Bluesky takes on ‘Sports Twitter’ with NBA playoff feature

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As the playoffs rage on, Bluesky announced that it is beta testing a new feature during the NBA playoffs.

While an NBA game is in progress, a red border with a “live” designation will appear around posts from the NBA’s account. When users click on the NBA’s profile picture, they will be redirected to the event they’re promoting, even if that means sending users away from Bluesky.

“We aren’t trapping you in Bluesky,” wrote Rose Wang, COO of Bluesky, in a post on Sunday. “We want you to use Bluesky to discover what’s happening.”

Under its previous ownership, Twitter had tried streaming live sports in the app, spending millions of dollars on licensing deals with sports leagues.

But Bluesky, currently propped up by venture capital, does not rely on advertising to make money, unlike most other platforms. That means Bluesky doesn’t have a direct financial stake in users’ time spent on the platform, so long as they have an experience that makes them want to keep coming back. In that regard, Bluesky can cheaply direct users to watch sports elsewhere, rather than shelling out millions for the rights to stream certain games.

Wang confirmed that Bluesky will also be testing this feature for WNBA games.

It’s wise for Bluesky to invest in its utility for sports fans. “Sports Twitter” (no one calls it “Sports X”) remains a valuable resource for fans to react in real time when they’re watching a game or chasing down trade rumors. While some sports fans have migrated to Bluesky, others have been more hesitant to leave a platform that still has more active users talking about whatever is that day’s big sports news.