Since the election of Donald Trump (supported by Elon Musk), many Internet users, particularly in the United States, have flocked to alternatives to X. On October 24, the social network Bluesky claimed more than 13 million users. At the time of writing this article, there are over 23 million. And that’s not all, since in the United States, Bluesky was number 1 on the App Store for several days. As for Threads, Instagram’s social network, which also positions itself as an alternative to X, it claims 35 million new registrations in November.
Two rival platforms
Little by little, a rivalry is building between these two platforms, to accommodate former X users, tired of Elon Musk’s social network. A priori, Threads is clearly better positioned than Bluesky to become the main alternative to the old Twitter. On October 31, when presenting its quarterly results, the Meta group claimed 275 million monthly active users. And as mentioned above, the social network added more than 35 million subscribers this month of November.
Still, there are some signs that Bluesky might catch up with Threads in the long run. First of all, both apps are in the Top 10 of the App Store in the United States. At the time of writing, Threads is in first place, while Bluesky is in third place in this ranking.
Furthermore, on November 18, the company Similarweb published data indicating a sharp increase in traffic to the Bluesky website, even surpassing that of the Threads site in the United States and the United Kingdom. “Bluesky’s audience is still much smaller than Threads’, let alone X’s, but it could catch up to Threads if it continues to grow at this rate”had also indicated Similarweb.
Does Meta feel threatened?
As reported by the Social Media Today site, a week ago, Adam Mosseri, the boss of Instagram, reacted to a publication indicating that Bluesky could catch up with the number of daily users of Threads. “It is not possible that this is the case, because we have many more daily users than the total number of registrations (editor’s note, from Bluesky). Maybe this data is web data”he commented. But, according to Social Media Today, the fact that Adam Mosseri responded to this publication is already revealing and shows that, at least, Bluesky’s progression is closely followed by the Meta group.
In any case, Threads has decided to make some improvements to its platform. A few days ago, Adam Mosseri announced improvements to Threads search and the Trending Now feature.
And that’s not all since the social network is also testing a new product inspired by Bluesky’s “Starter Pack”.
Launched in June, this feature allows the user to have a list of accounts to follow as soon as they arrive on Bluesky. Obviously, this rumor made Bluesky react. “If this app is going to continue to copy our features, you better join Bluesky”indicated this one on his Threads account.
Bluesky attracts the attention of the European Commission
In any case, as Bluesky now weighs in on the digital landscape, it is already attracting the attention of Brussels. “All EU platforms, even the smallest ones that are below the threshold, which is the case with Bluesky, must have a dedicated page on their website that indicates the number of users they have in the EU and where they are legally established. This is not the case for Bluesky to date,” a representative of the European Commission said recently, according to Reuters.
This rule has applied since the entry into force of the Digital Services Act.
For its part, Bluesky has already announced that it is working with its lawyers to ensure that the platform complies with this EU legislation.
