Yahoo News Which are the most popular UK celebrities on Bluesky?
Bluesky user numbers are surging. Susie Dent, Stephen Fry and Carol Vorderman are just some of the famous faces building a following
A new social media platform is enjoying mass sign-ups seemingly at the expense of X, formerly known as Twitter.
With many people quitting the Elon Musk-owned X, millions have joined Bluesky in recent weeks.
Chief executive Jay Graber told the BBC on Thursday that the growth is down to people having a "really great" experience. She said: "There’s not harassment and bots and spam, and a lot of the other problems that plague other platforms."
So what is Bluesky, and who are some of the notable public figures using it?
What is Bluesky?
Bluesky is a platform where people can interact much as they do on X: posting, replying and messaging one another on a vertical user interface.
But compared to X, Bluesky offers users the chance to heavily moderate their experience.
This includes the ability to select the algorithm that powers their experience, helping create custom feeds: for example, a feed for mutual followers, a feed for cat photos or one for your special interest.
Bluesky also has “anti-toxicity” features. These include empowering users to detach an original post of theirs from someone else’s quote post, preventing unwanted interactions.
X was bought by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, in 2022 when it was called Twitter. It has come under increased scrutiny, with Musk himself accused of engaging with misleading content and accounts known for spreading misinformation on a number of occasions.
X users have also reported an increase in “bots” making the site difficult to use, with comment sections often dominated by AI nonsense.
Musk also championed Donald Trump's presidential bid and has been named co-head of the new administration’s department of government efficiency... prompting many users to leave his platform in protest.
It's in this context that Bluesky user numbers are surging with one million people signing up in the week following Trump’s election win and it surpassed 20 million users this week.
But this is still far off X's user base, which is thought to be 588 million.
Who are the most popular UK personalities on it?
As with any new platform, what most new users want to know is: who is everyone following?
In terms of Bluesky, there is certainly some overlap with those UK personalities who had a large following on X.
Some of the more prominent names include Channel 4's Countdown presenter Susie Dent (133,000 followers), podcaster Alastair Campbell (101,000) and TV presenter and animal rights campaigner Chris Packham (78,000 followers).
Other prominent celebrities include national treasure Stephen Fry (65,000), comedian Ricky Gervais (64,000) and TV personality Carol Vorderman (135,000).
The interactive graphic below shows how more UK figures stack up against each other on the platform (as of 22 November).
Who are the most popular celebrities globally?
Among the most followed global public figures, as of Friday afternoon, include:
US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (771,000 followers)
Star Wars actor Mark Hamill (596,000 followers)
Author Stephen King (414,000 followers)
Musician "Weird Al" Yankovic (237,000 followers)
Actor Ben Stiller (166,000 followers)
