Twitter alternative Bluesky adds 700,000 new users after U.S. election

Bluesky, a popular alternative to the social networking website formerly known as Twitter, gained more than 700,000 new users in the week of the U.S. election, according to the company. It now has 14.5 million users in total.

The company, which started as a project within Twitter in 2019 before going independent in 2021, announced on October 24 that it reached 13 million users. Another 700,000 people signed up in the week of the U.S. election.

By Monday night, Bluesky had more than 14.5 million users, though it’s unclear how many of them use the app on a regular basis. Nearly 554 million messages have been posted since May 2023, according to one tracker.

The majority of new users last week were from the United States, Bluesky COO Rose Wang told The Verge.

Twitter/X owner Elon Musk is an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump, who won last week’s election, which may be fueling the growing interest in Bluesky. The app however remains relatively small compared to Meta’s Threads, which recently reported more than 275 million monthly users.

Several companies tried to launch Twitter alternatives after Musk’s takeover in October 2022, with Threads and Bluesky being the most notable examples. Several others have failed, including Post News and Pebble (previously T2).