The news: Social media app Bluesky unveiled its 2026 roadmap with a focus on real-time, event-based features to compete with X and Threads, reflecting Bluesky's attempt to carve out a niche through community trust rather than scale, per The Verge.

Product head Alex Benzer said the platform is working to make feeds more interactive during live events while acknowledging that support for features like drafts and longer videos need improvement.

The “live” strategy addresses Bluesky's core differentiator: real-time conversation during cultural moments. Benzer noted that Bluesky has become a destination for events like the World Series and election nights. The platform plans to give custom feeds first-class treatment and build curation tools to surface high-quality content during live events.

The announcement comes as Bluesky reports 1.5 million daily active users, far behind Threads' 150 million and X's 270 million.

The challenges: Despite early momentum, Bluesky is struggling with retention. Daily average mobile users fell nearly 40% by the end of October 2025, according to Similarweb data cited by Forbes. That leaves Bluesky facing a steep climb to reach mainstream relevance.

In addition, the platform has no advertising and an unclear revenue model, creating uncertainty about long-term viability.

Why this matters: Bluesky has positioned itself as a high-signal community platform that attracts journalists, academics, and early tech adopters. COO Rose Wang told EMARKETER that users are leaving platforms where one person can change the culture overnight, per EMARKETER.