Dec 12, 2024 19:00:00

The shift from X (formerly Twitter) to Bluesky continues. In the US alone, X's daily users have decreased by 2.7 million in two months, while Bluesky's has increased by 2.4 million.

While users are leaving X (formerly Twitter), the number of subscribers to Bluesky, a potential alternative service, continues to grow. A survey conducted by Similarweb, a well-known research company, found that there was a significant increase or decrease in the number of daily active users on X and Bluesky between October 6 and December 3, 2024.

From X to Bluesky: why are people fleeing Elon Musk's 'digital town square'? | Social media | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/dec/11/from-x-to-bluesky-why-are-people-abandoning-twitter-digital-town-square

According to Similarweb, as of December 3rd, X's daily active users in the US had decreased by 2.7 million compared to October 6th, while Bluesky's had increased by approximately 2.4 million.

This resulted in X's number of American daily active users increasing from approximately 32.3 million to approximately 29.6 million, while Bluesky's number of daily active users increased by 1,064%, from approximately 0.3 million to approximately 2.7 million.

The graph shows that the number of daily active users on X exploded on the day of the presidential election. However, after this day, the gap between X and Bluesky began to widen significantly. The Guardian, an overseas media outlet, pointed out that 'Bluesky's users gradually increased from the time when X owner Elon Musk started managing the account

@america to promote the political fundraising organization and super PAC that supports Donald Trump and started posting in support of Trump. This trend accelerated further in the aftermath of Trump's election.' In fact, the number of daily active users on Bluesky doubled in the week since the election on November 5th.

Since he first acquired X, Musk has publicly stated his intention to create a 'free town square' without censorship, and has actually taken action on this. However, some users believe that 'the influence of extremists has become stronger, and it is no longer a fun place.'

'We feel that under Musk, extremist views have been given too much freedom,' said Bruce Daisley, a former vice president of Twitter for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. 'If you have a racist protest group in a corner of a town square, they probably won't stay there for long. We're seeing content being shared that makes you question whether it's worth sharing.'

Bluesky's

official statistics show that it had approximately 25 million users as of December 12th.

There are also records that the number of daily active users in the United States and the United Kingdom combined reached a maximum of 3.5 million.

Bluesky app users to increase by 300% by November 2024, reaching 3.5 million daily active users - GIGAZINE

The Guardian points out, 'Celebrities, journalists, and even football clubs are leaving X. Hamburg's FC St. Pauli called X a 'hate machine' and left, followed by Werder Bremen. Werder Bremen's PR director Christoph Pieper said, 'X no longer fits the values the club upholds, and even if it reduces its online popularity, it is a price worth paying for the club's ideals.'' The Guardian itself has stopped posting to X since November 13th.

It has been pointed out that X often displays only opinions favorable to each user, leading to echo chambers. On the other hand, X has a feature called 'Community Notes' that allows users to add supplementary information to posts, which has the potential to prevent the spread of misinformation.

X/old Twitter community notes now appear within 20 minutes of posting - GIGAZINE