Technology1 min read

Bluesky hit peak usage for the year on Election Night

By · Via TechCrunch · Published by Everything Blog

In short

Platform metrics spiked sharply between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. PT as election results materialized on Tuesday. Daily posts and likes jumped 30% and 70% over their 30-day baselines, with network data throughput reaching up to 35.8 GB/s. Link clicks also rose by 20% alongside millions of newly established follows during the event. This high engagement coincided with Democratic victories across the country.

Key points

  • Engagement during the midterms came within one million likes of matching the platform's a…: Engagement during the midterms came within one million likes of matching the platform's all-time daily record set in November 2024.
  • Executive leadership attributed the rapid spike in metrics to a combination of returning…: Executive leadership attributed the rapid spike in metrics to a combination of returning accounts and incoming new members.
  • The high user activity extended a long-term growth trajectory that initially accelerated…: The high user activity extended a long-term growth trajectory that initially accelerated after the 2024 presidential election.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

The blue wave swept Bluesky on Tuesday night as the microblogging platform recorded its highest daily number of posts, replies, and likes in 2026.

“We’re seeing a wave of new people joining and old friends coming back,” Schneider posted.

According to Bluesky CEO Toni Schneider, posts and likes doubled during to the U.S. midterm elections on Tuesday.

COO Rose Wang told TechCrunch that usage began to peak between 8 pm to 10 pm PT, when many election results were rolling in. Daily posts and likes increased 30% and 70%, respectively, compared to the previous 30-day averages; Clicks on links also spiked 20%.

According to open-source data, Bluesky reached 44 million likes, 4.8 million posts, and 2 million new follows on November 4. This nearly eclipsed Bluesky’s all-time record 45 million likes in a single day, set in November 2024.

This jump was especially visible in Bluesky’s data traffic, which was 200% higher than usual, reaching up to 35.8 GB/s.

Bluesky is — sometimes snidely — referred to as “Twitter for the left,” given that its user base seems to skew…

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