- Bluesky has introduced a short-form video feed, "Trending Videos," to compete with TikTok.
- The feed allows users to scroll, like, comment, and reshare videos, similar to TikTok and Instagram Reels.
- The feature is live on the Bluesky app for Android and iOS, and can be found under the Discover section.
Last year, Bluesky, which is a decentralized Twitter alternative, became the home for many X users who left the platform after Musk’s controversial policy changes. The service garnered much attention seeing the mass exodus and gained 25 Million active users. But it looks like Bluesky is making room for TikTok refugees by introducing a short trending video feed.
Following the short-lived ban of TikTok, Bluesky‘s official account shared a post about this new dedicated video feed. The post reads, “We had to get in on the video action too”, followed by a video showing off the new feature and where to find it. Similar to TikTok, and Instagram Reels, you can scroll through vertical videos and like, comment, or reshare them.
We had to get in on the video action too — Bluesky now has custom feeds for video! Like any other feed, you can choose to pin these or not. Bluesky is yours to customize.
[image or embed]— Bluesky (@bsky.app) January 20, 2025 at 9:11 AM
The video feed will show up as “Trending Videos” in the Discover section. You can access this section by tapping on the search icon. There will be a Pin option right below video previews that you can use to pin it to your feed. In my short hands-on with it, I’ll say the resemblance is uncanny when compared to other short-form video-sharing apps.
The custom video feed is live on the Android and iOS versions of the Bluesky app. In case you’re unable to find it, then I would recommend updating the app to the latest version. Bluesky is obviously trying to jump on the opportunity of TikTok’s ban in the U.S. given the chaos that its users are, as they are looking for another reliable option to switch to.
In this scenario, Bluesky does seem like a decent solution. But of course, it doesn’t have the numbers anywhere close to what TikTok boasts. But I don’t blame the service for doing so, as it’s not the only one. The company mentioned that there are other TikTok-like video-sharing apps on the way, some of them even using the AT protocol that Bluesky is based on.
