Threads may have orders of magnitude more users than Bluesky, but the latter accounts for far more traffic to The Boston Globe than Meta’s platform.

As X (formerly Twitter) continues to devolve, the decentralized Bluesky and Meta’s Threads have emerged as the two strongest possibilities for a successor. Threads has more users, by far, with the app reportedly having more than 300 million users. According to Axios, the platform added more than 35 million users in November alone, on top of the 275 million users it had at the end of October. In contrast, Bluesky reportedly has roughly 22 million users.

Despite the disparity in numbers, Bluesky users appear to offer more value. According to Matt Karolian, Bluesky users account for several times more traffic and conversions for The Boston Globe than Threads users.

Traffic from Bluesky to @bostonglobe.com is already 3x that of Threads, and we are seeing 4.5x the conversions to paying digital subscribers.

Matt Karolian | November 26, 2024

The revelation is good news for Bluesky, and reinforces its status as one of the primary candidates for a true Twitter replacement. The numbers also suggest that, while Threads user numbers may benefit from Meta’s existing user base, Bluesky’s users are likely far more engaged.