BlueTempNet: A Temporal Multi-network Dataset of Social Interactions in Bluesky Social

TL;DR

BlueTempNet is a comprehensive, multi-layered dataset capturing the temporal dynamics of social interactions on Bluesky Social, enabling detailed analysis of user behaviors and community formation in decentralized social media.

Contribution

It introduces the first multi-network temporal dataset for Bluesky Social, integrating user interactions and community activities with tools for data collection and analysis.

Findings

Provides detailed temporal interaction data

Enables analysis of community formation and user behavior

Supports future research with data collection tools

Abstract

Decentralized social media platforms like Bluesky Social (Bluesky) have made it possible to publicly disclose some user behaviors with millisecond-level precision. Embracing Bluesky's principles of open-source and open-data, we present the first collection of the temporal dynamics of user-driven social interactions. BlueTempNet integrates multiple types of networks into a single multi-network, including user-to-user interactions (following and blocking users) and user-to-community interactions (creating and joining communities). Communities are user-formed groups in custom Feeds, where users subscribe to posts aligned with their interests. Following Bluesky's public data policy, we collect existing Bluesky Feeds, including the users who liked and generated these Feeds, and provide tools to gather users' social interactions within a date range. This data-collection strategy captures past user behaviors and supports the future data collection of user behavior.