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In the dynamic landscape of social media, Meta’s Threads finds itself trailing behind the emerging platform, Bluesky, which is capitalizing on the wave of users leaving Elon Musk’s X in the wake of Donald Trump’s election. Following election day, Bluesky witnessed a staggering surge in activity across the US and the UK, with daily users rising by nearly 300 percent to reach 3.5 million, according to data from research group Similarweb. The platform’s rise has been bolstered by academics, journalists, and left-leaning politicians departing X, as its billionaire owner prominently backs the newly elected President.
Before November 5th, Threads boasted an active daily user base in the US five times larger than that of Bluesky, a start-up initially funded by Twitter during Jack Dorsey’s tenure as CEO and run by a modest team of 20. However, this gap has now narrowed, with Threads only being 1.5 times bigger than its ambitious rival, according to Similarweb.
Bluesky’s rapid expansion comes on the heels of Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, strategically dialing down the visibility of political content across its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. This decision was largely seen as an effort to side-step political entanglements and the increasingly heated debate around free speech. Trump, who has often accused social media giants of suppressing conservative viewpoints, once labeled Meta “an enemy of the people” and said Zuckerberg might face jail time if Trump regained office. Recently, however, Trump commented that he’s more favorable towards Zuckerberg, appreciating the company’s current stance of staying out of election disputes.
This stance marks a stark contrast with X, where under Musk’s leadership, content moderation has been relaxed, allowing for a more unrestricted flow of posts.
Since Threads’ debut last July, its strategy has focused on featuring engaging content from accounts users do not follow, mimicking the style of Meta’s Instagram. However, Meta backpedaled on this strategy recently. This week, they also introduced the option for users to create “custom feeds” based on specific topics or people, mirroring existing Bluesky features, following just a brief five-day testing period. Such swift changes have sparked curiosity that Meta is actively working to counter Bluesky’s ascent.
Meta commented on their strategic shifts, saying: “We routinely introduce new Threads features and updates—implemented dozens in recent months—to cater to our expanding user base of over 275 million. We’re committed to continuing our support for this growing community.”
Experts point out that Threads’ timeline wasn’t very effective for users interested in real-time news.
“There’s an inevitable decision ahead regarding whether they’ll bring back political content and real-time discussions,” noted Katie Harbath, a former Meta policy director who has worked on their election strategies for a decade. “Especially if Bluesky’s numbers remain high.”
Adam Tinworth, journalism lecturer at City, University of London, described Bluesky as essentially a spin-off from Twitter, making it a “natural replacement” for those dissatisfied with X. “Threads presents a different proposition, and it missed the mark entirely during the US elections by sidelining news and politics from users’ feeds,” he added.
Bluesky, introduced by Dorsey in 2019, aimed to create a standard protocol for social platforms and developers to build tailored experiences. Now under the leadership of digital rights activist and software engineer Jay Graber, Bluesky allows users to post short messages and images in an interface akin to X. A feature called “starter packs”—pre-curated groups of accounts users can follow—has further fueled its growth.
Despite its rise, Bluesky has also encountered growing pains, including outages and glitches, raising concerns about its long-term business model. Initially funded by Twitter, it secured $15 million in venture funding last year, on top of $8 million the year before.
Adam Mosseri, head of Threads, recently revealed that the app gained over 15 million sign-ups in November alone, maintaining over a million new sign-ups daily for nearly three months. Yet, he acknowledged, “We’ve got a lot more work ahead.”
