If one thing 2024 has made clear, it’s to expect the unexpected, whether it’s the political drama across the globe or the poor reception of Joker 2. One major example of this is the rise of the platform Bluesky. The Twitter-like service became an overnight sensation due to the mass exodus of users from X following this year’s election drama and questionable policy changes by the platform. It was enough to break the bird’s back, prompting users to seek refuge in the open Bluesky.
How the Blue Bird Got X’d
Despite what many believe, Bluesky isn’t a new platform at all. It was founded by ex-Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, back in 2019. It’s a decentralized service that looks similar to Twitter from its golden era. The platform skyrocketed in popularity thanks to all the people shifting to Bluesky from X in millions. But how did we get to this?
We can’t attribute the entire thing to a single entity. It resulted from a series of events that acted like a domino effect. From what I could find, the first instance of a mass user base shift came from the UK. That’s when the Bluesky saw a 60% jump in activity back in August, according to Reuters.
Later that month, there was an uptick in new accounts from Brazil. This stemmed from the Brazilian Supreme Court of Justice’s decision to ban X nationwide. According to AP News, the court issued an $8,900 fine for those trying to access the website using VPNs. Left with no other option, users flocked to alternatives like Bluesky and Mastodon. The platform saw 500,000 more users in just two days. Bluesky’s official account even shared a post for it.
over 500k new users in the last two days 🤯
— Bluesky (@bsky.app) August 31, 2024 at 9:15 AM
The Tipping Point
All hell broke loose when X announced its new blocking policies on October 16th. It allowed accounts that you have blocked to still see your posts. People were already frustrated with the growing number of troll accounts on the platform. At the same time, X also quietly updated its terms of service page. It added a new clause that allowed access to your data for training the platform’s native AI Grok.
Given the unconditional use of their data, and fearing the new blocking policy would open the floodgates to more online harassment, people decided to jump ships to Bluesky. The decentralized platform saw over 500,000 new users in just a day, breaking the previous record. By October, Bluesky already amassed more than 2.7 million users, but that number rose after these changes.
The domino effect was already in motion, and the policy changes sped up things further. This, along with X’s CEO Elon Musk backing President-elect Donald Trump, and spreading his views on the platform, just exacerbated the situation. Once the election results came out, people started fleeing X like there was no tomorrow.
According to CNET, Bluesky saw a million users join the platform immediately after the election results were out. The service was adding 12 new users per second, which must be a world record of sorts. This mass exodus included many popular personalities including artists, organizations, and even journalists who were concerned that the platform had become somewhat biased.
Taylor Swift’s fans, or Swifties as some would call them, also turned to an X-pat and joined Bluesky. The community had a strong presence on X. But they started leaving for Bluesky less than 48 hours after the election results were announced, according to Wired. Their main concern was the growing negativity and the fact that Taylor Swift supported Trump’s political opponent this election.
During this period, Bluesky saw a massive rise in numbers the likes of which they had never seen before. Taking a look at this graph by the Guardian, you can see that people started leaving X and the number of Bluesky started growing after the policy changes. And this exploded after the election. While X’s traffic peaked when the election results came out, it was soon followed by a steep decline.
Will Bluesky Soar or Get Stuck in Thread?
In the aftermath, Bluesky soared in numbers, reaching over 25 million users as of writing this piece. This data comes from theo.io’s Bluesky user count tracker. Now this is not even a fraction of X’s user base, and a mere 10% of Threads, which is a similar platform by Meta. But people are warming up to it, with many considering it their new online safe space.
Many renowned people are now part of Bluesky. This includes the likes of Mark Hamill, Ben Stiller, Guillermo del Toro, and New York representative, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who’s also the first person to reach a million followers on the platform. There are also news publications like the New York Times and CNET.
The app has a long way to go, and with its newfound popularity, it will look for more ways to enhance user experience. They are already working on a paid subscription which will bring some exclusive features to the service.
But in the long run, if Bluesky wishes to take over X, then they need to include a “Trending” section. This contributes to creating a buzz on a subject. It brings people together to share their views on a topic that they otherwise wouldn’t be aware of. So if Bluesky cracks it, then it would be a big advantage for the service.
Going forward with 2025, I have high hopes that Bluesky will maintain the success it has amassed. And not fizzle out like a viral trend that’s remembered as a relic of 2024.
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