Left-leaning influencers show support for Bluesky while maintaining ties with X, Pew research finds

It is not surprising that many prominent left-leaning social media accounts have recently joined Bluesky, as a new analysis from the Pew Research Center attempts to quantify this shift.

The Pew report, which was an update to their news influencer report released in November 2024, focused on a group of 500 influencers with over 100,000 followers on major platforms who regularly post about current events. In this update, Pew found that 43% of these influencers had an account on Bluesky in February/March, with more than half of those accounts being created after the 2024 presidential election.

There is a clear divide between left-leaning and right-leaning influencers, with 69% of the former making the jump to Bluesky compared to only 15% of the latter. Despite this shift, most influencers have maintained their presence on X (formerly Twitter), with 82% still having an account on the platform.

While most influencers still post more regularly on X than on Bluesky, there has been a noticeable increase in Bluesky activity. The number of influencers on Bluesky who are actively posting grew from 54% in January to 66% in March.