A Blue Start: A large-scale pairwise and higher-order social network dataset

<p><span>This dataset consists of all starter packs and all following network data available on Bluesky as of late October 2025. Starter packs can be created by any Bluesky user. They are lists of users and curated feeds with a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 150 users, curated by the starter pack creator. The creator typically names them and provides a description. Other users can use a single click to follow all users in the starter pack, or they can scroll through a specific starter pack to decide who to follow within that starter pack. In our dataset, all DIDs (persistent, unique identifiers) are anonymized with a non-reversible hash function; users in the network, as well as users who created starter packs, or appear in starter packs, are identified by their hashed DIDs. Similarly, starter packs themselves are identified by their hashed identifiers.</span></p><p><span>First, we include the Bluesky following network as it appeared in late October 2025. This shows all available directed following relationships on Bluesky. We also include a network dataset of starter packs with information on creators and starter pack members. This is intended for users who wish to undertake a computational analysis of the networks created by starter packs or starter packs’ influences on networks.</span></p>