Bluesky, formerly partnered with Jack Dorsey, the decentralized answer to Elon Musk’s X is closing the gap with Threads at high speed. The browser version of Bluesky has overtaken Threads in total usage in recent weeks, but now the Bluesky app has exploded to 3.5 million daily active users, which puts it 1.5 times behind Meta’s Threads – which is amazing considering the app’s Threads had 5x Bluesky active users at the start of the month.
The shift in momentum was like an earthquake, especially after the November 5 election. According to Similaweb data reported by Financial TimesBluesky’s user base has ballooned by 300 percent since Election Day. Journalists, academics, and corporations are fleeing the frenzy of Elon Musk (formerly of Twitter) in droves, and Bluesky has quickly become their platform of choice.
Why Bluesky on Threads? Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to tone down political content on Threads seems to have turned off many users who want healthy public discourse. Critics see it as an attempt to stay in the good graces of President-elect Donald Trump, effectively undermining the platform’s power as a platform for political and cultural discussion.
Bluesky has quickly become the gateway to what analyst Max Read has called “Political Email” — the same team that helped turn old Twitter into the cultural juggernaut it once was.
That said, Bluesky is still a huge work in progress. Its rapid growth has brought its share of headaches, including outages, problems, and scams. As more users flock to this “Twitter replacement,” expect the inevitable growing pains along the way.
