Bluesky says it added 500K new users in a day this week after X announced plans for controversial changes, including basically getting rid of the block feature
Here's Why Rob Pegoraro / PCMag : Bluesky Boom: X Alternative Sees Surge Of Signups Dylan R. Coyle / Android Police : X users are seemingly flocking to Bluesky after Twitter's latest snafu Sam Courtney-Guy / Metro.co.uk : X to weaken block function despite harassment and privacy fears Priya Pathak / Financial Express : Twitter users flock to Bluesky as 500,000 join in a day amid controversial blocking changes Sakshi Sadashiv K / MEDIANAMA : X's (formerly Twitter) changes block feature, weakening user privacy and safety Frank Landymore / Futurism : Half a Million Users Flooded to Twitter Competitor After Elon Musk Handed Creeps the Keys Craig Donaldson / Pocket-lint : X is changing how the block button works despite no one asking them to Threads: Jc Sheridan / @jcsheridan0226 : Heres my take, that nobody asked for, about BlueSky/Threads. BlueSky attempted to use the FOMO playbook of introducing thier product to a select few with the goal of making it seem like a privilege and those on the outside were missing out. Threads put out a minimum viable product. … Ben Werdmüller / @ben.werdmuller : It looks to me like Bluesky is now roughly neck and neck with the fediverse in terms of users (~12M each). Of course, Mastodon has roughly 9000x the number of instances, many of which serve individual communities far more deeply. But it looks like Bluesky will shortly be the bigger platform. … Mastodon: Alex Wild / @alexwild@mastodon.online : This checks out. I'm getting tons of new #Bluesky followers in the past couple days. — https://www.theverge.com/... @kim_harding@mastodon.scot : People are flocking to Bluesky as X makes more unwanted changes — https://www.theverge.com/... Bluesky says it added half a million new users in a day; meanwhile, X is planning to essentially get rid of the block feature — Sadly, Mastodon seems to be missing out Bluesky: @bsky.app : update: half a million new people in the last day 🤯 — welcome, いらっしゃいませ, 환영, bem-vindo! 🦋🎉 [embedded post] @bsky.app : congratulations everyone, we have now passed 12 million people total on bluesky!!! 🦋 — over 1.2M new people have joined bluesky in the last two days — welcome!! 💙🕺🪩 [embedded post] Annie Boustead / @annieboustead.bsky.social : Okay, but like 80% of this is me deleting and reinstalling Bluesky on my phone several times a day as a way of managing my social media anxiety. [embedded post] Mike Masnick / @mmasnick.bsky.social : A lot of people are commenting that X isn't on the list at all, but that's because they're under “News” not “Social Networking.” But yes, Bluesky is downloaded more than X right now. By a lot. 6th overall. X is 41st. [image] Mike Masnick / @mmasnick.bsky.social : Movin' on up... now the number two social media app in the US... [embedded post] Hailey / @haileyok.com : ATTENTION. THIS IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT. — YOU ARE BEING INFORMED THAT WE ARE NOW NUMBER TWO (2) IN THE UNITED STATES FOR SOCIAL MEDIA APPLICATIONS IN THE IOS APP STORE. — THANK YOU. HAVE A GOOD EVENING. [embedded post] X: @xeng : Soon we'll be launching a change to how the block function works. If your posts are set to public, accounts you have blocked will be able to view them, but they will not be able to engage (like, reply, repost, etc.). @bluesky : At Bluesky, we take online safety seriously. If you want to block someone, you can! It's your experience to customize. In addition, you can also: + subscribe to block lists maintained by users you trust + detach quote posts + more https://bsky.app/... @kalekitt : I WILL BE MOVING TO #Bluesky DUE TO TWITTER'S NEW TOS. ITS UNBELIEVABLY AWFUL • YOU WILL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO OPT INTO YOUR CONTENT BEING USED IN AI SCRAPING • TWITTER WILL NOW HAVE A ROYALTY FREE LICENSE ON YOUR CONTENT • YOU WILL GET NO COMPENSATION [image] @lythero : I'm staying here, but I understand why my timeline is nothing but migration to bluesky The best part of twitter was art. I could simply retweet, and the numbers could genuinely help that artist too It'd be nice if the dipshit who stole my username on bluesky gave it back though [image] @bluesky : one of these is not like the others https://bsky.app/... [image] @bluesky : bluesky gaining over 1 million new people made me think about how the skies were always blue when i was with you. i'd get a million butterflies when i saw you. anyways, you don't have to respond... but see you on bluesky maybe? https://bsky.app/... [image] Joshua Lowe / @josh_lowe : You can almost hear the Bluesky staff preparing a graph showing their user base growing by 10-15%. NiM / @probablynim : For folks moving over to bluesky, there is a chrome extension that let's you quickly find and follow the same users from your Twitter if they have a bluesky account! :> [image] Zack Labe / @zlabe : Reminder to come join us all on @bluesky! All of my daily posts are now there #ClimateData #DataViz @bluesky : you can block people on bluesky, and they won't be able to see your posts or interact with you https://bsky.app/... [image] @hanamaevtuber : A great exodus is upon us ... Artists/Vtubers ... are you traveling to bluer skies above? 