A new Pew Research Center analysis reveals that news influencers, particularly those with left-leaning political orientations, are increasingly establishing a presence on Bluesky while continuing to use X.

The share of news influencers with Bluesky accounts approximately doubled in the four months following the 2024 election, jumping from 21% to 43% by March 2025. This migration coincided with Bluesky’s overall growth from approximately 10 million users to 30 million during the same period.

Image credit: Pew-Knight Initiative

Most notably, 69% of liberal or Democratic-aligned news influencers now have Bluesky accounts, compared to just 15% of conservative or Republican-aligned influencers. About 47% of politically neutral influencers have joined the platform.

Despite the migration to Bluesky, X remains the dominant platform for news influencers. The analysis shows that 82% of news influencers maintain X accounts as of early 2025, a figure comparable to 85% in summer 2024. Only 6% of influencers exclusively use Bluesky without a presence on X, while 37% maintain accounts on both platforms.

Engagement Patterns Differ Between Platforms

News influencers demonstrate distinct usage patterns across the two platforms. On X, 83% of influencers post four or more days per week, whereas only 31% maintain similar activity levels on Bluesky. Nearly half (48%) of news influencers with Bluesky accounts do not post there regularly.

However, engagement trends show increasing Bluesky activity. The percentage of news influencers posting on Bluesky rose from 54% in early January to 66% by late March 2025.

Image credit: Pew-Knight Initiative

The findings come amid the growing influence of social media creators in news dissemination. A separate Pew study found that 21% of Americans regularly receive news from social media creators, with higher rates among younger demographics (37% of those aged 18-29).

X emerged as the primary platform for news creators in the original study, with 85% maintaining a presence there. Social media platforms exhibit distinct political dynamics, with Facebook showing a three-to-one ratio of right-leaning to left-leaning creators (39% to 13%).

The Bluesky migration follows the platform’s $15 million Series A funding in October 2024 and its announcement to implement creator payment services. The platform has emphasized it will remain free while introducing premium features through a subscription model.