Media trends are shifting toward vertical video and live streaming, with the market for user-generated video content exceeding $4 billion, underscoring changes in reader and viewer preferences.

Cashtags are designed to attract a finance-conscious or veteran X user base, reflecting Bluesky’s push to broaden its content types and audience.

Bluesky has rolled out a new Live Now feature (v1.114) that displays a Live Now status on profiles and links directly to the user’s Twitch stream for now, with potential expansion to other platforms.

Bluesky’s Live Now and cashtags fit a broader strategy to make the platform more interoperable and appealing to users who rely on cross-platform content and real-time streaming, potentially contrasting with competitors’ link restrictions.

The feature, previously in beta, is now widely available with the goal of improving discovery by directing followers to live streams via profile links.

The update adds cashtags on Bluesky, letting users add stock ticker links to posts by typing a dollar sign and the ticker (for example, $AAPL), linking to other posts using the same cashtag.

Bluesky’s move comes amid a recent uptick in user growth following an X outage and ongoing scrutiny, with optimism that discovery features can benefit media discovery across platforms.

The broader implication envisions bridging social feeds and live streams, possibly directing audiences from articles, profiles, or avatars to live video content on various platforms in the future.

To enable Live Now, users open their profile menu, select Go Live, paste their Twitch profile link, and set a temporary badge duration from 5 minutes to 4 hours.