Bluesky adds 700,000 new members as users flee X after the US election

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Guardian

Mon 11 Nov 2024 21.44 EST


Social media platform Bluesky has picked up more than 700,000 new users in the week since the US election, as users seek to escape misinformation and offensive posts on X. The influx, largely from North America and the UK, has helped Bluesky reach 14.5 million users worldwide, up from 9 million in September, the company said.

Social media researcher Axel Bruns said the platform offered an alternative to X, formerly Twitter, including a more effective system for blocking or suspending problematic accounts and policing harmful behaviour.

“It’s become a refuge for people who want to have the kind of social media experience that Twitter used to provide, but without all the far-right activism, the misinformation, the hate speech, the bots and everything else,” he said. “The more liberal kind of Twitter community has really now escaped from there and seems to have moved en masse to Bluesky.”

Bluesky began as a project inside Twitter but became an independent company in 2022, and is now primarily owned by chief executive Jay Graber. The platform has previously benefited from dissatisfaction with X and its billionaire owner, Elon Musk, who is closely tied to US president-elect Donald Trump’s successful election campaign. Twitter shed millions of users after rebranding to X and usage in the US slumped by more than a fifth in the subsequent seven months.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/nov/12/us-election-bluesky-users-flee-x-twitter-trump-musk

[AllyCat]

1. Why were all these people still on there?

I moved to Threads, but decided I spent too much time there and deleted my account the day after the election. I really don’t trust Zuck either.

[live love laugh]

4. I refuse to go on Threads or FB. I've seen some say they stayed

to spite Musk but it seems his involvement with Trump is a bridge too far.

[sdfernando]

12. I've never been on Xitter, I deleted my Faceplant account years and years ago.

Don't do any other social media....weird I know because I work in I.T....but that is part of the reason I don't use SM.

[LauraInLA]

13. I was there because I follow a lot of lawyers, journalists, and political figures, and not all have moved to Bluesky.

[live love laugh]

2. Another bubble. *sigh*

[CousinIT]

3. TOLD YA! Its hopping over there!

Let's go. I'm on bluesky most since the murder of America.

We need share buttons here for bluesky.

[littlemissmartypants]

5. 🦋❤️🦋

Tips for moving to bluesky from Xitter*...

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219699595

[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. This makes me smile

[Historic NY]

7. Just moved over

Familiar faces.

[doc03]

8. I have been on Facebook for years, I may like a political post sometimes but

I have never shared or made one political post myself. If one of my Republican friends shares a
political post I block all future posts from that site, never seen a problem. I have never had an account with Twitter or X
and the only time I ever read anything there is when people on DU post a link to X. If people hate Musk and X
why do they post every link on X they see here? Until about two days ago never heard of Bluesky. What is it a site
just for liberal politics or what.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. "If people hate Musk and X why do they post every link on X they see here? "

Because many governmental entities spent years setting up communications policies and protocols that utilized the original Twitter BEFORE Musk bought it and it will take awhile for those entities to test, develop new policies, get support licenses for, and then deploy a different social media tool.

And as for other individuals like elected officials, celebrities, etc., some have dabbled in a variety of other similar apps like Mastodon or Threads, but those don't currently have an embed function programmed on DU (at least yet).

So it may take time for the move to alternates (and in the case of Blue Sky, it was still pretty much in testing the past year or so).

And as a disclaimer - I have no account on any of them but if I can "read" them via a webpage, then I might link to them if they add further context to an article posted.

[groundloop]

14. twitter/X will likely be made "official" by tRump in some way, shape, or form

to help save Elmo's investment.

[BumRushDaShow]

15. I don't think any agency has actually stopped using it

since a lot of time and effort had been put into deploying it as a rapid communications tool. But I think some agencies have been dabbling in/pilot testing some of the other stuff - probably mostly Threads, since it associates with Meta Products like Instagram and Facebook (where most agencies do have a Facebook presence).

[mopinko]

9. we'll see how it goes when the trolls start to migrate.

how is the moderation there?

[obamanut2012]

18. The moderation is very good

They are starting already, but there is a vigorous blocking function, and the moderation is good.

[lrucks1952]

10. Just moved

Happily, I today just moved over to Blue Sky and I am very happy I did so. I cant stomach Elon Musk and I want no part of this very weird man...I actually had thought about buying a Tesla some years ago and today I am so happy I did not do it!!

[Montauk6]

16. I just deactivated my Twitter account and joined the friendly Blue Skies

[obamanut2012]

17. The Bluesky interface is VERY much like OG twitter

Especially on mobile. And, teh mod team is good at banning people. Thee is also a very good blocking feature. Very much a feel of 2012ish or so Twitter when it was fun.

We just now need all the news people, celebrities who aren't crazy, etc. to come on over.