**Bluesky Faces Growing Pains Amidst Surge in Popularity**

In the wake of explosive growth, Bluesky, a fledgling social media platform designed as an alternative to X and Facebook, is navigating significant challenges. Initially launched in February 2023 with a prototype by a small group of tech enthusiasts, Bluesky has seen user numbers skyrocket recently.

The platform, which began as an invitation-only network, avoided initial publicity to manage its expansion carefully. However, the plan for a slow and steady rise has been upended in the past week as Bluesky's user base more than doubled, now surpassing 15 million. This rapid increase has positioned the platform at the top of Apple’s and Google’s app stores, making it the most downloaded free app.

Jay Graber, Bluesky's chief executive, acknowledged the difficulties that come with such rapid expansion. "We as a team take pride in our ability to scale quickly," Graber noted in a recent interview, but admitted that the company is experiencing "growing pains." Despite these challenges, Bluesky continues to add over one million new users daily.

Bluesky operates with a relatively small team of 20 full-time employees who have been working around the clock to address the instability caused by the influx of new users. This includes site outages, coding glitches, and content moderation issues, all while striving to keep both new and early users satisfied.

The surge in Bluesky's popularity comes amid significant shifts in the social media landscape. Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter in 2022 and transformation of the service into X has led to functional changes that have alienated long-time users. Additionally, the introduction of Threads by Meta, which curates content algorithmically to minimize political discussions, has driven some users to seek alternatives like Bluesky for more open discourse on social issues.