Video production studio CVLT, with bases of operation in NY and L.A., has brought Katya Pavlova on board as head of postproduction. Pavlova joins the team after six years at The Mill where she produced highly acclaimed projects including David Bowie’s “Life on Mars” music video remake–directed by renowned photographer Mick Rock–as well as Steven Klein’s augmented reality experience for W Magazine’s cover, featuring an interactive 3D digital portrait of Katy Perry.
Pavlova will focus on growing CVLT’s post operation and developing new partnerships. She comes to the studio after its recent growth and work with such brands as Lexus, Peloton and Louis Vuitton.
Her work at The Mill had her producing for high-profile directors and brands–the latter including Netflix, Facebook, Ralph Lauren, Jimmy Choo and Vogue.
Bluesky has seen its user base soar since the U.S. presidential election, boosted by people seeking refuge from Elon Musk's X, which they view as increasingly leaning too far to the right given its owner's support of President-elect Donald Trump, or wanting an alternative to Meta's Threads and its algorithms.
The platform grew out of the company then known as Twitter, championed by its former CEO Jack Dorsey. Its decentralized approach to social networking was eventually intended to replace Twitter's core mechanic. That's unlikely now that the two companies have parted ways. But Bluesky's growth trajectory — with a user base that has more than doubled since October — could make it a serious competitor to other social platforms.
But with growth comes growing pains. It's not just human users who've been flocking to Bluesky but also bots, including those designed to create partisan division or direct users to junk websites.
The skyrocketing user base — now surpassing 25 million — is the biggest test yet for a relatively young platform that has branded itself as a social media alternative free of the problems plaguing its competitors. According to research firm Similarweb, Bluesky added 7.6 million monthly active app users on iOS and Android in November, an increase of 295.4% since October. It also saw 56.2 million desktop and mobile web visits, in the same period, up 189% from October.
Besides the U.S. elections, Bluesky also got a boost when X was briefly banned in Brazil.
"They got this spike in attention, they've crossed the threshold where it is now worth it for people to flood the platform with spam," said Laura Edelson, an assistant professor of computer science at Northeastern University and a member of Issue One's... Read More
