Lancashire celebrities leave X for new social media site Bluesky but what is it?

An exodus of users fleeing the platform once called Twitter has accelerated in the wake of the recent American Presidential election. 

Elon Musk, who bought the social media site in 2022, was a vocal supporter and donor to Donald Trump’s campaign, and he has now been rewarded with a position as co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 

Users have become more and more disgruntled with Twitter (later rebranded as X) following Tesla billionaire’s takeover and now many people have left the site for a newer micro-blogging platform called Bluesky.

This includes the Blackburn born and Chorley raised actor, writer and director Steve Pemberton, perhaps best known for his roles in The League of Gentlemen, Inisde No.9 and Benidorm.

Last week, Steve, 57, tweeted: “Come say [email protected] and tell me which tastes better - which is Coke and which is Pepsi? (and which is Shirlie...)”

His announcement was then followed by that of former Coronation Street actress turned broadcaster Nicola Thorp.

The Blackpool born star said: “Have left here for bluesky - click here to follow: https://bsky.app/profile/nicolathorp.bsky.social“

But what exactly is Bluesky? 

First launching about 18 months ago, Bluesky is a ‘decentralised’ social media network which was initially invite only. 

The official Bluesky Safety account revealed on Friday, November 15 that 3 million people had signed up in the last week so you may experience some teething issues as the demand for it soars. 

Similar to Twitter, users can share short character limited posts - colloquially known as ‘skeets’- including text, images, gifs and videos.

The app itself will look familiar to Twitter users with a discover feed, following feed and a similar layout to that popular social network - it did actually started as a research initiative at Twitter in 2019, before becoming independent in 2021. 

When you open up the app, you will discover that you can also follow certain topics - like news, books, etc - and see feeds tailored to them.

Users also share ‘starter packs’ giving you a handy list of accounts to follow - for example ‘board game developers start pack’. 

When Bluesky first launched in the wake of Musk’s takeover of Twitter you had to have an invite to create an account but now it is fully open to anyone who wants to sign up.

All you have to do is download the app from the App Store on iPhone or Google Play on Android devices - or go to this webpage. 

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One-time Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was involved in the early days of Bluesky, but BBC reports that he stepped down from the board in May 2024.

The app is owned by Bluesky Social, PBC - with the last three letters standing for public benefit corporation, a type of non-profit. 

The current CEO of Bluesky is Jay Graber and key figures on the board include Jeremie Miller and Mike Masnick.