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Bluesky announces Reddit‑style Communities and group chat support for up to 50 users, detailing handles, privacy options, and future development plans.
Bluesky is adding new community‑focused features, including Reddit‑style “Communities” and group chats for up to 50 participants, as part of a broader shift away from a single public square model [1].
Key takeaways
Head of product Alex Benzer has described Communities as “smaller spaces inside” the existing Bluesky platform, giving users dedicated places to discuss shared interests [1]. Each Community receives a handle that also serves as its URL, such as community-name.bsky.social or community-name.bsky.space, leading to a custom landing page where owners can embed apps and tools built on the AT Protocol [1][4]. Three privacy levels are planned: public (anyone can find, read, and post), invite‑only (discoverable but requires approval), and private (access by link only) [4]. When a user joins a Community, its posts will appear in their Discover feed, and they can opt into alerts for new activity [4]. Benzer says the team will continue consulting developers and community organizers as the feature rolls out later this year [1].
Bluesky’s latest app update (v1.124) introduces group chats that support up to 50 participants, a modest size compared with X’s 1,000‑member limit [2]. Creators can manage membership, generate shareable invite links, and set default invitation rules—by default, only people you follow can add you to chats [2]. Media sharing is not yet available, pending additional safety and moderation systems [2]. The group chat capability builds on Bluesky’s earlier messaging support added in 2024 and reflects the company’s broader community‑centric strategy [2].
Bluesky’s move toward Communities and group chats signals a strategic pivot from a broad “public square” to more niche, user‑controlled spaces, aiming to attract users seeking ownership over their online interactions. With roughly 44.8 million registered users, the platform is attempting to differentiate itself from larger competitors like X and Threads by leveraging the open AT Protocol and offering customizable community experiences [2]. The rollout of these features will likely shape how decentralized social networks compete for engagement, and future updates may expand chat limits, media support, and discoverability options as the ecosystem matures.
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Group chats are currently limited to 50 participants and do not yet support media sharing due to ongoing development of safety and moderation systems.
Communities will be smaller, interest-based spaces within the platform that feature their own handles, which serve as URLs, and can be set to public, invite-only, or private.
The shift is a strategic response to growth challenges, aiming to offer a different value proposition by providing user-owned spaces where moderation is handled by the community rather than the platform.
AI-assisted synthesis by the TrendWatcher Editorial Desk · sourced from 6 outlets · Jun 11, 2026 · How we report