eX-it left
I'm finally leaving X behind. And it seems, since the US election result, I’m not the only one. BlueSky—created by former head of Twitter, Jack Dorsey in October 2021—has gone from a marginal platform to a preferred landing spot for X-refugees. Today, there are 18 million users, and since the election, it has been growing at around 1 million per day. It’s still a David compared to the Goliaths of X (430 million users) and Threads (200 million).
For those who still like shorter form social media, but who—like me—have grown disillusioned with Twitter since Elon Musk turned it into a toxic platform for amplifying and the political right and spreading misinformation (Grok, his own AI on X, reached this conclusion!), you can now find me too on BlueSky, which seems far less biased and toxic, and far more balanced and positive.
Admittedly, it's hard to turn my back on my 30,000 followers on X, but it seems the algorithms are anyway stacked against my kind of posts, which are liberal, noninflammatory posts on sustainable and regenerative business, innovation and technology. I also hope those who are still genuinely interested in connecting and exchanging views will join me on BlueSky.
I see others that I respect flocking (or is it fluttering?) to Bluesky, like George Monbiot, Chris Packham, Rebecca Solnit, Bill McKibben and Michael E Mann. So I (and hopefully we) will be in good company. I hope to connect with you there too. Already, it feels like the difference between a dark, black night and a bright, blue day. I'm just starting to rebuild my networks on Bluesky, so could use the help. Until then, flutter-bye!
My BlueSky handle is @waynevisser.bsky.social.