Left-Leaning Influencers Test Bluesky, But X Still Dominates: Pew Analysis

Many left-leaning social media influencers have recently joined Bluesky, but a new report from the Pew Research Center quantifies this shift. The analysis updates Pew’s November 2024 news influencer report, which didn’t include Bluesky. The initial report focused on 500 influencers with over 100,000 followers on major platforms who regularly post about current events.

For this Bluesky-centric update, Pew examined the same influencers and found that 43% had a Bluesky account as of February/March. Over half (51%) of these accounts were created after the 2024 presidential election.

There is a significant divide between right- and left-leaning influencers. 69% of left-leaning accounts (those explicitly identifying as liberals or Democrats and supporting Kamala Harris or Joe Biden before the 2024 election) have joined Bluesky, compared to only 15% of conservative accounts.

This move to Bluesky hasn’t necessarily meant abandoning X (formerly Twitter). While Elon Musk’s alignment with Donald Trump appeared to drive new users to Bluesky, 82% of the influencers tracked by Pew still maintain an X account, a slight decrease from 85% in the summer of 2025.

Even with their presence on Bluesky, 87% of left-leaning influencers haven’t left X. Pew also notes that most influencers still post more frequently on X than on Bluesky.

However, Bluesky activity seems to be increasing, with the number of influencers actively posting on Bluesky growing from 54% in the first week of January to 66% in the last full week of March.