12 Nov, 2024
Bluesky now has over 14.5 million users, gained 1M in the last week
Apps & Software, Bluesky, new users, News

Bluesky gained 1 million new users in the last week, bringing the total to over 14.5 million.

Bluesky COO Rose Wang shared the numbers with The Verge, noting that most of the new users are from the U.S. Wang said that 700,000 new users had joined, but then Bluesky shared on its Twitter account that the number is now up to 1 million.

The Twitter-like decentralized social network (which started as a Twitter initiative in 2019 and spun off into a public benefit company in late 2021) has seen a steady influx of users in recent months, with notable spikes coming alongside changes Elon Musk made to the website formerly known as Twitter. For example, in October, Bluesky said it saw half a million new users join in one day after Musk said Twitter/X would kill its block feature.

The Verge suggests the results of the U.S. election could be a factor spurring people to jump ship to Bluesky. Similarly, increases in hate speech and far-right rhetoric on X could be driving people off the platform.

Bluesky’s user spike has helped boost it to the number two spot on the U.S. App Store, though it’s still behind Meta’s Threads app. Another Twitter-like social network, Threads boasts significantly more users, with 275 million in total.

But while Threads may have an edge with users, there are several concerns with the platform. People have raised concerns about the proliferation of engagement bait and ongoing moderation issues, particularly around political and news content. Plus for Canadians, Meta’s ongoing feud with the government over news could be hampering news publishers and journalists trying to abandon Twitter/X for Threads.

I’ve recently started playing with Bluesky more, in part to see what all the fuss is about and in part because Threads reliably serves me boring and insufferable content interlaced with mind-numbing engagement bait. The vibes feel much better on Bluesky, almost like Twitter before the dark times. Plus, MobileSyrup now has a Bluesky account, so if you’re trying out the platform, drop us a follow.

Source: The Verge

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