It has been two months since Mark Zuckerberg launched his so-called ‘Twitter-killer’ app Threads — which saw more than 100million users join in less than five days before plummeting in popularity.
But it now appears another rival app Bluesky could be the one to watch for X owner Elon Musk, after the platform amassed a record-breaking wave of signups in the wake of the billionaire’s threat to start charging users of his own social media site.
The figures, gathered by BlueskyStats, suggest that more than 53,500 users flocked to its app during the past 24 hours — roughly 40,000 above average.
However, the site’s total users – estimated to be around 1.1 million – still pale in comparison to X, formerly known as Twitter.
Musk revealed that his social media giant currently has around 550 million monthly users despite undergoing a series of drastic changes since his takeover last year, including the monetisation of its blue tick verification system.
Thriving: Social media site Bluesky has amassed a record-breaking wave of signups in the wake of Elon Musk’s threat to start charging users of X, formerly known as Twitter
Confident: However, Musk revealed that his social media giant currently has about 550 million monthly users despite undergoing a series of drastic changes since his takeover last year
There was further controversy and uproar yesterday, when the tech billionaire revealed that he was considering charging all users to access the platform in a bid to ward off bots, or automated accounts.
Jake Moore, a cybersecurity expert at ESET, told MailOnline that the increased popularity of Bluesky was both ‘inevitable’ and ‘predictable’.
‘Since it has arisen that users could be charged to use [X], the inevitable and rather predictable has happened with record sign ups to the Twitter/X alternative,’ he said.
‘The battle of the next Twitter has already commenced with a few in the ring such as Threads and Mastadon, too.
‘However, the real test of time will be to see which platform wins the majority sway of users to take on the next generation of social networkers.’
Bluesky, which launched on both Android and iOS earlier this year, is backed by Twitter’s co-founder and former CEO Jake Dorsey.
It is a rare example of an invite-only social media app, with pre-existing users able to hand out invite codes to anyone interested in joining.
A waiting list is also available to those who don’t know anyone on Bluesky, with generated codes sent by email.
Mr Moore added: ‘Bluesky offers a sign up process to anyone with an invite code generated by those already on the platform.
‘This little feature cleverly keeps bots at bay as they struggle to automate mass signups which can cause security and misinformation issues.’
The invite-only component also sets Bluesky apart from X, as fake information and bots have been a major concern for Musk over the last few months.
Threat: New figures suggest that more than 53,500 users flocked to Bluesky yesterday alone
This was revealed yesterday in a conversation with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as the tech entrepreneur announced his plans for future charges.
‘I’d say the single most important reason we’re moving towards having a small monthly payment for use of the X system is that it’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots,’ Musk said.
‘A bot costs a fraction of a penny, but if somebody has to pay a few dollars or something… you have to get a new payment method every time you have a new bot.
‘Prioritising posts that are written by X premium subscribers, we’re actually going to come up with a lower tier pricing. We want it to be a small amount of money.
‘It’s a longer discussion, but in my view this is the only defence against vast armies of bots. As the AI gets really good it’s getting better at passing the captcha tests than humans.’
While Bluesky users can share images and follow accounts, they cannot send direct messages or post videos like X users.
Meanwhile, Zuckerberg is looking to introduce direct messaging to Threads in the not-so-distant future.
Threads’ popularity also rocketed following its launch on July 6, amassing more than 100million users by day five.
But data from last month suggests this initial popularity has since waned somewhat, with analysts at Global Wireless Solutions (GWS) claiming that daily users fell to just 430,000 in the UK.
However, following Musk’s latest comments on charging X users, Mr Moore believes that Threads could make a big comeback.
‘Bots have been an issue on the platform since the beginning but when Musk laid off mass numbers of employees including security staff, the issue rose to rather uncontrollable lengths,’ he added.
‘Requesting payment from all users could potentially mitigate this problem but he could have a bigger problem in his hands with a mass exodus of users.
‘With many similar alternatives already set up such as Threads and Mastadon, this could be the final push for some users to crossover to the competition.’
MailOnline has approached X for comment.
