As eX-Twitter acquires an increasingly Musky odor, more and more journalists, politicians, and celebrities are fleeing it for the greener (bluer?) pastures of Bluesky, a Twitter clone. Among recent refugees from ex-Twitter are Nicolle Wallace, Don Lemon, LeBron James (rumored), and Stephen King. Bluesky was created in 2019 by then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey as an experiment in giving users more control over their data and experience. In particular, it gives users control over their feeds. It was spun off in 2021 and became widely available in March 2024. It now has 20 million users and since the election has been acquiring another million a day.
Many people are leaving because eX-Twitter has become an open sewer full of garbage and hate, with trashy ads, scammy replies, and porn bots. Over 150 pro-Nazi accounts flourish on the site and their posts have been viewed millions of times. Many journalists used to use the direct messaging tools, but now are concerned that Elon Musk or his staffers might be reading their messages in violation of the site's stated terms and conditions. They also believe that not only is the former filtering of disinformation gone, but Musk is actively posting disinformation to help Donald Trump. In short, it is no longer what it was and no longer a desirable neighborhood for many people other than right-wing trolls. Hence the exodus to Bluesky.
However, others, including Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL), are arguing that abandoning it will make it a right-wing paradise with no push-back at all. One of the problems the Democrats had in the election is that they don't engage much with people outside their very well-educated bubble. Leaving eX-Twitter and moving to the safe confines of Bluesky just makes the problem worse. Kamala Harris lost the popular vote. Saying "I'm going to take my marbles and go home" may not be the best way to inform all those people who voted based on disinformation. Living in a friendly space may feel good but it doesn't win elections. In fact, it may help lose them by letting outright lies go unchallenged. A journalist or politician who will happily appear on MSNBC but declines to appear on Fox News is not going to change many hearts and minds.
For people who have built up a huge following, leaving and starting all over is a tough call. For example, environmentalist Bill McKibben had 380,000 followers but he decided to give them up, saying he did not trust Musk. Former New York City Public Advocate Mark Green signed off, saying: "Lots to say and do as we approach the start of the Trump-Musk oligarchy." The Guardian, with 10.7 million followers, has also left, calling the platform "toxic." Many of the people leaving feel that having high-value journalists and others leave the platform decreases advertiser interest and thus causes Musk to lose even more money than he is already losing there.
Plus, if you are popular, you can build up a new following from scratch. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) just became the first person to amass a million followers on Bluesky. It can be done.
The old Twitter was moderately left wing, but a new study shows it currently has a 50-50 partisan split. If the migration continues for a few months, we could end up with two roughly equal platforms, one for Democrats and one for Republicans, and neither one paying attention to the other. The split between Fox News and MSNBC would then have carried over to microblogging platforms as well. Everything is partisan these days. What's next? Sports? Hockey and basketball are for Democrats and baseball and football are for Republicans? Actually, that's kind of already true. (V)