X-rival Bluesky gains 700,000 users in a week: Here's why
What's the story
Bluesky, a social media platform, has seen a massive jump in its user base after the US presidential election. The platform added over 700,000 new users in the week following the polls.
The surge is largely due to users looking for a safe haven from misinformation and offensive content on X.
Most of the new users are from North America and the UK.
User growth
Bluesky's user base reaches 14.5 million globally
The recent wave of users has increased Bluesky's global user base to 14.5 million, a significant rise from nine million in September.
Social media researcher Axel Bruns noted that Bluesky provides a good system for blocking/suspending the problematic accounts and policing harmful behavior.
He called it "a refuge for people who want to have the kind of social media experience that Twitter used to provide."
Company evolution
Journey from a Twitter project to independence
Bluesky started as a project inside Twitter but became an independent firm in 2022. The platform is now mostly owned by CEO Jay Graber.
It has previously reaped the benefits of discontent with X and its owner, Elon Musk, who is closely tied to US president-elect Donald Trump's successful election campaign.
After rebranding to X, Twitter lost millions of users and witnessed over one-fifth US drop in usage in seven months.
Growth triggers
User growth linked to X's controversial decisions
Bluesky claimed to have added three million new users in the week following X's suspension in Brazil in September.
It added another 1.2 million users within two days after X announced a controversial feature to let users see posts from people who had blocked them.
"We're excited to welcome all of these new people, ranging from Swifties to wrestlers to city planners," said Bluesky spokesperson Emily Liu.
Feature updates
Bluesky introduces new features to compete with rivals
Despite its growth, Bluesky still lags behind Threads in the social networking category on Apple's US App Store.
Threads had 275 million monthly active users in November, a sharp jump from 200 million in August.
To compete more effectively, Bluesky recently introduced features like direct messaging and video compatibility.
These additions are aimed at making it more like X and setting it apart from its Meta-owned rival.