Rival to Elon Musk's X passes 15,000,000 users as it hits number one on app store
X marks the spot as millions of people have found their new favorite social media platform - and it's a rival to the now Elon Musk owned X (formerly Twitter).
There has been quite the publicized exodus in the two years following Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter, with many new alternatives cropping up for disgruntled users to flock to.
Mastodon, Cohost, and even Instagram's own Threads have served as momentary options for many, but have struggled to sustain long-term interest with most just bouncing back to Twitter.
It appears that many have reached breaking point now though, following the result of the US election where even Musk's own AI chatbot Grok has accused him of spreading misinformation, leaving people with one main destination to head.
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Started initially by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on the platform itself, Bluesky has gradually grown into its own site, and has just recently passed 15,000,000 users.
While it first gained popularity during its beta in February 2023, the invite-only nature hampered sign-ups compared to some of the aforementioned alternatives.
It's become the de facto landing pad for anyone wanting to move away from Twitter since opening up fully a year later in February 2024, however.
What remains staggering though is the sheer influx of users in the last few months - a trend we can only infer is down to the degrading quality of X for many users.
Bluesky developer 'Jaz' detailed in a post on November 13: "90 days ago Bluesky had 6.18M users; 30 days ago Bluesky had 10.85 users; tomorrow Bluesky will have 15M users."
90 days ago Bluesky had 6.18M users 30 days ago Bluesky had 10.85M users Tomorrow Bluesky will have 15M users This is absolutely wild, thanks for believing in us y'all
— Jaz (@jaz.bsky.social) November 13, 2024 at 6:50 AM
Their prediction was correct too, as we can see on Jaz's stat tracking platform that Bluesky is - at the time of writing - sat at 15,628,712 users, and climbing rapidly.
Further testament to its rapid growth is the fact that Bluesky Social sits at the top spot on Apple's App Store charts, above Threads, ChatGPT, TikTok and more.
Perhaps more illuminating, however, is its position relative to X - which has dropped all the way down to 26th place.
It's clear that a significant shift is currently happening in the social media hierarchy, and while it'll be a long time until Bluesky reaches the reported 396 million Twitter users, many are making the jump permanently.
Many point towards actions like the removal of the block feature, and some major news outlets have even publicly announced their departure from the platform due to the 'toxic' environment created since Elon Musk's takeover.
While the richest man in the world still manages to add billions to his net worth, you have to wonder whether Musk's $44bn investment is starting to dwindle away.