Many prominent left-leaning influencers have started to establish themselves on the social media platform Bluesky, but they aren’t abandoning the platform X (formerly Twitter), according to a new report from the Pew Research Center.
In an updated analysis from its news influencer study originally published in November 2024, Pew tracked a group of 500 influential accounts, each having more than 100,000 followers on major social media sites, and who regularly discuss current events. This recent analysis, which specifically incorporated Bluesky data, found that by February and March of this year, 43% of the influencers studied had already created accounts on Bluesky. Significantly, more than half (51%) of these accounts joined the platform after the 2024 presidential election.
The shift to Bluesky is notably more prominent among left-leaning influencers. The analysis reports that around 69% of influencers explicitly identified as liberals or Democrats, or who expressed support for Joe Biden or Kamala Harris prior to the last presidential election, have opened accounts on Bluesky. This is in stark contrast to accounts classified as conservative, of which only 15% joined the platform.
However, establishing a presence on Bluesky has not necessarily come at the cost of abandoning X, despite a notable influx of traffic to Bluesky following Elon Musk’s widely publicized alliance with President Donald Trump. Pew found that a vast majority (82%) of the influencers they track have maintained their accounts on X, a slight decrease from 85% recorded in the summer of 2025.
Moreover, most left-leaning influencers active on Bluesky continue to share content on X more regularly, with 87% of the surveyed influencers who joined Bluesky retaining active accounts on X.
Even though X remains the dominant space for engagement amongst these influencers, Bluesky’s platform has been gradually building momentum. Pew’s latest research indicates that active posting on Bluesky has risen markedly—from 54% of influencers present on the platform in early January to 66% by the end of March.