Bluesky is positioning itself as the new go-to platform for users moving away from X, formerly known as Twitter. Following recent U.S. election events, reports indicate a surge of interest in Bluesky, with potentially hundreds of thousands leaving X amid shifting political dynamics. The Economic Times has highlighted this trend, while The Verge reports that Bluesky gained over a million users since the November 4 election, signaling a potential user migration.
Bluesky began in 2019 as an experimental project under Jack Dorsey, who was then Twitter’s CEO. Although Dorsey no longer has ties to the platform, his initial vision of a decentralized social network continues through Bluesky’s current leadership under CEO Jay Graber. Now a public benefit corporation, Bluesky is fully independent, positioning itself as an appealing alternative for those seeking a new kind of online community.
With a growing user base of over 15 million, Bluesky still lags far behind X’s estimated 586 million monthly active users. Yet its decentralized model, offering users more autonomy in managing their experience, has helped set it apart. Like Mastodon, Bluesky runs on a federated model, allowing communities to establish their own instances or versions of the platform while retaining core features like text posts, image and video sharing, and user profiles. For users accustomed to Twitter’s design, Bluesky’s familiar layout and functionality make the transition relatively easy.
Switching from X to Bluesky: A Step-by-Step Guide
Switching to Bluesky involves a few steps. Interested users can download the app from the App Store or Google Play or visit bsky.app to register using their email. However, directly migrating an X account to Bluesky isn’t currently possible.
For users looking to connect with familiar accounts from X, a tool called Sky Follower Bridge can help by finding followers and those they followed on X who are now on Bluesky. This browser extension works on Chrome and Firefox, though there are limitations: Twitter has taken measures to restrict screen scraping, meaning the Sky Follower Bridge may only be a temporary solution.
As for transferring old X posts, there isn’t a direct method for migration yet. Wikihow offers a technical approach using Python and Terminal, but currently, there’s no similar option for mobile users.
Bluesky is steadily attracting not only individuals but also news outlets looking to establish a presence beyond X. With its commitment to decentralized networking, Bluesky seems likely to continue capturing the attention of those seeking alternatives to traditional social media.
