Bluesky pivots toward niche communities

The new feature aims to create smaller environments for users to interact around shared interests. According to Benzer, each community will function with a unique handle that doubles as a URL, directing users to a dedicated homepage. These spaces will offer three privacy tiers—public, invite-only, and private—and feature independent feeds. Because they are built on the open-source AT Protocol, developers can integrate external tools to customize community functionality beyond standard app features.

This development follows comments from Bluesky COO Rose Wang, who recently noted the company's desire to move beyond a traditional town hall model, citing Reddit as an inspiration. The move places Bluesky in direct competition with Meta’s Threads, which is currently testing similar group features. Meanwhile, the landscape for such social tools remains volatile, as X recently shuttered its own communities project in April.