The election of Donald Trump has seen an exodus of subscribers from the Elon Musk-owned X. The increasingly popular alternative to X's toxicity is Bluesky.
I WAS NEVER comfortable with a right wing billionaire annexing Twitter for his own political ends and when Elon Musk threw in his lot with Donald Trump, I concluded it was time to seek pastures new. Fortunately, there was an alternative available.
Bluesky, the new project of former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, began as a startup project within Twitter in 2019 but became a standalone, independent company in 2021. Bluesky was originally an invite-only service but opened to the public in February.
It has enjoyed steady growth since but the exodus from X has accelerated since Trump won the presidency. In the week after Trump was elected, Bluesky gained some 1.5 million new subscribers, including this writer.
Although it still has only a fraction of the subscribers that X commands, it is not difficult to envisage Bluesky continuing to grow in opposition to X, as the full horror show of the Trump presidency begins to unfold. As one social media pundit has observed:
'Users tired of the toxicity and anti-social media behaviour are increasingly looking to alternatives to X as a return to the kinder, gentler days of social media...'
Numerous studies and analyses have found that since Musk took over the platform, use of hate speech has increased markedly. It can be legitimately argued that X, under Musk, has become a nexus for far-right views. And, as one commentator has pointed out, there is no reason why the left should continue to provide the right with the sustenance it craves:
'Liberals and the left do not need the right to be online in the way the right needs liberals and the left. The nature of reactionary politics demands constant confrontations - literal reactions - to the left. The more liberals and the left leave X, the less value it offers to the right, both in terms of cultural relevance and opportunities for trolling.'
For journalists, X, has become increasingly hostile to their work. Elon Musk has already admitted that his platform has deprioritised posts including links, which was how
journalists and other creators have historically shared their work. Deliberately suppressing the reach of posts, as Musk has done, has been another added incentive for people to move elsewhere.
X is looking more and more like a social media website fraying at the edges and that impression has only been confirmed with the platform beginning to lose some of its high-profile accounts. Last week The Guardian announced it would be no longer be posting to X. This week, Bluesky announced that socialist congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had become the first person to hit one million followers on the platform.
AOC posted: 'People are leaving Twitter because it’s not fun anymore and no one is obligated to be on a platform they don’t enjoy. It’s not rocket science.'
I have to sort-of disagree. The time when the terms 'left' and 'right' related to political parties, even sketchily, are long gone. Now its 100% oligarchy dum and oligarchy dee, and for me, what is necessary is to not hold a single grain of faith in what the parties or their representatives say about politics, or most MSM for that matter.
ReplyDeleteOn the bright side, this is a fascinating time to pull together an (incomplete) picture from a variety of sources. (To be a political junkie nowadays is far too addictive!)
As to Bluesky, I don't think it's going to take off which, if correct, would make it difficult for users in the long term. But I have to admit, I'm not one. A lot of the promoters are suggesting that it is reaching elite, highly educated users and thinking that is a selling point. What I like is how much this kind of argument is that it's more a kiss of death right now. People are extremely suspicious of any hint of 'establishment'. (Don't believe your involvement would be swayed by such marketing, btw, Steven. I get your reasons are quite separate)