Bluesky, a fast-growing alternative to the social platform formerly known as Twitter, saw a surge of over 700,000 new users during the week of the recent U.S. election, the company reported. This increase brings its total user count to 14.5 million.
Originally conceived as a project within Twitter in 2019, Bluesky became independent in 2021. The company announced on October 24 that it had reached 13 million users, followed by another 700,000 signups amid the election period.
By Monday night, Bluesky’s user base had surpassed 14.5 million, though it remains unclear how many actively use the app. To date, users have posted nearly 554 million messages since May 2023, according to a tracking source.
Most of last week’s new signups came from the United States, Bluesky COO Rose Wang shared with The Verge.
Elon Musk, the current owner of Twitter/X and a vocal Trump supporter, may be indirectly driving interest in Bluesky, especially following Trump’s victory in last week’s election. However, Bluesky remains modest in size compared to Meta’s Threads, which recently reported over 275 million monthly users.
Several companies have launched Twitter alternatives since Musk’s acquisition in October 2022, with Bluesky and Threads standing out as notable competitors. Others, like Post News and Pebble (formerly T2), have not fared as well.