Bluesky gained more than 700,000 new users in the last week and now has more than 14.5 million users total, Bluesky COO Rose Wang has confirmed to The Verge. The “majority” of the new users on the decentralized social network are from the US, Wang says.
As The Verge reports, people posting on Threads, on the other hand, have raised complaints about engagement bait, moderation issues, and, as of late, misinformation, reports Taylor Lorenz. Additionally, it seems like many users dislike the algorithmic “For You” feed that you can’t permanently escape. But even though the Bluesky app has rocketed to number two on the free social networking app list, the Instagram-bootstrapped Threads, which recently crossed 275 million monthly users, is still significantly larger than Bluesky.
The independent platform has seen a lot of growth in recent weeks — on October 24th, Bluesky announced it had 13 million users, largely propelled by users’ dissatisfaction with Elon Musk’s post-Twitter takeover policy shifts. For example, after X’s recent announcement that it would let blocked users still see posts from the person that blocked them, for example, Bluesky said it added 500,000 new users in one day.
The results of the US presidential election could be part of Bluesky’s new influx of users. People may be looking to use a platform that’s not owned by Musk or, like some Taylor Swift fans, may be looking for a new platform following an increase in hate speech on X.
Bluesky is also becoming an increasingly better app, with recently added features like pinned posts, support for posting videos, and the ability to send DMs to bring it up to what you might expect from X. It also allows users to custom create and select feeds to follow, and allows for building starter packs to quickly find posters who you may be already familiar with.
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