Exclusive Insights: Two Social Platforms That Had a Moment in 2024 and what to Watch in 2025

With a top-performing IPO and massive user surge, Reddit and BlueSky were two of the most talked about social platforms of 2024 and are priorities for savvy brands in 2025.

As the new year begins, I like to look back at the important moments for our business and our customers. It is also a wonderful time to look ahead and prepare for what’s coming next. 

Two platforms stood out immediately for their momentum in 2024, Reddit and Bluesky. Both had fantastic years with recording record growth and engagement, and both are poised to provide new value to users and also brands.  I spoke with Jonathan Flesher, VP, Business Development & Partnerships at Reddit, and Bluesky COO, Rose Wang, about what drove all the successes in ‘24 and what they are looking forward to for 2025. 

Reddit 

First, we have Reddit. The first social media platform to IPO since 2019, I wrote about four reasons Reddit was everywhere back in August. Since that time, the company’s momentum has only accelerated.  

One of the most exciting recent developments is the launch of Reddit Answers.  Currently in early access, the tool offers AI-curated summaries of Reddit conversations and provides prompts, something which could have huge implications for search on Reddit. 

As we celebrate the success of 2024, I spoke with Jonathan Flesher, VP, Business Development & Partnerships at Reddit, about what they are most excited about for 2025.  Some excerpts from our conversation are below 

Jim: Congrats on all the success this year. A +200% return since IPO has to have a lot of people smiling at Reddit.  What do you think are the keys to your success this year? 

A: Reddit has been experiencing remarkable growth through 2024. The platform's success can be attributed to several factors. Reddit has substantially improved user experience by introducing AI-powered tools and features catering to redditors, moderators, developers, contributors, international users, and businesses. These enhancements have made the platform more accessible and engaging for a diverse user base. 

Reddit's success this year is also a function of the growing value of our communities. Now more than ever, people need real human perspectives. They feel overwhelmed by how much information is on the internet and finding a trusted source for conversations is a challenge. Reddit's interest-based, anonymous, and community promoted content has made it a trusted source for answers and perspectives. In fact, toward the end of 2024, Reddit was the 6th most searched term on Google in the US! 

Jim: Reddit has been an important platform for years, but I think you might agree that Reddit hit the mainstream in a new way in 2024. Why are users being drawn to the platform and what keeps them coming back? 

At the heart of it, Reddit’s superpower is the conversations on the platform. Reddit is one of the few places where conversations are structured around interest-based communities. The nature of the platform creates uniquely authentic and trusted conversations that drive real impact. 
 
We are also continuing to invest in international growth - we are seeing early momentum in our efforts around AI translation strategy and are excited about the potential there. 
 
Our users come to Reddit to form opinions, engage in discussions, and oftentimes get personalized recommendations to inform purchase decisions. Many of our users leverage the platform as a recommendations engine that is powered by 19 years of relevant conversations! 

Jim: For our customers, the global brands we work with every day, what is the key to success on reddit? 

There are in-depth, brand-relevant conversations happening on our platform every day. People come to Reddit to have trusted conversations and seek recommendations on brands, products, life choices, and more. That's why every second, an average of two redditors ask for a recommendation and receive an average of 19 personal responses. 

Redditors trust the brands (more) who show up with their own voice and contribute to the larger conversations. Reddit Pro is a great avenue for brands to contribute holistically (both organic and paid) on our platform to understand & contribute to the most influential communities and conversations, where opinions are formed, and decisions are made. 

Jim: As we look ahead to 2025, is there anything you are most excited about? What are your users reacting most positively to that we might see more of in the year ahead? 

As we move into 2025, I am excited about several key initiatives:  

Improving Search Experience: This is a key part of our 2025 strategy. We know many users are looking for more than just answers, they’re looking for authentic, real-world insights and advice from the communities on Reddit. So, we're focused on making the experience of finding relevant conversations and content on Reddit easier and more intuitive.  

Reddit Answers: We recently launched Reddit Answers. Redditors can now ask questions and receive answers using a new, AI-powered conversational interface. People know that Reddit has answers, advice, and perspectives on almost anything they're looking for, and AI-powered search is part of our longer-term vision to improve the search experience on Reddit – making it faster, smarter, and more relevant. 

AMAs: At Reddit, we've always believed in the power of conversation, which is why our legendary Ask Me Anything® (AMA) sessions have thrived on the platform. To make it easier and more effective for redditors to discover AMAs hosted by businesses they care about, we’ve created AMA Ads: a new way to share AMAs across Reddit. 

