The social media app Bluesky has gained many new users since the recent election.
Donald Trump, now President-elect, is returning to the White House. Elon Musk, who owns the social media platform X, will be working in Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE.
When Musk bought Twitter and rebranded it as X, several new social media apps emerged, trying to become alternatives to Twitter. Musk’s changes to content moderation led some people to seek a different social media experience. Although none of these new platforms completely replaced Twitter, Bluesky has recently experienced a significant increase in users as Musk aligns himself with Trump’s administration.
What is Bluesky?
Bluesky is a decentralized social media app. It looks similar to X (formerly known as Twitter), but it has different features aimed at encouraging more user participation.
“Unlike other closed platforms, Bluesky is an open social network that gives users choices, lets developers have the freedom to create, and allows creators to be independent from platforms,” said Bluesky spokesperson Emily Liu in a statement to USA TODAY.
Bluesky was launched publicly in February 2024.
Who Owns Bluesky?
Bluesky is partly owned by its CEO, Jay Graber. The Bluesky board also includes Jeremie Miller, the inventor of Jabber, Mike Masnick, the founder of Techdirt, and Kinjal Shah, a partner at Blockchain Capital.
Bluesky was started in 2019 by Jack Dorsey, who used to be the CEO of Twitter. Bluesky officially separated from Twitter in late 2022.
Bluesky’s User Growth
According to Liu, the app has had about 2.5 million new signups in the past week, bringing the total number of users to over 16 million. The platform has also seen record levels of activity, such as increased likes and follows.
“Users have reported that they’re getting more engagement, including higher-quality interactions, on Bluesky compared to other platforms, even if they initially had more followers elsewhere,” Liu said. “And most importantly, they’re having fun!”
X’s Election Day Activity
X has not yet shared updated user numbers with USA TODAY. However, a post by XData reported that the platform saw a record 942 million posts globally, along with a 15.5% increase in new sign-ups on Election Day and the day after.
Despite this increase, X also experienced over 115,000 account deactivations during the same period, according to NBC News—the highest number since Musk took over.
Some celebrities, such as Jamie Lee Curtis and Don Lemon, have publicly announced that they are leaving X.