As a seasoned gamer with years of experience navigating the digital landscape, I must admit, the shift towards Bluesky by prominent figures and media outlets is nothing short of intriguing. It’s like watching a mass exodus from a sinking ship to a promising new island.
A surge of celebrities, filmmakers, musicians, reporters, and influential figures are abandoning X in favor of the social media site Bluesky, often referred to as a “bluish tide.
Over the past week, more well-known figures have expressed their intentions to share fewer posts or exit X (previously Twitter) entirely. They’ve raised concerns about various problems with the social media service, such as content promoting far-right ideologies, hate speech, transphobia, racism, harassment, explicit content, crypto scams, automated accounts, and the political views of its owner Elon Musk, a wealthy magnate who is an ardent supporter and financier of Donald Trump.
Due to Elon Musk’s ownership and the minimal content moderation rules on X, numerous brands and media outlets have been gradually distancing themselves from the platform. This week, The Guardian media group declared they will no longer post on X, labeling it as a “toxic media environment.” On November 4, 2023, the Berlin Film Festival became the most recent European event to leave the social media site. NPR ceased using X in April 2023, while luxury fashion brand Balenciaga eliminated its account back in November 2022.
The surge of discontent towards X has significantly boosted the popular newcomer in the social media scene, Bluesky. Since the presidential election, Bluesky has experienced unprecedented growth, with over a million users joining the platform just on Thursday. Earlier this week, Bluesky announced it had surpassed 15 million users, marking a substantial leap from its 10 million user base in early September. Furthermore, the Bluesky app has taken the top spot in the download charts for both Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store in the U.S.
A number of well-known figures in the entertainment industry have been increasingly active on Bluesky lately, including Lizzo, Barbra Streisand, Quinta Brunson, James Gunn, John Cusack, Guillermo del Toro, Ben Stiller, Flavor Flav, Chuck D, Alex Winter, Carrie Coon, Scott Derrickson, George Takei, Mike Flanagan, Mike Shur, Patton Oswalt, Lilly Wachowski, Franklin Leonard, Tim Heidecker, Akilah Hughes, Yvette Nicole Brown, Andy Richter, Weird Al Yankovic, Titus Welliver, Jon Cryer, Ed Solomon, Jeri Ryan, Ken Jennings, Gale Ann Hurd, Marc Bernardin, Duncan Jones, Kumail Nanjiani, Dionne Warwick, Colson Whitehead, Mara Wilson, Kashana Cauley, Megan Amram, Brian Duffield, and Robert Kirkman.
A number of well-known figures from Hollywood such as Rian Johnson, Matt Reeves, Edgar Wright, Christopher Miller, Phil Lord, Rob Delaney, and Ryan Reynolds are currently registered users of Bluesky, but they have not been actively sharing content on this platform in recent times.
Beyond the realm of entertainment, notable figures such as business magnate Mark Cuban and rising political star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are actively using Bluesky now. The media, who are frequently regarded as the foundation of Twitter/X, have been seen migrating en masse recently, attracting substantial followings in the last week, particularly.
As a gamer, I’ve noticed Bluesky experiencing spikes of new users before, but the pace always seemed to cool down eventually. This time, though, it feels different. The widespread discontentment with X, the polarizing nature of the recent presidential election, and the swift way new accounts can amass followers by clicking on “starter packs” – tailored lists of people to follow in various niches – has given Bluesky an entirely unique vibe.
Hunter Walker, a reporter from Talking Points Memo, compiled an influential group of journalists known as the “Bluesky Has the Juice” collection, which has gained significant popularity.
Notable journalists and columnists such as Joy-Ann Reid, Jamelle Bouie, Mehdi Hasan, Lewis Goodall, Margaret Sullivan, Don Lemon, Chris Hayes, Alex Wagner, Rachel Maddow, Mina Kimes, Kara Swisher, Michelle Goldberg, Karen Attiah, Paul Krugman, Ryan Mac, Kate Conger, Charlie Warzel, Adam Serwer, Casey Newton, Keith Olbermann, Dave Weigel, Osita Nwanevu, Elizabeth Spiers, Dell Cameron, David Roth, Drew Magary, Ed Zitron, Taylor Lorenz, Paris Marx, Aaron Rupar, Judd Legum, Donie O’Sullivan, Jeremy Scahill, Philip Bump, Nicole Auerbach, Timothy Burke, Andrew Kaczynski, Oliver Darcy, Walt Mossberg, Jay Rosen, Charlie Savage, Anna Merlan, Ben Smith, Mark Joseph Stern, Noah Shachtman, Amanda Mull, Brandy Jensen, Ken Klippenstein, Michael Hobbes, Greg Sargent, Parker Molloy, Dave Itzkoff, Molly Jong-Fast, Kat Tenbarge, Brandy Zadrozny, Asawin Suebsaeng, Katie Notopoulos, Ryan Cooper, Tom Nichols, Phil Lewis, Radley Balko, Philip Gourevitch, Lydia Polgreen, Jason Leopold, Spencer Ackerman, Talia Lavin, Amanda Marcotte, Erin Reed, Owen Jones, Clara Jeffery, Joel D. Anderson, Will Sommer and Mike Isaac have moved to Bluesky.
The surge of media outlets, including The Athletic, The Information, The Verge, The New York Times, Bloomberg, Financial Times, The Washington Post, Bellingcat, Pro Publica, NPR, IGN, 404 Media, CNN, El Pais, Le Monde, The Times of London, Guardian Australia, Slate, San Francisco Chronicle, Huff Post, The Daily Beast, Vox, The Onion, The Intercept, Drop Site, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Techcruch, The Globe and Mail, Hong Kong Free Press, and Newsweek, are now actively publishing content on Bluesky. In recent days, Vanity Fair and The Wall Street Journal have also established their presence on Bluesky.
However, what might propel Bluesky into widespread usage is the movement of fanbases that constitute a substantial portion of X’s active users. There seems to be some indication that enthusiasts of artists such as Taylor Swift, BTS, and Beyoncé, as well as followers of Fantasy Premier League, English Premier League devotees, NBA, MLB, and NFL fans could potentially be migrating towards Bluesky.
Although Bluesky is expanding swiftly, it still needs to progress further to match the user base of X’s Threads and Meta’s Threads. The two platforms currently have a significant edge with more than 300 million and 250 million monthly active users respectively.
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2024-11-15 11:25