emphasizing innovation, but Bluesky's case offers a different perspective for app developers:
We can use the public's recognition and emotional ties to existing brands to promote new apps, utilizing similarities to "ride the wave."
Just as Bluesky's similarity to Twitter helped it become the first choice when users were looking for alternatives.
However, it doesn't mean that developers can ignore innovation! Uncovering market niches is an eternal topic for enhancing an application's competitiveness.
While leveraging brand associations and providing a familiar user experience can drive initial adoption, continuous innovation is essential to sustain growth and differentiate the application in the long run.
By balancing user familiarity with ongoing innovation, developers can create a robust and competitive application that meets current user needs while exploring new opportunities for growth.
2. Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is also an excellent way to interact with users and enhance brand perception.
On the day a large number of Brazilian users downloaded and registered for Bluesky, the app's official account on the X platform posted multiple messages in Portuguese (the official language of Brazil) to welcome local users.
This smart interaction strategy can encourage Brazilian users on X to migrate to Bluesky.
In the comments section, many Brazilian users left remarks, with many already having registered as Bluesky users.
However, it should be noted that there were many calls in the comments for new features and dissatisfaction with existing functionalities.
As developers, it is crucial to collect and summarize user feedback and actively respond and improve the application to fully capitalize on market opportunities, rather than experiencing a short-lived peak followed by a decline.
Mobile Growth,User Acquisition,Mobile Analytics,
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