‘The Friendly X’; After Trump’s victory, Bluesky’s Twitter alternative is getting crazy

Since Donald Trump won the US election, the social media platform Bluesky has been growing rapidly. In the last 24 hours, it welcomed one million new users. Many of them no longer feel at home on Elon Musk‘s X, because the South African technology and space entrepreneur is said to have used that platform to influence the American elections.

Initially, Bluesky was funded and founded by Twitter itself, led by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. In 2022, Elon Musk took over Twitter and changed its name to X. Dorsey left the board of the now independent Bluesky earlier this year.

At first glance, the platform barely differs from Twitter – including a light blue logo – but there are several differences. While the standard X timeline works according to an algorithm, Bluesky’s feed is chronological. This means that a user will only see messages from accounts they follow, with the most recently posted message at the top.

“Terrible sounds get a lot of attention News and Co.

“These kinds of messages are then pumped around by the algorithm, so that even more people see them. You don’t have that problem on Bluesky, for example.” In addition, messages that conflict with the platform’s house rules will be removed.

For these reasons, Bluesky is called “the friendly X” by some users. “The question is whether it will stay that way if the site becomes popular,” says De Vreese. “It’s growing very quickly now, so it could be a challenge to assess that.”

Writer and presenter Özcan Akyol moved to Bluesky because he felt the messages were getting on

When Musk bought Twitter, he said he did so in part because the platform had become too political in his view. “But then he turned X into a part of the Trump campaign,” observed De Vreese. “So it became more political than ever.”

Musk had changed the algorithm to ensure that his own account reached more people. With that account – which you as user X cannot ignore – he regularly shares baseless conspiracy theories, such as the racist and anti-Semitic mob theory.

Additionally, X’s tone also changed after Musk took over. Last January write News hour about raising criticism on stage. There was almost no moderation, which meant that users saw a significant increase in the number of racist and hateful messages. “It is filled with so much focus and negativity, so there was also a search for other options,” said De Vreese. The level of misinformation also seems to be increasing increase.

“Musk’s position in the elections was ultimately the last straw for a lot of people to change,” said De Vreese. “That has led to a wave that is now spreading around the world. “The platform now has nearly 20 million users. Estimates of the number of active users of X vary, but it is definitely in the hundreds of millions per month.

Musk was very visible during Trump’s election campaign. He spoke at Trump campaign rallies and gave millions to Americans who registered to vote. He also filled Republican campaign coffers with tens of millions of dollars.

The Tesla boss is also expected to play a role during the Trump presidency. It must be some kind of type unofficial ministry led a service called Department of Government Efficiency, abbreviation DOGE, reference to its cryptocurrency Dogecoin. According to Trump, it is an outside agency that needs to make the government work more efficiently and make it more economical.

Since the acquisition of X, more tech companies have tried to launch an alternative to Twitter. Notable examples are Threads – Meta’s social media platform – and Mastodon. These companies are also benefiting from the many users who no longer feel at home on X.

According to De Vreese, the market is big enough for X and the other platforms, but he is aware that there is also a risk of “fragmentation”. “If there are specific groups of people active on the different platforms, you might end up with platforms that everyone agrees on. It is a democratic challenge if it completely collapses. In the end, it might be better if there is one. a well moderated platform, but where people with different opinions are active.”