Threads, Bluesky see influx of users after Donald Trump wins election

By Kurt Wagner 

 

Threads and Bluesky, rival social networks that look a lot like Elon Musk’s X, have seen an influx of new users since election night in the US as people seek alternatives to Musk’s more right-leaning platform following Donald Trump’s presidential victory. 

 

Bluesky, a decentralised social network originally funded by Twitter, has added more than 700,000 new users in the past week, and now has 14.5 million total accounts, up from 10 million in September. The recent increase is not the fastest that the site has grown — it added 1 million new sign-ups in just three days after X was shuttered in Brazil — but the majority of Bluesky’s new users are from the US, which may be driving more attention, said Emily Liu, a company spokesperson. 

 

Meta Platforms Inc.’s Threads, meanwhile, is the top rated “free” app in Apple Inc.’s App Store. Bluesky is seventh on the list of free apps, ahead of Instagram, Facebook and X. 

 

Threads has more than 275 million monthly users, up from 150 million in April. 

 

Both services are full of new users introducing themselves and seeking an alternative to X, formerly Twitter, after Trump’s win. Musk, who bought X in late 2022, has spent the last several months pushing Trump’s agenda to his more than 200 million followers. He’s also been taking a virtual victory lap in the past week to celebrate Trump’s presidency. 

 

Many users, saying they are bothered by Musk’s involvement in the election or simply uninterested in supporting his service, have started to migrate. “What’s interesting to me is the diversity of communities coming to Bluesky last week,” Bluesky Chief Operating Officer Rose Wang wrote in an email. She mentioned communities about wrestling, city planners and Taylor Swift as examples.