Bluesky surges to 15 million users after getting a million sign-ups in one week

[rcjordan]

https://www.engadget.com/social-media/bluesky-surges-to-15-million-users-after-getting-a-million-sign-ups-in-one-week-224213573.html

Data suggests the growth coincides with a wave of deactivations on X.

[ergophobe]

I have mixed feelings about that. So all the people who dislike Musk leave and the people who like Musk find their new favorite home on X and the walls of the echo chambers eventually get so thick that nothing from one chamber can penetrate another.

One thing seems clear: Musk's plan to make X a place where there would be a great melting pot of ideas is failing. Even before the election, people I follow who are mostly scientists and fitness experts have been slowly leaving or reducing dramatically their presence saying they are tired of fighting with the crazies (e.g. a nutrition scientist who is tired of posting a study and then have the carnivore crowd come out and say vegetables are poison or the vegan crowd come out and say he's spreading lies).

[rcjordan]

https://techcrunch.com/2024/11/15/unlike-x-bluesky-says-it-wont-train-ai-on-your-posts/

Unlike X, Bluesky says it won't train AI on your posts | TechCrunch

Bluesky, a social network that's experiencing a surge in users this week as users abandon X, says it has "no intention" of using user content to train generative AI tools. The social network made the announcement on the same day that X (formerly Twitter) is implementing its new terms of service that allow the platform to use public posts to train AI.

[buckworks]

<time warp>

Hillary Clinton has just joined BlueSky, and it's fascinating to watch  something viral in real time.

Her first post was less than an hour ago and she already has more than 40K followers.

https://bsky.app/profile/hillaryclinton.bsky.social

[rcjordan]

Bsky is slowly becoming The Resistance.  Obama joined a week or so ago.

March 2025: Bluesky has 33.7 million total registered users and an estimated 1 to 10 million daily active users worldwide.

[buckworks]

Hillary just passed 70,000.

[ergophobe]

Carney is at 40K
https://bsky.app/profile/markcarneyforpm.bsky.social

OT from the Scott Galloway pod: What's the difference between the US and Canada? The US has nice neighbors.

[buckworks]

Carney's official account has 137K. Check here:

https://bsky.app/profile/mark-carney.bsky.social

[ergophobe]

Ah, right. That's just the campaign account.

> Nous devons construire un Canada plus abordable.

If he were American, Carney would be a very strong candidate for president. I think he would destroy any likely candidate from either US party and likely would have run away with the 2024 election. He shows the moderation and clear, strong, economic messaging that has utterly eluded Democrats for years and which has traditionally been their bread and butter.

Ironically, he wouldn't even be in the running if not for Mr Trump baiting Trudeau. We live in interesting times.

He reminds me of Sanders, not because of any similarity in policies, philosophy, looks, demeanor or any of that, but for his ability to stay on message and bring every conversation back to his talking points. Ever since Sanders ran for mayor in my hometown, he has had that quality, love him or hate. "Bernie, what do you think of the Yankees chances this year?" "I don't know about the Yankees chances, but I do know that working class people can no longer afford to go to a ball game because wages have stagnated for over 40 years as billionaires manage teams for profits blah blah blah."

Carney strikes me like that. It takes him nine words go bring any question back to one of his top 5 talking points.

[littleman]

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/5/3/2320261/-Research-Announcements-Shifting-to-Bluesky

Bluesky has overtaken its flailing rival X in hosting posts related to new academic research, indicating the platform is fast becoming the go-to place for scholars to share their work.

[rcjordan]

> fast becoming the go-to place for scholars to share their work.

Academics, researchers, journalists, doctors, major media, etc. started migrating heavily when DOGE/Musk started nuking grants and purging gov jobs.

I get some of my daily info intake on BSky but I do not like the UI. A lack of algo-driven targeted topic feeds also hurts BSky --it is pretty much up to the user to dig out sources and many/most want passive consumption.

I have a crapload of TMky script running on BSky and it is better, but it still doesn't scratch my itch. 

+
IIRC, it passed 35m subscribers a few weeks ago, but usage stats are trending down.

[Brad]

Academics, researchers, journalists, doctors, major media, etc. started migrating heavily when DOGE/Musk started nuking grants and purging gov jobs.

Okay, this explains why XTwitter has seemed so really really full of filler on my timeline for the last few weeks.  I think the archaeologists have largely quit or post rarely now. They were still holding out a few months ago.  Anyway many have moved to Bluesky or maybe Meta and Xtwitter is starting to look tumbleweedy.

[rcjordan]

>archaeologists

Yeah, I see some of their posts when I check my BSky feeds.  If you're unfamiliar with BSky, there's a pre-built Science feed.

>migrating heavily

The migration was already in progress but it ticked up a good bit when USAid was killed. But when the grants began being canceled wholesale, well....