Bluesky surge continues: but is another echo chamber a good idea?

More users have been flocking to Bluesky, a microblogging alternative to X, in the wake of the US presidential election. Most newbies are American progressives who say they’re escaping whatever Twitter has become – but isn’t this actually a retreat?

According to one stat-tracking site, Bluesky reached the 15 million user mark on Wednesday, and by Thursday morning, the platform had already added 700,000 more.

Over the last week, a million new users have joined so the migration is gaining momentum. Moreover, the Bluesky app is currently number one in the iOS app store, ahead of Meta’s Threads, ChatGPT, and the Google app.

As Cybernews reported earlier this week, the network has seen similar increases previously. For instance, Bluesky added 3 million new users after X was blocked in Brazil and another 1.2 million after X said it would allow users to view posts from accounts that had blocked them.

X now struggling

But this is different. Most Bluesky rookies seem to be users who fear that X, owned by Elon Musk, will become a propaganda platform for President-elect Donald Trump. Musk supported the latter’s campaign financially and ideologically.

In other words, the new users are mostly progressive Americans, dismayed by Trump’s win and unwilling to partake in increasingly uncivilized interactions with far-right trolls on X.

People should join the online communities that suit them or reflect their values, and no one’s obligated to tolerate a feed full of content that pisses them off.

Musk’s toy platform is meanwhile struggling – daily users keep dropping every month, and serious analysts dismiss X’s own inventive performance metrics. There’s even talk that X could merge with Truth Social, Trump’s social media platform.

Truth Social’s parent company, Trump Media & Technology Group, is now valued higher ($10 billion) than X ($9.4 billion). However, both platforms are increasingly alike, and their owners could opt to join forces rather than compete.

Add to that the fact that nearly 120,000 X users deactivated their accounts on Monday alone, and it becomes clear that Bluesky is bound for further definite growth. All these progressives who used to dominate on Twitter want a new digital home.

Again, to be clear, even Threads has way more daily active users so far. But its parent company Meta has taken a strategic decision to deprioritize political content, and the wonks aren’t happy.

Escaping the toxic discussion forum

A slight problem: if most online liberals now congregate on Bluesky, it will become an echo chamber, won’t it? Interestingly, some Bluesky users don’t seem to mind the idea of isolating themselves from the perspective and challenges of others.

Musk himself wrote a couple of years ago: “There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right-wing and far left-wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.” Might this already be happening?

Well, not really. First, quite a few new Bluesky users are simply normal, curious, and hungry for the kind of interactions one used to enjoy on Twitter 10 years ago.

For journalists, it’s neat that there’s no deprioritization of posts with hyperlinks, and there are no blue check marks any swindler can buy and use the space for pushing agendas and conspiracies. There’s also no porn and scams.

The interface is clean enough, the order of posts is chronological, there are no ads, and so far, brands and trolls are staying away – unlike on X.

Musk, the free-speech absolutist, can keep talking about a “digital town square,” but it requires rules and moderation – and he ripped those away straight after buying the platform.

I’ve written before that, actually, filter bubbles are perfectly fine because the way we get on with our lives and just cope with it all has always been trying to surround ourselves with people who we love and who love us back, who agree with us, who like the same things.

Most people are actually decent and get frustrated trying to debate something with individuals armed with non-fact-based alternative realities and conspiracies. When the space for civilized discussions is narrowing, the echo chambers rise – and it’s not a surprise.

People should join the online communities that suit them or reflect their values, and no one’s obligated to tolerate a feed full of content that pisses them off. So X, this is a goodbye.