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BlueSky 

BlueSky enters 2025 and celebrates its 1st anniversary on an absolute tear. Having just reached 26M users (closing in on the population of Texas) and completing a successful series A – Bluesky is poised to compete for the attention of users with the other major platforms. Brands will be keeping a very close eye on BlueSky in 2025 as they build strategies to engage consumers on the platforms they chose.  

While often touted by media and others as an alternative to other social platforms, BlueSky is different in many important ways. Maybe most importantly, there is no single dominant algorithm. This means that users have significant control over their experiences.  

Like Reddit, the ability to find and participate in communities tailored around interests is something BlueSky provides that users are reacting to in a very positive way. 

With so much momentum, I wanted to connect with Bluesky COO Rose Wang to talk about their vision for 2025 and beyond as the platform continues to grow.  

Jim: I’ve seen estimates that user growth is up 5x in just the last few weeks and we know Bluesky has passed the 26M user mark. Congratulations, and what drove such great momentum this year? 
 
Rose: The exciting thing we are seeing is that people are coming to Bluesky for very different reasons. People will attribute it to a certain event, but I often say people don’t leave their homes after one thing that goes wrong. It’s generally after so much disappointment that trust has been lost. 
 
The reason they’re coming to BlueSky is a lot deeper. 
 
There are dark patterns happening in many online and offline spaces. People are not feeling good. They’re not making friends. They don’t feel safe. It’s the fundamental need to find safe, positive communities that is driving the surge.   

Jim: Why is it worth brands investment and energy to join the network. 
 
A: Publishers joining Bluesky are reporting that within their first few weeks on the network, with just a fraction of the followers they have on other platforms that have been around for years longer, they’re getting 2-10x the amount of engagement. 
 
Bluesky is a home for creators. Whereas most platforms throttle and demote links, we see Bluesky as the lobby to the open web and want to help you reach your audience. 
 
If a brand devotes the energy to create quality content that adds value to the community, they will see great engagement. Hank Green actually posted a YouTube video about this, where he did an experiment of posting on Bluesky and other platforms with the same posts, and then some posts with certain words, some posts with links, and no links. It was kind of wild what he saw. On Bluesky, link posts saw thousands of likes, vs maybe a few dozen on other platforms. That’s actually kind of wild how different that engagement metric is. 
 
We do know people want to build a livelihood online. They want to build their own brand that they can control. They want to own the relationship with their community. We are building Bluesky for those users. 
 
If brands can create content and engage users in an authentic way that adds value for communities, they will get a massive return.   

Jim: We talked about the great growth numbers and strong fundraising in 2024, what is next in 2025? 
 
A: We’re excited to continue shipping highly-requested features — we shipped trending topics on Christmas! We’re also working on a subscription model for features like higher quality video uploads or profile customizations like colors and avatar frames. Additionally, on Bluesky, you can set your website as your username. Imagine if you could click into someone's website directly from their social profile's username — instead of "link in bio," it's just "link is bio." This connects your social audience to your web presence much more directly, helping creators and publishers even more.

Sprinklr and Reddit 

The Reddit Data API provides Sprinklr customers direct access to near real-time public conversations on Reddit. This social listening partnership will show relevant Reddit posts and comments in Sprinklr’s interactive customer dashboard. By combining Sprinklr’s best-in-class analytics with Reddit’s unmatched archive of constantly updated human conversation, brands and businesses now have access to enhanced feedback and sentiment, trends, and competitive insights to better understand their customers, brand reputation, and power business growth. 

 As Reddit’s first advertising API partner, Sprinklr customers can also access the full Reddit advertising suite and easily integrate Reddit into their enterprise advertising strategies and campaigns. Enhanced data and insights via the Sprinklr Data API integration can also help inform advertising strategies to reach intended audiences on Reddit. 

Sprinklr and Bluesky 

Announced as part of our Winter ‘25 Release, Sprinklr customers can now leverage the platform to engage audiences on Bluesky, deliver consistent content, track key metrics, and gather insights to inform and optimize brand strategies. 

Contact Us for More Info 

If you are a marketer looking to learn more about enhancing your brand’s presence on Reddit, BlueSky, or more than 30 other digital channels with Sprinklr, please contact your account team or visit www.sprinklr.com.