Bluesky posts referencing scholarly articles ‘find substantially higher levels of interaction’ than on Elon Musk’s platform
Bluesky’s growing status as the social media platform of choice for the world’s scientists has been boosted by analysis suggesting research receives more engagement and original scrutiny than on Elon Musk’s rival platform, X.
A study examining 2.6m Bluesky posts referencing more than 500,000 scholarly articles over the past two and a half years found they demonstrated “substantially higher levels of interaction” – likes, reposts, replies and quotes – and greater “textual originality” than previously reported for X, formerly Twitter.
It comes with the fledgling platform battling reports of a decline in its active user base and activity in recent months. Bluesky had enjoyed a huge boom in new users after Musk’s takeover of X and Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
However, the scientific community appears to have embraced Bluesky. It is understood that during August, there have been twice as many posts about science each day compared with July and more than triple the rate from March, though the platform remains tight-lipped about the overall numbers of such posts.
