The X alternative has not seen people ditch the app following a post-election spike in daily users, new data shows
The digital clouds have not rolled over Bluesky yet, as the social app -- which became a go-to alternative for disenchanted X users following Election Day -- has seen its post-election momentum hold strong well into December.
Bluesky, according to data provided by Sensor Tower, has seen its daily active user count in the U.S. more than triple since the day before the election. The app has moved from 240,000 daily active users in the U.S. to 900,000 DAUs by 12/13, the most recent day data is available for.
The surge in new users started immediately following the election, when many left-leaning users fled Elon Musk's X after his preferred candidate, Donald Trump, defeated Vice President Kamala Harris. Media figures like Don Lemon and celebrities like Gabrielle Union made public proclamations they were ditching X and heading to Bluesky in the aftermath. Others lauded the app as "Blue Heaven" for card-carrying members of "The Resistance."
Most striking about Sensor Tower's latest DAU update is that it shows Bluesky's growth has held strong into December following its initial post-election surge. The app's DAU count has increased 45% since the week of Thanksgiving, when it had 622,000 daily users in the States.
Bluesky still does not come close to its two main competitors, X and Meta-owned Threads, when it comes to total daily users. But it is the only app of the three to grow since the election; X's DAU count dipped slightly (1.6%) in the month following the election, going from 24.4 million daily American users to 24 million DAUs by mid-December.
And Threads enjoyed a quick boost in daily users following the election, but that momentum stalled out. The app's growth has been flat: Threads has 10 million daily users in the U.S. in mid-December -- which is the same number of daily users it had the day before the election, according to Sensor Tower.
Moving into 2025, Bluesky has positioned itself as a friendly destination for those who are not fans of Musk or his views on free speech.
Aaron Rodericks, Bluesky's head of "trust and safety" and the former co-leader of Twitter's trust and safety department, said this week he wants his app to be a "safe space." And one way to go about making that happen is to have different views on content censorship than X, he said.
"I think what I learned from my experience at Twitter under previous leadership is that a number of users appreciate a safe and welcoming environment," Rodericks told Prospect Magazine.
"Elon himself has other priorities. He believes in free speech absolutism... I think it's a notable and worthwhile experiment, if that's where he wants to spend his money and his resources. I just don't believe in that philosophy for Bluesky."