You can now categorize your feed by “Hotness” on Bluesky

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Bluesky now allows users to rank posts in their feed by what it calls “Hotness,” though the new feature has drawn complaints from many users of rival X.

Sorting by “Hotness” allows users to prioritize posts that have recently been liked more in their feed. App version 1.95now available for iOS and Android users, it also promises users a number of other improvements, such as “improved locations” and “easier feed scrolling.” However, Bluesky didn’t provide much detail on what this might mean in practice.

In a number of comments on the announcement, some users claimed that the new ‘Hotness’ option had become the default setting in their news feeds – and they weren’t happy.

“Don’t make this the default,” said one user. “This encourages toxic behavior and engagement bait.”

Another user claimed that the update could “incite people to start the engagement bait again”. Engagement bait is where people post content, sometimes intentionally controversial, to generate likes, shares and clicks.

Meanwhile, another user asked if Bluesky is “going to start copying what made Twitter fail?”

If you don’t like categorizing your feed by Hotness, Bluesky gives users the option to change the new default setting. You’ll need to head to the Settings tab, followed by Content & Media, and finally Topic Preferences, where you can then choose an alternative way to sort your feed.

Regardless of what people think about the latest update, Bluesky expanding its user base at lightning speed. Bluesky currently has nearly 24 million users, from 20 million users last week and up from 12 million users just over a month ago.

Users may switch from X in opposition to CEO Elon Musk publicly campaigning on behalf of President-elect Donald Trump, a trend that also appears to benefit other growing Twitter alternatives such as Threads of Meta or Mastodon.