🦋 [image] @bluesky : not now honey the line is still going up https://bsky.app/... [image] @davidtoons_ : Fellas if you're wanting to add the people you follow here on Bsky, use this extension! It helped out so much [image] @bluesky : 🔙🔛🔝 ブルース カイは.在 日本で1位 のアプリで ; 、世.中で も.実に人 気が上昇中 ; ！ bluesky is the #1 app in japan, and climbing steadily elsewhere in the world! https://bsky.app/... [image] Adam Kucharski / @adamjkucharski : Bluesky looking better by the day... Miguel de Icaza / @migueldeicaza : Hi besties! [image] @john_a_ridge : A reminder that I am on the other app. I will be active on Twitter for the time being but will make an effort to be more active over there as well. I've always assumed my blocks can read my tweets via alt accounts. But I have no desire to read their tweets myself. [image] Damon K / @dada_drummer : Bluesky is down I guess this is why... Thom / @lemonwatcher : Everyone is doing Bluesky again and I swear it's worse for my mental health than this place. People being wrong in very specific ways about things I care about is much worse than the cartoonish but largely ignorable toxic sludge here. @luke_metro : @John_A_Ridge Bluesky is so close to becoming my osint-only app Tom Whipple / @whippletom : Excellent. Looking forward to having a bunch of people who hate me screenshotting me. [image] Tero Kuittinen / @teroterotero : Woah - Bluesky has cracked US Top 10 app download chart as X falls out of Top 40. The deterioration of this hell app is driving a sea change. Sarah Perez / @sarahpereztc : Bluesky surges into the top 5 as X changes blocks, permits AI training on its data https://techcrunch.com/... Gergely Orosz / @gergelyorosz : The beauty of having alternatives and competition! (On other text-based social networks like Bluesky and Threads, blocking someone means they cannot see your content. X is changing so they can keep seeing it, just cannot comment, like or repost.) [image] Nikki Hill / @hillnikki : I'm only on here because media and politicians are still. What if we all agree to move over? Bluesky gains half a million new users in one day after X changes how blocking works https://mashable.com/... @bluesky : bluesky signups going 📈🚀 half a million new people in the last day now!!! https://bsky.app/... [image] @bluesky : welcome, new bluesky users 🫡 https://bsky.app/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Bluesky began as a small, Twitter-like federated network, and its early coverage focused as much on establishing community norms as on scale. The platform had already seen a usage spike tied to X users leaving Brazil, showing that disruption at X could produce concentrated bursts of demand for alternatives.
This episode extends that pattern: an announced change to X’s block controls coincided with Bluesky’s reported 500,000-user day and its passage of roughly 12 million users. Subsequent coverage placed Bluesky above 13 million users and described plans for paid features, suggesting the company was moving from episodic influxes toward supporting a larger base.
First-order effects
- Bluesky gains a rapid influx of prospective users at a moment when X’s planned block-function change has made safety and privacy controls a salient reason to switch.
- X users who rely on blocking to limit unwanted contact face a changed public-post visibility boundary under the announced policy, while Bluesky becomes an immediate alternative destination.
Second-order effects
- The surge raises the competitive value of moderation, blocking, and user-control design for X and social-network alternatives; policy changes can now directly affect where users test or establish accounts.
- Bluesky must convert a one-day acquisition spike into retained participation and reliable service, a challenge underscored by its later funding and subscription-feature plans.
Third-order effects
- If repeated policy controversies continue to trigger migration waves, social platforms may compete less solely on audience scale and more on whether their safety controls match users’ expectations of consent and visibility.
- The pattern could make social-network switching more event-driven: a single governance decision becomes a catalyst for users to diversify their online social presence rather than depend on one platform.
The trend: Safety and control policies are becoming a competitive switching trigger in social networking, turning governance changes into user-acquisition opportunities for rival platforms.